Community-rooted open-access publisher frontiersin.org

Open Access @FrontiersIn Frontiersin Table of contents

About Frontiers ...... 4

Our Innovations ...... 6

Team Frontiers ...... 8

Where does the money go? ...... 9

Community Journals ...... 11

Research Topics ...... 15

Collaborative Review ...... 21

Impact Metrics ...... 27

Tiering ...... 33

Frontiers for Young Minds ...... 37

Loop ...... 43 CUMULATIVE GROWTH (as of September 2015) About Frontiers Published Articles 2015 36,321 Over 80% of 2014 27,754 citations in OA 2013 16,624 2012 9,220 Psychology journals 2011 4,199 are generated from Frontiers in Psychology and Frontiers in Human 2010 1,782 Neuroscience 2009 603

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience rontiers is a community-rooted open Article Page Views is the #1 gold open-access access publisher that has attracted 220’000 2015 92’500’000 journal in the world researchers as authors and editors. F 2014 61’600’000 terms of volume and By taking publishing entirely online, we drive 2013 30’200’000 innovation and develop new technologies to make 2012 15’000’000 Frontiers in Psychology is the more efficient and transparent, provide 2011 6’300’000 world’s largest journal impact metrics for articles and researchers, merge 2010 1’600’000 in its JCR category publishing with a research network 2009 200’000 platform to catalyze research dissemination Frontiers in Plant Science is and we popularize research to the public, including Article Downloads #1 among open-access children. Our mission is to increase the reach 2015 22’000’000 journals in plant and impact of research articles and their authors. 2014 15’100’000 science, both in volume and 2013 8’000’000 impact factor. Founded by scientists in 2007, Frontiers is today 2012 4’200’000 one of the 5 largest open access publishers and has 2011 1’100’000 received the ALPSP Gold Award for Innovation 2010 230’000 in Publishing in 2014. 2009 55’000

4 | 2015 Frontiers Our Innovations NUMBERS (as of September 2015)

54 417 62’000 137’000 Open access Specialties across Editors Authors journals academia

Community Journals Tiering 4’000’000 1’000’000 We cover more than 400 specialties High impact research articles are 37’000 Article views Article downloads across academia, with more than crowdsourced then “climb the tier” Articles /month /month 60’000 world-renowned scientists and as “Focused Reviews” to reach a broader published scholars as editors. “Gold” open access audience. for all articles, under the CC-BY Creative Commons license. Young Minds A free scientific journal written for and Top 15 Editor Affiliations Research Topics reviewed by young people. 0 Editors 250 Editors 500 Editors Spotlight the most specialized communities and enable leading researchers to manage Loop National Institutes of Health the publication of article collections. The open network that maximizes the impact Harvard University of researchers and their discoveries, and The Max Planck Society University College London Collaborative Review the only research network that integrates Stanford University Rigorous, fair, constructive, transparent into institutional websites and publishing University of Michigan and efficient. All enabled by our sophisticated platforms. UCLA Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche “Review Forum” web software. University of California, Davis University of Florida Impact Metrics King’s College London Advanced analytics track the impact Any questions please contact us: INSERM University of Oxford of your research. [email protected] University of Minnesota University of Southern California

6 | 2015 Frontiers Where does the money go?

Frontiers was designed to empower the another. In 2014 alone, 32% of our expenditures research community to shape the direction were put towards innovations that included of research content. In 2014, we supported technological advances to our Collaborative Peer the community with $1 million in honoraria Review platform, enhanced impact metrics for and awards in acknowledgement of their articles and authors and Loop, the open network dedication to this mission. that aims to drive readership for your articles and increase your discoverability and impact. Frontiers innovates faster than any other Our headquarters are located in the Innovation Park of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland. publisher to provide cutting-edge publishing The bottom line is that our dedication to and networking solutions. When Frontiers community empowerment and innovation has started in 2007, we made the bold decision to driven Frontiers journals into the leading position build all our services in-house, integrated into in Gold Open Access Publishing in terms of one global platform – a first in the publishing both high impact and high article volumes.* industry. Almost 2/3 of our employees are Team Frontiers: * based on a comparison of Gold Open Access journals listed the expertise of 200 strong IT experts, pioneering one innovation after in Thomson Reuters 2014. FRONTIERS: ANALYSIS OF EXPENDITURE 2014

