More available, no less quality
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A new online scientific journal, challenging the journals that dominate the world of research, began publishing online yesterday. The journal, called the "Public Library of Science - Biology" (PLoS), is supported by leading scientists such as Dr. Harold Vermus, former director of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and now chairman of the Salon-Kettering Center for Cancer Research in New York.
These scientists are interested in speeding up the publication rate of scientific studies, as well as allowing underprivileged students access to them. The journal is available for free at www.plosbiology.org. The non-profit group that supports the journal operates from San Francisco, and plans to found another journal, the "Public Library of Science - Medicine," next year.
An annual subscription to the journals that now dominate the world of scientific publications costs a lot of money. The publication in such journals requires a procedure of strict and lengthy review (Peer Review), which is done by colleagues of the publishing scientist; The review team sometimes suggests making corrections to the article.
Researchers complain that this procedure takes too long. Another complaint is that the journals prohibit the publishing scientists from disclosing details of the research during the process of bringing it to print. Researchers who publish in PLoS pay 1,500 euros to cover the expenses involved in editing, producing and sending the article for review by other scientists.
The important scientific journals, including "Science", "Nature" and hundreds of specialized journals, control the way in which scientific information is reported and reaches the public. "Scientists want their work to be published and used," said Vermus, who serves as chairman of the PLoS board of directors, in a press release. "The exceptional quality of the studies published in the first issue of the journal is proof that many scientists advocate free access to scientific information. These scientists expressed their position by sending their best works to a new and non-traditional journal."
Among these scientists is Miguel Nicolais, who reports in the first issue of PLoS on a study in which monkeys, whose brains were implanted with tiny electronic implants, were able to play a computer game using only their thoughts. The appearance of the new journal, says Nicolalis, is "a very important event for us, and it has a very clear statement. Access to scientific information should be easier and cheaper. Important results should reach the scientific community and society as a whole more quickly.
"In my opinion, PLoS is an important step in this direction. It is one of our best journals, and publication in it was a way to support this public effort", added Nicolais, who previously published in the "Academy of Sciences" Proceedings of the National, "Science", "Nature" and more.
"Science thrives when there is a free flow of information," said Dr. Patrick Brown of Stanford University, one of the founders of the new journal. "By removing restrictions on the dissemination of knowledge and ensuring that everyone, everywhere has access to the latest research," PLoS will accelerate the pace of scientific discovery.
For news on the website of the competing journal Nature
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