BioMed Central, an editorial perspective

BioMed Central An Editorial perspective Melissa L Norton MD Editorial Director, Medicine

The basics of Open Access publishing • No subscription barriers to research • Journal costs covered by – Article processing charges • Typically paid by author's funder/institution, sometimes by the author – Direct institutional support of journal

Facts • All journals • Peer-reviewed • Archived in PubMed Central, INIST and other international archives • Searchable and retrievable • Articles are included in PubMed, Scopus, Google, CrossRef, Scirus • Some journals • Indexed in MEDLINE, Biosis (all biology titles), CAS • Tracked by Thomson-Reuters for Impact Factors

Our journal portfolio • 64 BMC-series journals – Very broad scopes to cover all areas of Biology and Medicine – e.g. BMC Medicine, BMC Cancer, BMC Genomics • 130+ independent journals – Run by external groups of scientists or societies – e.g. Retrovirology, Molecular Pain, Malaria Journal • A small number of special ‘hybrid’ journals which publish OA research, but also publish subscription- based commissioned reviews and commentary – Genome Medicine, Genome Biology, Arthritis Research & Therapy, Breast Cancer Research, Critical Care

The journal pyramid Top journals Specialty journals BMC Research Notes

We take editing seriously

We are not so different from ‘traditional’ journals • All journals are peer-reviewed • All journals have Editors (either in- house or external) • All journals have Editorial/Advisory Boards

But then again, we are also different

Going (more than) one step further…

Why choose Open Access?

Citations and downloads • “Senior authors believe downloads to be more credible measure of the usefulness of research then traditional citations.” • http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ciber/ciber_2005_survey_final.pdf •“Open access articles receive 50% more full-text accesses and PDF downloads than subscription-access articles.” • Kenneth R. Fulton, PNAS Publisher

How can one judge journal quality? • Visibility = article accesses, press releases/media coverage, citations • Audience = scope, published content • Speed to publication = publication on acceptance, delays for issues, long embargo/wait periods? • Reputation ?=? IF, SciMago ranking, rejection rates – I’d argue these things don’t accurately represent quality, but what other metrics do we have? Community opinion is very important

• "Thank you very much for your help editing our paper. Your support has played an important role in the success of our work. " Santiago Schnell Indiana University School of Informatics USA Theoretical Biology and Medical Modelling • "My experience was excellent, I was particularly impressed by the thorough reviews by 3 renowned experts internationally. The article has so far had >14,000 accesses, i.e. about 55 hits per day since publication." Georgios Lyratzopoulos NHS England UK BMC Public Health • "Since August 2005, BMC journals have become our lab's favoured vehicle to establish publication priority. In addition to the smooth review and publication process, we appreciate the ability maximize the exposure of our findings to colleagues through PubMed. The ability to monitor the number of accesses to the articles is a particularly valuable feature." Robert Hegele Robarts Research Institute in London, Ontario Canada BMC Medical Genetics • "In general I enjoyed working with the staff at Journal of Biology. I have recommended the journal to all my colleagues." Stephen Davies Baylor College of Medicine USA Journal of Biology • "Wonderful positive experience. Outstanding Editor-in-Chief." Niranjan Bhattacharya Bijoygarh State hospital India Malaria Journal

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BioMed Central, an editorial perspective

by BioMedCentral on Jul 14, 2009

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