Open In Order To Succeed: PLOS Cross-Journal Initiative Helps Manuscripts Take Flight

[Sheryl P Denker, PhD]

All properly executed science deserves to be published as quickly as possible. One common frustration of scientists related to publication speed is the review-rejection cycle that in action resembles a cross between cycling on a hamster wheel and jumping through a hoola-hoop. To offer authors a way out of this cycle of delay, PLOS launched a journal transfer initiative earlier this year that provides authors an alternative to starting from scratch for papers not initially accepted by a subset of PLOS journals.

How It Works

Manuscripts submitted to PLOS Computational Biology, PLOS Genetics, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases or PLOS Pathogens undergo the usual rigorous peer review. The paper’s editors assess the reviews and if they decide the work does not meet the journal’s criteria for perceived novelty or impact but is sound, well-designed and well-executed, they will offer acceptance and publication in the multidisciplinary journal, PLOS ONE. Publication can take place in as little as three weeks after the offer is accepted by the authors.

Papers which merit publication will go through the peer review and revision process only once, saving authors, reviewers and academic editors time, speeding the way to publication for quality research.

Why It Works

The benefit to authors is that instead of rejecting the paper outright, editors now may use the decision letter to offer either immediate publication or publication after minor revisions. Importantly, to move the paper along faster for authors – rather than moving the goal posts – the same academic editor will consider the revision. This also ensures consistency of the feedback to authors and expedites the work for editors. Provided the authors agree to the offer, the manuscript will be published in PLOS ONE with both the original date of submission to PLOS Computational Biology, PLOS Genetics, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases or PLOS Pathogens and the name of that journal’s academic editor listed in the article’s metadata. As for all articles published by PLOS, this metadata appears together with citation, copyright, data availability, funding and competing interest information.

Open In Order To Succeed

PLOS has piloted this initiative over the past six months and we’re pleased to report that with substantial support from journal editorial boards and uptake from authors, we will continue this initiative that relieves authors, reviewers and editors of some of the repetition involved in publishing while bringing quality work to the public, faster. There are now notifications of the program on the relevant journal “Editorial and Peer Review Process” pages. Alongside existing manuscript transfer routes between PLOS journals, this newest initiative offers an effective means for scientists to rapidly communicate ideas, results and discoveries to each other and to the broader public.

Open Access has changed the way readers and researchers around the world discover, use and reuse the scientific literature. Open data provides opportunities for new analysis, new discovery and even previously unrecognized new directions in research. Together with open source software, open source hardware and preprint servers, forward movement along the path toward a more Open Science has the potential to expand the venues, styles, and frequency of sharing work. Let your manuscript take flight! PLOS authors who take this opportunity for rapid publication in PLOS ONE can play an active role in accelerating the discovery and dissemination of their work. With International Open Access Week right around the corner, what better motto to adopt than Open In Order To Succeed—for it is success that we seek for reviewers, editors and most importantly, all authors.

This article was originally posted on The Official PLOS Blog.