Honoraria & Awards 5% Publishing Operations Frontiers has the best team in publishing development offices in Madrid and India, plus 34% and the most talented software engineers to presence in London, San Francisco and Albany. General & Administration 8% advance the cause of open science. We benefit from a strong pool of local talent; in 2014 we Together we are providing the support and US$ million received over 1000 applications, from among building the tools and platforms that our Discounts & Waivers 10% Publishing Operations 6.8 which 8% of the very best were hired. We authors, editors and reviewers count on to IT and Innovation 6.5 have over 200 employees from 38 countries get their jobs done efficiently, and that will Growth - New Journals 2.1 Growth - New Journals 11% Discounts & Waivers 1.9 based largely at our headquarters at the contribute to promoting the research and General & Administration 1.7 Innovation Park of the Swiss Federal Institute careers of scientists and clinicians from every Honoraria & Awards 1.0 of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, with IT country in the world. IT and Innovation 32% Total Expenditure 20.0

8 | 2015 Frontiers 2015 Frontiers | 9 2015 Frontiers | 11 In our publishing model, active researchers Frontiers’ staff of PhDs and Postdocs, across Frontiers publishing model: take all editorial decisions regarding all academic disciplines, support the day-to- manuscripts and act as Chief, Associate and day running of the Community Journals and Review Editors on the editorial boards. In ensure that the review process is conducted empowering communities order to ensure the highest standards for our in line with Frontiers’ Collaborative Review journals, we take great care in appointing only principles. leading researchers and clinicians from each academic community to the editorial boards. With over 37’000 papers published to date and They are enabled by our online Digital Editorial 16 journals listed in the 2014 Journal Citation Office where they can manage their journals Report, several of our journals are already and community, can follow the progress of the the largest journals in their respective fields review and interact directly with authors in and receive the highest citation rates amongst our online Review Forum. open access journals. Frontiers in

ur mission is to put publishing back • Psychiatry • Psychology IF* into the hands of researchers. 2.6 NO. 1 JOURNAL OBeing a community-rooted open IN PSYCHOLOGY * access publisher means that our journals • Neurology are run by more than 60’000 researchers • Physiology IF* Frontiers in 3.5 Frontiers in from over 5’000 institutions world-wide. NO. 1 OPEN ACCESS • Marine Science * • Built Environment JOURNAL IN PHYSIOLOGY Frontiers in • Materials • Mechanical • Pharmacology IF* • Nutrition 3.8 • Chemistry Engineering • Public Health • Medicine * • Applied Mathematics * Impact factors from the 2014 Journal Citation Report. IF • Bioengineering • Surgery • Plant Science 3.9 and Statistics NO. 1 OPEN ACCESS and Biotechnology • Molecular Biosciences JOURNAL IN PLANT SCIENCE * • Physics • Robotics and AI COMING SOON: • Microbiology IF* • Energy Research • Astronomy • Management 4.0 NO. 2 OPEN ACCESS • Cell and and Space Sciences • Sociology Frontiers in JOURNAL IN MICROBIOLOGY * Developmental Biology • Cardiovascular • Communication Medicine • Human IF* • Immunology • Earth Science • Library Frontiers in Neuroscience 3.0 • Environmental • Veterinary Science and Information Science * • Endocrinology Frontiers in • Neuroscience IF LARGEST OPEN ACCESS Frontiers in Science • ICT 3.7 JOURNAL IN NEUROSCIENCE * • Genetics • Oncology • Pediatrics • Ecology and Evolution • Digital Humanities AND MORE !

