BioMed Central The Publisher

Becky Fishman Membership Director [email protected] http://www.biomedcentral.com BioMed Central

Independent online publishing house Publishing peer-reviewed research across all areas of biology and medicine, with immediate, barrier-free open access for all. Part of the Current Science Group of independent companies Offices in , New York, Philadelphia and Tokyo Scientific Publishing….

What is the current publishing model? What’s wrong with it? What are the alternatives? Today’s (soon yesterday’s) print-derived model:

Manuscript PublisherPublisher © Author transfers copyright or exclusive publishing rights

Only those who can Free Result: afford expensive Use subscriptions or licences have access “What are publishers doing for us?”

‘I think scientists all over would be shocked to realise what a phenomenally lucrative business scientific publishing can be.’

Nicholas Cozzarelli- editor in chief of the PNAS Scientific Publishing….

What is the current publishing model? What’s wrong with it? Traditional role of the publisher is under scrutiny

Subscriptions and licences limit access To be useful, research must be used To be used (read, cited, applied, extended) it must be accessible Prices do not reflect quality or costs Subscription prices have increased by as much as 146% in 10 years – e.g. Brain Research 1991: £3,713 2001: £9,148 Authors lose rights e.g. to put their paper on a publicly accessible server Often inefficient and slow Scientific Publishing….

What is the current publishing model? What’s wrong with it? What are the alternatives? What Alternatives?

Open Access Achieved by reversing the business model From output-paid, to input-paid No subscription/licensing charges Article Processing Charges Further financed by alternative revenues such as advertising and subscription journal sales. Open Access: the BioMed Central model

Manuscript PublisherPublisher

$ Author pays small amount of money or rather, institution pays on author’s behalf

Result: OPEN Everyone has access @CCESS All use is fair use Some Open Access Initiatives ¾ PR Initiatives • Public Library of Science • Budapest Open Access Initiative ¾ Facilitators •SPARC • PubMed Central ¾ Publishers • BioMed Central • Public Library of Science (coming soon!) Open Access PLoS

Public Library of Science open letter initiative http://www.publiclibraryofscience.org/ An initiative for and by scientists, reflecting the groundswell of opinion in the research community C.30,000 signatories so far Will not publish in, or serve on editorial board of any journal that doesn’t archive research content on public server within 6 months of publication date. Open Access BOAI

Budapest Open Access Initiative http://www.soros.org/openaccess Generated from OSI meeting in Budapest in December 2001 Emphasis on self-archiving and starting new journals to compete with existing high-cost journals Open Access PubMed Central

Part of the National Institutes of Health of the USA A repository (not a publisher) of research articles from participating publishers PNAS, BMJ, Institute of Physics, BioMed Central, but few others A permanent archive of research material Open Access BioMed Central

BioMed Central supports the goals of PubMedCentral, PLoS and BOAI BioMed Central Advantages

Immediate and continuous publication None of the spatial constraints of print True free access for all Not even compulsory registration, except when using search function Fast, efficient peer review Very high visibility 200 downloads per article per month Authors have access to download figures Authors keep copyright and control BioMed Central More Advantages Permanence Archived in PubMed Central Searchable and retrievable Included in PubMed immediately upon publication (applications to Medline outstanding) Published in one journal, but cross-listed in other relevant ones Deposited in CrossRef, indexed by BIOSIS, CAS and others Extensive promotion for outstanding articles Opportunities to link to and from updates BioMed Central’s Peer Review Process

Online – rapid 2 reviewers plus statistician, if necessary Open, with signed comments posted For medical journals only Decision on whether to publish based on validity (even negative results are published) BioMed Central Journals

BMC Rule #1: If it’s RESEARCH, it’s OPEN ACCESS! BMC Open Access Journals Biology Medicine Medical Imaging Biochemistry Anesthesiology Medical Informatics and Bioinformatics Blood Disorders Decision Making Biotechnology Cancer Medical Research Cell biology Cardiovascular Disorders Methodology Chemical Biology Clinical Pathology Musculoskeletal Disorders Developmental Biology Clinical Pharmacology Ecology Complementary and Nephrology Evolutionary Biology Alternative Medicine Neurology Genetics Dermatology Nuclear Medicine Genomics Ear, Nose and Throat Nursing Immunology Disorders Ophthalmology Microbiology Emergency Medicine Oncology Molecular Biology Endocrine Disorders Ophthalmology Neuroscience Family practice Oral Health Pharmacology Gastroenterology Palliative Care Plant biology Geriatrics Structural Biology Health Service Research Pediatrics Infectious diseases Pregnancy and Childbirth International Health and Psychiatry Human Rights Public health Medical Education Pulmonary Medicine Medical Ethics Surgery Medical Genetics Urology

New Journals Start your own This facility empowers scientists to launch new journals in specialist areas All they have to do is: Provide a scope statement Assemble an editorial board Select a journal title Provide lists of potential authors BioMed Central provides a publishing platform, a web site and technical expertise for the journals BioMed Central New Journals Some examples of new, autonomous, journals using BioMed Central’s infrastructure and technology: BioMed Central Revenues Article Processing Charges (APCs) of $500 per published paper Automatic waivers for authors from developing countries – and to others on a case-by-case basis Institutional membership Includes automatic APC-waivers for authors from member institutions Advertising Article Charges Who pays?

Preferably not authors themselves

Bodies that finance research, such as institutions funding bodies Companies

BioMed Central Institutional Membership

Sponsorships Institutional Membership Annual fee, usually proportional to the relevant number of researchers and faculty at each institution OSI-funded memberships available on application Automatic waivers of article processing charges Dedicated pages on BioMed Central site on which papers published at the institute are listed and linked to their servers 15% discount on paid-for products such as and images.MD

OSI-Funded institutional members Semmelweis University, Czech Academy of Budapest Sciences, Prague University of Debrecen, Jessenius Faculty of Hungary Medicine, Slovakia Palacky University, Charles University, Prague Prague Republican Clinical Rudjer Boskovic Hospital, Moldova Institute, Croatia University of Natal, Bogazici University, South Africa Turkey University of the Orange Ministry of Health, Free State, South Africa Kyrgyz Republic BioMed Central Open Access: The New Scenario

Authors take charge: author choice Publishing becomes a service to researchers and their communities – not selling of content No need for copyright transfer from author to publisher Massively increased exposure for research work Introduces competition – breaks monopolies journals (publishers) have – enhances market efficiency More cost-effective for academia ‘It is the scientists who are going to have to figure out how they want their work to be available’ Mary Case – Association of Research Libraries BioMed Central

Thank You

Becky Fishman Membership Director [email protected] http://www.biomedcentral.com