Press releases

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• On the trail of rogue genetically modified pathogens
  
  
• Scientists unravel the genetic coding of the pea
  
  
• New gene prediction method capitalizes on multiple genomes
  
  
• Generating antibodies in high throughput
  
  
• Blind mice shed light on human sight loss
  
  
• Bar flies: fruit flies help unravel the genetics of alcohol sensitivity
  
  
• Decoding effects of toxins on embryo development
  
  
• Free shopping in a virtual bazaar of gene regulation data
  
  
• Umbilical cord gene expression signals premature babies' lung disease risk
  
  
• The molecular signature of loneliness
  
  
• Air pollution link to clogged arteries
  
  
• The sound of proteins
  
  
• 'Drunk' fruit flies could shed light on genetic basis of human alcohol abuse
  
  
• Predicting chemotherapy outcome
  
  
• New species from old data
  
  
• Fruit flies unlock Methuselah's secrets
  
  
• Comparisons of the new mouse genome sequence
  
  
• Making sense of the human genome: researchers characterize a crucial family of signaling proteins in the human genome
  
  
• Stanford researchers argue that there is indeed a biological base for race
  
  
• Genomic study breathes new life into asthma research
  
  
• Why does a worm need nearly as many genes as a man?
  
  
• Genomes on 'chips' boon to cancer research
  
  
• BioMed Central is pleased to announce the publication of Sydney Brenner's autobiography
  
  
• A genomic blueprint for a sense of smell
  
  
• Researchers to publish a third historic human genome article in Genome Biology this week
  
  
• Human Genome project leaves much of human variation unsampled
  
  
• Diagnosis on a chip - molecular profiling that could improve diagnosis and help design better drugs
  
  
• Gene "shaving" could help doctors predict the efficacy of cancer treatments
  
  
• Whither genomics?
  
  
• Current Science Group declares support for 'PubMed Central' historic development
  
  
• Science publishing - beginning of a revolution?
  
  

Science publishing - beginning of a revolution   26 April 1999

The Current Science Group this week becomes the first commercial publisher to offer all research reports (primary papers) in medicine and biology free of charge, from now on, to individuals through the web. The Group has also decided that its journals will provide a systematic pre-print service for research reports, starting this summer.

The initiative has been taken in response to the new opportunities offered by technological developments, and to a strong feeling among some leading biologists that the way primary scientific reports are published must change. There are already similar moves by scientists and institutions in the USA. The Current Science Group will collaborate with all such initiatives, especially the recent proposal by the US National Institutes of Health, the principal biomedical research agency of the United States Government, to create a central research report depository.

The promotion of free access to research reports and the provision of a free pre-print service are part of the Current Science Group's extensive programme of new journal publishing in medicine and biology, closely integrating on-line services with print based publishing. The new journals will combine extensive reviewing and reporting features with the publication of databases and the provision of new ways of depositing research findings.

The journals involved - Genome Biology, Breast Cancer Research, Arthritis Research, Critical Care Forum, Current Controlled Trials and others - will offer two levels of placement for primary research reports. These will then be available free to individuals through the web:

Pre-print depository (without peer-review).

Reports in the pre-print depository can be submitted for peer-reviewed publication in either the journal operating the depository, or in any other journal, including those not published by the Current Science Group.

Peer-reviewed depository - published papers.

All the new journals will always combine a print and web version into an integrated publication. The print version of all publications will include a listing, in varying amounts of detail, of all research reports in the two depositories, together with reviews, commentaries and reports.

While the complete publications will be available on a subscription basis, access to the pre-print and peer-reviewed depositories within them will be free (through the web to individuals).

The new publications will take full advantage of the presentation benefits of the web, including links, ability to present large data sets, images and moving images, interactive options, searchability and more.

Vitek Tracz, Chairman of the Current Science Group, said:

"We believe science publishing is on the brink of some of its most exciting and far reaching changes. The decision to offer all primary research reports free to individuals is our response to the new opportunities offered by technological developments, the strongly perceived need for a change in the way that primary scientific reports are published, and initiatives by scientists and institutions aimed at addressing this issue."

For further information about this initiative, please contact initiative@cursci.co.uk