2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

12 | 2015 Frontiers 2015 Frontiers | 13 2015 Frontiers | 15 “What’s special about Frontiers Spotlighting your is that it is really designed for scientists to have research field and a publishing medium for them” maximizing your impact Alex Thomson, University College London

he Frontiers Research Topic is a unique and the people behind the research. NUMBERS (January 2015) concept where leading scientists Very much like a “mini journal,” the Research T manage the publication of a collection Topic provides even the most specialized of peer reviewed articles around their own areas of the scientific community with area of research. Frontiers has custom- a publishing environment suited to its needs. developed an IT platform to help you run But by putting the people behind the your Research Topic, spotlight your area, Research Topic front and center, the Frontiers stimulate discussion, catalyze collaboration platform also creates a social dynamic similar 58’500’000 15’000’000 and maximize the impact of the articles to that of a workshop. Total views Total downloads published. on Research Topic on Research Topic articles articles The Frontiers Research Topic is a collection of articles published around a theme of cutting-edge research. Over 2’800 topics have been posted to date. It is a platform HAVE AN IDEA FOR A RESEARCH TOPIC? proven to unite the world’s experts around a topic, to stimulate dialogue and collaboration, The launch and management of a Research and to accelerate science. Topic is easy and free. 6’000 2’800 In 2014, we redesigned the Research Topic Please contact us at: Researchers Research Topics project pages in a way that optimizes [email protected] edited a Research organized the reach and impact of both the articles frontiersin.org/researchtopics Topic

16 | 2015 Frontiers 2015 Frontiers | 17 Research Topics 1 at a glance

2

Full integration into POWERFUL IMPACT METRICS 3 4 5 6 7 1 LOOP, OUR RESEARCH NETWORK 6 on the Research Topic and its articles, for scientists and scholars. including views, downloads, social media buzz, geographic 8 Freely downloadable and demographic info. 2 EBOOKS of the entire article collection. DISCUSSION FORUM 7 around this Research Topic OVERVIEW SECTION: and its articles. 3 provides the title, scope and objectives in one place. ONLINE ACADEMIC PROFILES 8 for editors and authors. 9 ARTICLES TAB: 4 highlights published articles, ARTICLE IMPACT METRICS abstract and impact summary. 9 including views, downloads, citations, social media shares, CONTRIBUTORS TAB: social buzz via Altmetric, 5 features authors and topic editors geographic and demographic info. for maximum discoverability and impact.

2015 Frontiers | 19 2015 Frontiers | 21 Transparent the review process and provide in-depth Re-engineering All associate and review editors’ names are review reports. made public upon the publication of articles, acknowledging their contribution. As a result Efficient peer review reviewers are constructive, but also responsible We offer one of the fastest reviews for the paper and provide rigorous feedback that amongst academic publishers. delivers the highest possible quality publication. Our Review Forum guides authors, Conflict-of interest, if present, is openly apparent. reviewers and editors smoothly through the steps and alerts you when any Rigorous action is required. This has shortened the We implemented detailed review average time from submission to acceptance questionnaires to guide our reviewers through to 85 days.

eer review is at the heart of the OUR REVIEW PRINCIPLES COMMUNITY FEEDBACK (September 2015) publishing process, and improving P peer review has always been Collaborative a priority at Frontiers. Our unique system Our Collaborative Review Forum unites is engineered to be rigorous, yet at the same the authors and reviewers in a direct time efficient, collaborative, transparent online dialogue, enabling quick iterations and fair. These guiding principles were and facilitating consensus. Editors and 85 90% initially integrated into our sophisticated reviewers work with you to improve online review platform, the Frontiers your paper. days of our authors feel our from submission collaborative review has Collaborative Review Forum, which was to acceptance helped improve their paper released in a new, completely redesigned Objective and Fair version in early 2014. The final decision is based on consensus about objective issues. We publish all papers judged unanimously to be technically sound and scientifically correct. Unanimity is also required to reject a paper. Judgments regarding the importance of a paper can be made through open post-publication reviews and we use 91% 92% objective impact metrics to spotlight of our authors rated our of our authors were satisfied with outstanding papers and invite them for collaborative review forum the level of support received by Frontiers’ staff “Focused Reviews”. as good or excellent during the publishing process

22 | 2015 Frontiers 2015 Frontiers | 23 Review Forum at a glance 1 2

3 PROCESS BAR 1 showing precise status of review

Rapid access to 2 SUBMITTED MATERIALS

ACTION SUMMARY 4 3 seen at first glance

TABULAR ORGANISATION 4 of all aspects of the process, including reviewer selection and full process history 5 INTERACTIVE FORUM 5 in which authors, editors and reviewers can communicate in real time

