The Official PLOS Blog

At the beginning of April, Research Councils UK (RCUK) simultaneously rolled out new Public Access requirements for the research that they fund and a £17M commitment in 2013/14 to support scientific research articles published through Open Access.  RCUK joins the Wellcome Trust who offers similar support to their researchers.

The transition to these new policies has been rapid, leaving some institutions and researchers unsure of how best to satisfy these requirements. For comprehensive information on how to fulfill RCUK or Wellcome requirements for different journals, and publishers, authors should consult the new resources that have been developed to help.

One easy way to cut through this confusion is to publish with PLOS.  From the UK to the USA to any of the other mandates in place or under consideration around the world, publishing in the PLOS journals offers a straightforward way to satisfy the requirements of all funders’ mandates.  As a leader in the Open Access community, PLOS works collaboratively with both research funders and authors to ensure that publishing in our journals is the easiest possible way to comply with all Public Access policy mandates.

Other good reasons for choosing PLOS include:

A suite of publication options – Whether the work is of very wide medical or scientific interest; is important work for the communities in genetics, pathogens, neglected tropical diseases or computational biology,; or is good science that needs to be published efficiently without the cycle of submission, rejection, and resubmission, PLOS has a journal to publish in.

Rigorous peer review – The review process at all our journals is highly rigorous; at PLOS ONE the focus on scientific validity and technical quality has a growing reputation for being tough but fair, and means good work gets published faster. Our community journals – PLOS Pathogens, PLOS Computational Biology, PLOS Genetics and PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases – are overseen by research leaders in their fields. PLOS Biology publishes research articles of exceptional significance in all areas of biological science. PLOS Medicine publishes outstanding research and commentary on the major challenges to human health worldwide.

Cost effective and highly visible – PLOS was born out of the internet revolution and our prices reflect the built-in efficiency in dissemination that the web enables. On a like-for-like comparison, our publication charges can be up to 50% less than those of traditional journals offering hybrid options. The value of publishing with PLOS is enhanced by the high visibility of the journals. PLOS articles generate more than 1.5 million article views per month. Publishing with PLOS  provides immediate online availability as well as archiving in PubMedCentral and indexing in PubMed and other sites.

The highest ethical standards – The PLOS journals have been leaders in the rigorous reporting of studies and in developing and adhering to ethical standards, with every submission requiring an ethics statement. Unlike many publishers, we don’t accept advertising for drugs or medical devices.

Maximizing research impact - All work published in the PLOS journals is published under a Creative Commons Attribution License, maximizing the opportunity for research to be found and used in education, industry, and further research for an purpose as long as the original article is cited. All authors retain ownership of the copyright for their article and are of course free to re-use their work in any way.

Be in good (and growing) company –PLOS has published more than over 68,000 ‘Gold Open Access’ articles since 2003. PLOS ONE is the largest peer-reviewed journal in the world and publishes more research from the Wellcome Trust, MRC, RCUK, and BBSRC than any other journal. In 2012, PLOS published 11% of the output of the Wellcome Trust.

In the decade that PLOS has been publishing, hundreds of thousands of scientists have trusted PLOS with their research. PLOS has been at the forefront of the Open Access movement and has built a family of journals to suit the needs of researchers from across science and medicine.  The PLOS mission is to lead a transformation in research communication. These new funder requirements will hasten that transformation. Join us in our journey as we work to create the future of science communication.

We’re excited to announce a new group at PLOS called PLOS Labs, which we created to develop disruptive ideas and products for science communication. We will be putting software prototypes in front of researchers to gather feedback on both the concepts and implementation, and coordinating open-source development projects to implement many of these ideas. We would love to have you join this effort – please sign up to participate.

Image Credit: Erin Vermeulen

With your support, non-profit PLOS has grown into a successful publisher, and open access is in the ascendancy. But PLOS has always been about more than open access – it’s about making science communication faster and better. And there are a lot of things that could be faster and better in the way journals – including PLOS – work today.

