Beat Ebola with better research sharing, says discoverer of virus | Discussions – F1000 Research

"Peter Piot (Director the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and co-discoverer of the Ebola virus) has published an Editorial in F1000Research appealing for everyone working on the current epidemic to publish all their findings and experiences rapidly and openly. Since the onset of this year’s West African outbreak* there have been over 13,250 suspected cases and 4,960 deaths, the majority of these in the last two months. Depending on how effective control efforts are over the next few weeks the number of cases will likely swell to between 16,500 and 30,000 by December. Speed is required at all levels if this epidemic is to be successfully controlled; identification and isolation of cases, clinic construction, and community action campaigns must all be carried out rapidly and on a large scale. Speed is just as vital to Ebola research; we need knowledge to spread faster than the virus if Ebola’s impact is to be mitigated. For this to happen, the whole research cycle has to start spinning faster. Some major funders have responded quickly by releasing emergency research grants, such as the NSF’s RAPID awards and the Wellcome Trust’s Emergency Ebola Initiative. Science publishing needs to be just as nimble, but in the current system it can take several months for findings to be made publically available; with Ebola cases doubling every 20 days or so, such delays are unacceptable. F1000Research’s unique model of peer-reviewing after publication means that it can make scientific and medical reports publically available within just a few days of submission, enabling experts to put this freshly collected information to immediate good use. Articles can be tracked, so all readers, expert and non-expert alike, can be notified when expert referee reports are made available ..."