24 | 2015 Frontiers 2015 Frontiers | 25 2015 Frontiers | 27 Objective and democratic IMPACT INNOVATION TIMELINE Complete re-design evaluation of research of Author Impact Metrics, including Social buzz multiple sources for and redesign: views, downloads more details are and citations. Author available directly on Impact Metrics are the article page, news 2015 now directly attached and blog posts about to Loop profiles and the article are included easy to use. via altmetric.com. Multiple notifications Frontiers rolls out to alert authors of a new suit of impact updated impact data. ur Impact Metrics measure the overall These metrics also provide the basis for metrics. 2014 performance and reach of articles the selection of outstanding articles in what First version of Author O and authors in an objective way. They is known as Frontiers Tiering. Impact Metrics based enable you to share the impact of your work on aggregated article data. with collaborators, funders, institutions, and Frontiers Impact metrics for 2012 opens the research community at large. ARTICLE VIEWS AND DOWNLOADS PER YEAR the impact data to profilesbased on everyone and enables viewership. These metrics are available immediately for 38M the community to Demographic metrics every article published by Frontiers and every participate in scoring are a success covering the research. other publication you added to your Loop geographic location, 2011 Altmetric profile, as well as their authors. expertise, gender and

age distributions. Agadgetltmetric is added to the Our metrics offer a real-time view of: frontiersin.org site. • Views & downloads 19M • Citations 2008

• Social buzz (through altmetrics.com data) 12M • Visitor demographics including: age, region Frontiers is the first and field of interest publisher to launch 5M • Aggregated author impact metrics based on article level metrics 2M all of the above 50K 215K and journal level • How your profile is viewed metrics based on 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 views and downloads.

28 | 2015 Frontiers 2015 Frontiers | 29 Impact Metrics at a glance

1 3

FULL HISTORY TOP REFERRING SITES 2 1 of the article views and downloads 5 DETAILED DEMOGRAPHICS TOGGLE 6 of the registered viewers, including 2 between timeline area of expertise, position, age and and bar-chart views gender 4 5

GEOGRAPHIC SUMMARY ALTMETRIC SUMMARY, 3 of international activity 7 showing social networking pick-up, 7 with a link to the detailed Altmetric 4 COUNTRY RANKING analysis 6

30 | 2015 Frontiers 2015 Frontiers | 31 2015 Frontiers | 33 Crowdsourcing HOW TIERING WORKS Focused Reviews are democratically the best discoveries voted high impact articles and address a broader audience

Best articles are ollowing article publication, the impact distills the most outstanding research in this suggested by our metric data is collected, evaluated and crowdsourced way on the basis of impact Author Impact Metrics used as a basis for our Chief Editors to metrics, evaluated democratically for its and selected F by our Chief Editors invite authors of high impact articles to write academic excellence and social relevance. the prestigious “Focused Review”, a free While climbing up from Original Research article type that puts the original discovery into to Focused Review, the research addresses a wider context, for a broader audience and a a broader public and becomes more socially deeper impact. We invented this process and relevant. call it “Tiering.” In 2014, Tiering resulted in the publication Frontiers is so far the only publisher to of 33 Focused Reviews and 25 Frontiers Experts design a system that semi-automatically Commentaries. read and download the articles

Original research articles are published in the Frontiers journals

34 | 2015 Frontiers 2015 Frontiers | 35 2015 Frontiers | 37 Bringing cutting-edge Frontiers for Young Minds is a web-based scientific journal with an editorial board of young people research to the youth NUMBERS (June 2015)

12 45 50 200 Classrooms Articles Scientific Editors Young Minds

A BRIDGE TO THE YOUTH review and assess some of the field’s most cutting- edge research and develop rigorous yet Science and research are the fabric of modern accessible scientific articles that form a journal society and we should all be able to understand for the next generation of scientists. what these discoveries mean and do for us. With Frontiers for Young Minds we build a SUBJECT AREAS COVERED 1’600 15’000 150’000 bridge to young audiences, not only providing Twitter followers Facebook likes Article views them with access to cutting- edge research in • Understanding Neuroscience a form they can understand, but also involving • Understanding the Earth and its Resources

and empowering them in a critical step of the • Understanding Astronomy IN THE PRESS scientific process itself. and Space Sciences • Understanding Health Frontiers for Young Minds is an open-access scientific journal for written for and reviewed by WANT TO GET INVOLVED? 8-15 year olds. We connect a younger audience CURRENT PARTNERS SUPPORTED BY directly with scientists. Working together, they [email protected]