PLOS Labs is here to change this. It exists to take disruptive ideas and turn them in to tangible products, and is eager to work with our community of authors, editors and reviewers to make sure we do this right. PLOS Labs is also interested in forming partnerships with inventive individuals, organizations and publishers, large and small.

Sign up to opt-in to our evaluation pool. For each project, we will select individuals and email you instructions on how you can help. Testing will generally involve using product prototypes and then answering some questions.  Some users we’ll be calling by phone or video chat, or inviting into our SF offices for deeper discussions (if you opt in for that level of participation).  Each online experiment will take no more than 30 minutes of your time, some as few as 5 minutes, and we’ll ask for volunteers who can give more time responding to us by phone and video chat.

PLOS Labs is led by Jonathan Dugan, who has worked extensively with technology start-ups, remains active in the vibrant Bay Area venture community, and teaches entrepreneurship. We’re looking forward to doing what we do best: working with scientists to innovate and make research work better so that together we can continue to fulfill the PLOS mission of leading a transformation in research communication.

PLOS today is launching the Accelerating Science Award Program (ASAP) that recognizes the use of scientific research, published through Open Access, which has led to innovations in any field that benefit society. Major sponsors include the Wellcome Trust and Google.

The ASAP Program recognizes individuals who have used, applied or remixed scientific research to innovate and make a difference in science, medicine, business, technology or society as a whole.  Potential nominees include individuals, teams or groups of collaborators such as scientists, researchers, educators, technology leaders, entrepreneurs, policy makers, patient advocates, public health workers, and students. There are three top awards of $30,000 each.*

The ASAP Program will illuminate how the unrestricted exchange of information can advance science and medicine, and benefit society.  It also aspires to encourage a new generation of individuals to embrace the use and application of scientific research published through Open Access­.

“PLOS is delighted to collaborate with two dozen global organizations to highlight the impact that Open Access research has on science, medicine and society,” said Gary Ward, Chairman of the Board, PLOS.  “We know there are countless examples of individuals who have used Open Access research to accelerate science but these stories often go untold.  Through this program, we hope to bring them to the forefront.”

The ASAP Program will be judged by an international committee composed of distinguished leaders in multiple fields, including:

•  Agnes Binagwaho, M.D., Minister of Health, Rwanda and faculty member in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School
• Helga Nowotny, President of the European Research Council (ERC) and Professor emeritus of Social Studies of Science, ETH Zurich
• Tim O’Reilly, Founder and CEO, O’Reilly Media
• Hans Rosling, M.D., Professor of International Health at Karolinska Institute and co-founder and chairman of the Gapminder
• Harold Varmus, M.D., Co-recipient of a Nobel Prize for studies of the genetic basis of cancer and the current Director of the National Cancer Institute

“The Wellcome Trust is proud to sponsor the ASAP Program, and in doing so, recognize those who have maximized the impact of scientific research published through Open Access,” said Robert Kiley, Head of Digital Services at the Wellcome Trust.  “We are eager to see real case studies that showcase the unique value of Open Access and, through these stories, inspire greater support for Open Access.”

Three top awards of $30,000 each will be presented.  The nomination period is open from May 1 to June 15, 2013.  Winners will be announced in Washington, DC in October 2013, at an Open Access Week kickoff event hosted by SPARC and the World Bank.

*For more information, including the full details of the ASAP Program, nomination process, and the Award specifics, go to asap.plos.org. For Program rules visit http://asap.plos.org/nominate/rules/.

Sponsors are the Association of College Research Libraries, the Association of Research Libraries, Co-Action Publishing, Creative Commons, the Directory of Open Access Journals, Doris Duke Charitable Trust, eLife, EIFL, Hindawi, Health Research Alliance, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Impact Story, Max Planck Society, Mendeley, Microsoft Research, the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association, Research Councils UK, Research Libraries UK, SPARC, SURF (Netherlands), the World Bank, and major sponsors Google, Public Library of Science, and the Wellcome Trust

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 About the Public Library of Science

The Public Library of Science (PLOS) is a nonprofit publisher and advocacy organization founded to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication. PLOS engages in outreach activities that promote Open Access and innovations in the communication of research for scientists and the public. 2013 marks PLOS’s tenth year as an Open Access publisher, reaching an international audience through immediate and free availability of research on the Internet. PLOS publishes a suite of seven journals: PLOS Biology; PLOS Medicine; PLOS Genetics; PLOS Computational Biology; PLOS Pathogens; PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases; and PLOS ONE, which publishes research from more than 50 diverse scientific fields and is the largest peer-reviewed journal in the world.

