F1000Research Joins Open Access Revolution | Synapse

Use the link to access the interview introduced as follows: "Science is fundamentally about increasing our knowledge of the world, but with increasing competition for funding and academic positions, the pressure to publish enormous, high-impact articles in prestigious journals is becoming counter-productive. How can we efficiently disseminate scientific information as publication requirements become ever more rigorous? This is one of the key questions tackled by supporters of Open Access (OA). Open Access journals such as PLOS (originally known as the Public Library of Science), offer free and unrestricted access to the articles they publish, and the EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization) Journal even publishes peer reviews of published papers. F1000Research may become one of the most revolutionary yet, offering immediate publication and transparent post-publication peer review.  You may have heard of F1000 Prime, a directory of previously published articles on the life sciences with recommendations by experts in the field, many of whom are UCSF scientists. F1000 Research also applies post-publication metrics to assess the quality of research, but it goes one step further, as a journal rather than a database. Whereas most scientific journals publish one final version of a given paper, F1000 Research publishes every step of the research up to final acceptance, including reviewers’ comments, all revisions and even negative data. Despite its deviations from the traditional model of publishing, F1000Research strives to uphold a high standard for the science it approves.  Its International Advisory Panel includes renowned scientists including top UCSF researchers such as Paul Volberding, Warner Greene and Bruce Miller, and more than 1,000 global experts sit on its Editorial Board. F1000Research officially launched last month, after a six-month testing phase. Submissions have come from around the globe. Synapse had an opportunity recently to conduct a phone interview with Rebecca Lawrence, publisher at F1000Research.  Lawrence holds a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Nottingham and has worked for other publishers, including Elsevier, for seven years.  Previously, she oversaw the launch of F1000 Posters, a repository of data gathered at scientific conferences ..."