Named a GREAT WEBSITE FOR KIDS by the American Library Association

38 | 2015 Frontiers 2015 Frontiers | 39 HOW YOUNG MINDS WORKS

Once the review 5 process is completed, the article is validated The finished article is by the Associate Editor. published and made freely available on our 8.2675 in website alongside the 8.2675 in 4 reviewers’ names. The scientists behind the original research write an article that translates the discovery into terms accessible 3 The Associate Editor for kids and teens. assigns the manuscript This new article is then to a Young Mind / submitted to Frontiers Science Mentor pair, for Young Minds. who produces a review 2 report. The author must respond to this feedback point by point. 1 Our editorial board identifiesrecent discoveries. These can be articles published by any publisher.

We guarantee the protection of the younger reviewers’ identity and only publish their first names.

40 | 2015 Frontiers 2015 Frontiers | 41 2015 Frontiers | 43 The open network A range of free Loop plugins allows publishers and institutions instantaneous access to a universal that maximizes academic profile and our open research network the impact of researchers INSTITUTION PARTNERS 8.2675 in Continuous and and their discoveries up-to-date professional information, including publication records of your researchers and alumni oop is our open research network with Create your account so Loop a mission to maximize impact and can increase your discoverability L readership for authors and their articles. and boost your impact Loop seamlessly plugs into the environments of researchers, their universities and on published articles via a range of free plugins. There are direct links to your Loop profile, This cross platform integration makes authors which includes all your published work and and their research visible on multiple websites author impact metrics, from multiple journals via a universal Loop profile, which showcases and institutional websites. and disseminates research achievements PUBLISHING PARTNERS and academic impact. Our approach is open, Real-time impact metrics are aggregated collaborative and inclusive and we strive to for you at an article and author level. Data is Publication links lead back to the articles provide a platform where researchers have all sourced from a number of academic platforms in the original journals the tools at their disposal to enhance academic giving you a more accurate impression of your and increase article discovery and impact. universal academic impact. page views

Loop profiles and features are already integrated into 54 Frontiers journals, 34 Nature Publishing Group journals, Universidad Create your profile and let Loop maximise Politechnica de Madrid platform, discoverability for your articles: INTEGRATED PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS and ORCID, with many more partners loop.frontiersin.org to be announced. [email protected]

44 | 2015 Frontiers 2015 Frontiers | 45 Your Loop profile 1 at a glance 2 3

INTEGRATED CO-AUTHORS 4 5 1 Loop is fully integrated into the 5 Your collaborators are automatically Frontiers journal series. You can now displayed for you. also link your Loop profile from your nature.com articles. BRIEF BIO 6 Showcase your career and increase 6 FOLLOW your impact. 2 Stay up-to-date with the research activity of your colleagues. PUBLICATIONS 7 We have found all your published PROFILE PICTURE work for you to easily claim and link to 3 Adding a professional photo increases your profile. your profile views. 7

IMPACT 4 Our impact metrics provide daily 2 feedback on the readership of your articles.

2015 Frontiers | 47 ADVANTAGES OF PUBLISHING IN FRONTIERS

FAST PUBLICATION COLLABORATIVE PEER-REVIEW LOOP RESEARCH NETWORK Average 85 days Designed to be rigorous Our network from submission – yet also collaborative, increases readership to publication fair and constructive for your article

OPEN ACCESS TRANSPARENT GLOBAL SPREAD Articles are free to read, Editors and reviewers 4’000’000 monthly for greatest visibility acknowledged by name page views worldwide on published articles

COPYRIGHT TO AUTHORS IMPACT METRICS SUPPORT No limit to article Advanced metrics By our Swiss-based distribution and re-use track your article’s impact editorial team

Frontiers EPFL Innovation Park, Building I ∞ 1015 Lausanne ∞ Switzerland Tel +41 21 510 17 00 ∞ Fax +41 21 510 17 01 ∞ [email protected] www.frontiersin.org Find us on