About the Wellcome Trust

The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health. It supports the brightest minds in biomedical research and the medical humanities. The Trust’s breadth of support includes public engagement, education and the application of research to improve health. It is independent of both political and commercial interests. www.wellcome.ac.uk

PLOS is pleased to announce the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer. Attracting one of publishing’s most inspiring leaders, PLOS has named Elizabeth Marincola as CEO, effective August 12, 2013.  For the past 8 years Marincola served as President and CEO of Society for Science & the Public (SSP), an organization dedicated to advancing public understanding and appreciation of science, with an emphasis on high school students and teachers. SSP is also publisher of the Science News family of publications. Marincola served as the Executive Director of The American Society for Cell Biology from 1991-2005, and on the Board of PLOS from 2005-2011.  Marincola received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and her MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

“Elizabeth is a passionate and dynamic leader with extensive experience in publishing who fully embraces the Open Access principles that drive our mission”, said Gary Ward, Chairman of the Board, PLOS. “As PLOS enters a new phase of growth and innovation, the Board believes Elizabeth will instill new energy and focus to the organization that will help us continue to be a leading force in the transformation of research communication.”

“I am thrilled to be joining PLOS, an organization for which I have profound respect as a leading scientific publisher, Open Access advocate and technology innovator”, said Marincola. “I leave SSP in the hands of outstanding governance and management and am confident that the Society will continue to grow and prosper in the coming years.  I look forward to forging new relationships at PLOS as we strive to grow and innovate.”

Longtime CEO, Peter Jerram, and Chief Financial Officer, Steve Borostyan, will be leaving the organization effective May 10, 2013. “Since its establishment as a publisher more than ten years ago, PLOS has grown to become a self-sustaining organization with more than 170 employees.  This is a tremendous accomplishment that both PJ and Steve have been instrumental in making happen” said Ward.  “We thank PJ and Steve for their years of service to the organization.  They have done a fantastic job of guiding the organization and getting us to where we are today.  They are an important part of PLOS history.”

The Board has appointed an interim leadership team effective immediately to ensure that PLOS is able to continue to move projects and strategic initiatives forward.  Together with the existing PLOS Executive team, they will govern the organization until Marincola’s arrival.

One of the many benefits of publishing Open Access using the CC BY copyright license is the ease of content re-use. This has led to some exciting initiatives such as Topic Pages which were launched by PLOS Computational Biology to fill gaps in Wikipedia’s coverage of this rapidly expanding discipline.

Today, the journal is pleased to publish its fourth Topic Page, entitled “Viral Phylodynamics”, by Erik Volz, Katia Koelle and Trevor Bedford. This article is also featured in Wikipedia where it will provide a solid introduction to this emerging field and be available for wider community discussion between researchers and the general public.

The following Topic Pages have also been published and appear on Wikipedia as living documents available for editing and updating:

• Evolving Digital Ecological Networks by Miguel A. Fortuna and colleagues
• Approximate Bayesian Computation by Mikael Sunnåker, Christophe Dessimoz and colleagues
• Circular Permutation in Proteins by Spencer Bliven and Andreas Prlić

Since the launch of Topic Pages almost a year ago, they have received an enthusiastic response:

“Scientists organized and actively curating wiki content. Cool.”  Charlie Schick, PhD (twitter)

“This synthesis of peer-reviewed writing of topics and Wikipedia entries is a fantastic effort, spreading knowledge.”  Murray Robertson (twitter)

Topic Pages are just one of many ways that PLOS fulfills its mission to lead a transformation in research communication. More Topic Pages are in the pipeline and we’re open to suggestions that will interest this audience and have previously only been covered in limited depth on Wikipedia or do not yet appear there at all. Additional guidelines are available; please email us your ideas.

