The Arrival of Data Journals: an interview with Lyubomir Penev of Pensoft Publishers

Use the link to access the brief interview introduced as follows: “A reality of 21st century science is that publications and citations are key metrics used to evaluate the performance and impact of scientists. Until recently, there has been no incentive for work -pressured scientists (other than good will) to invest time in preparing their data sets so they can be shared and used by others. With the launch of journals specializing in the publication of data papers this looks set to change. Data papers, can perhaps be compared to those reporting a new taxon: they will have a standard format and users of the data set will cite the data paper in a similar manner to how scientists cite the authority (descriptor paper) when using a scientific name. In this way, scientists contributing data to the common scientific endeavor will gain a publication credit and the number of citations will provide a measure of the scientific value of the data. Lyubomir Penev of Pensoft Publishers has launched several innovative journals in biodiversity science, including an established infrastructure for publishing and dissemination of biodiversity data, and he kindly provided the following perspectives on the value and importance of data journals.”