'New journals concept' from CUP's Research Directions | The Bookseller

"Cambridge University Press is launching an initiative it describes as a "new concept" for the journal, bringing researchers from different fields together to explore fundamental questions which cut across traditional disciplines.

Research Directions is the brainchild of Fiona Hutton, CUP executive publisher and its head of STM Open Access publishing. A former research scientist, Hutton wants to provide alternatives to traditional journal formats and bring communities together to frame research to problems that no one discipline would be able to tackle alone, said the publisher.

CUP said the approach would "speed discovery by fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing between subject communities" as well as provide "opportunities to publish research from areas not well served by traditional, discipline-specific journals". 

The first titles under the Research Directions banner will be published in 2022, with an initial set of questions to answer, informed by feedback from hundreds of researchers. The publishing model will "mirror the research lifecycle", with the results, analysis and impact reviews all published as separate, Open Access, peer-reviewed and citable outputs on CUP's Cambridge Core platform...."