PLOS applauds the Obama administration for issuing a directive that calls for expanding open access to federally funded research.  We stand firmly alongside any organization or initiative that attempts to eliminate unnecessary barriers to the immediate availability, access and use of research, and we look forward to working with them in the journey towards full Open Access. Here are some key points from the Directive:

•  The Directive affirms the principle that the public has a right to access the results of publicly funded research, calling on all federal agencies with annual research and development budgets of $100 million or more to provide the public with free online access to the results of that research.
• It specifically calls for research manuscripts arising from publicly funded research to be made available no later than 12 months after publication in a scientific journal.
• The Directive also provides guidance to ensure that data resulting from publicly funded research is made widely available in a timely manner.

This directive is yet another sign that Open Access principles are gaining momentum. The Directive comes as the bipartisan Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR) is making its way through the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.  The legislation was introduced in the 113^th Congress by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Representatives Mike Doyle (D-PA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), and Kevin Yoder (R-KS).

These developments are major achievements for both open access and open government – we now need to take the next step and make open access the law of the land, not just the preference of the President.  Join us in transforming research communication for the benefit of all. Please call, write or email your congressional representative and express your support for FASTR.

PLOS applauds the efforts of legislation sponsors Sens. Cornyn (R-TX), and Wyden (D-OR) and Rep. Doyle (D-PA), Yoder (R-KS) and Lofgren (D-CA) with the introduction of bipartisan and bicameral legislation that will maximize the impact of federally funded research. The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research act (FASTR) act states:

”The US has a substantial interest in maximizing the impact and utility of the research it funds by enabling a wide range of reuses of the peer-reviewed literature that reports the results of such research, including by enabling computational analysis by state-of-art technology. The Federal Government funds basic and applied research with the expectation that new ideas and discoveries that result from the research, if shared and effectively disseminated, will advance science and improve the lives and welfare of people in the US and around the world. The internet makes it possible for this information to be promptly available to every scientist, physician, educator and citizens at home, in school, or in a library”

Increasing access to research outputs delivers benefits for the economy, for medical patients, for innovators and for the general public. In Tuesday’s State of the Union Speech President Barack Obama referenced the Human Genome Project, which has generated both good science and $141 dollars returned for every dollar spent. In addition, one of President Obama’s distinguished guests was Jack Andraka, a high school sophomore, who won the 2012 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for his creation of a new method to detect early-stage pancreatic cancer. His discovery was made possible by using the research outputs he could access freely online.

We are seeing a proliferation of increased access, from new journals to new guidelines and legislation. In the UK, PLOS strongly supports the efforts of the UK Government and Research Councils to increase access to publicly funded research. We applaud the development and implementation of policies in Ireland, Denmark, Argentina, Australia and in the European Union. We stand firmly alongside any organization or initiative that attempts to eliminate unnecessary barriers to the immediate availability, access and use of research, and we look forward to working with them in the journey towards full Open Access.

We invite you to join us in the PLOS mission to lead a transformation in research communication for the benefit of all. We urge you to call, write or email your congressional representative and express your support for FASTR.

PLOS is pleased to endorse the launch of a peer review guide by Sense About Science that helps the public make sense of research claims.

Borrowing from their press release:

I Don’t Know What to Believe: Making Sense of Science Stories…explains the peer review process—the system researchers use to assess the validity, significance and originality of papers. It captures experiences and insights from editors and scientists and encourages people to ask “is it peer reviewed?” when reading science stories.

“Peer review is an important part of the scientific process, and one indicator that can help readers distinguish in the mass of science they hear reported every day between what they can have confidence in and what they should treat with more caution,” said Ginny Barbour, Medicine Editorial Director, PLOS.  “Furthermore, understanding how peer review works gives an insight into how science itself is done: I Don’t Know What to Believe bridges a crucial gap in understanding between scientists and the public.”

To learn more about this initiative please visit www.senseaboutscience.org