New online science journal swamped by traffic

With CIOL Bureau inputs

WASHINGTON: A new scientific journal that challenges the expensive heavyweights that have dominated the world of research hit the Internet this week, and since then, has been swamped by unprecendented web traffic.

The journal, called the Public Library of Science Biology, is backed by leading scientists such as Dr. Harold Varmus, former director of the National Institutes of Health and now chief executive officer of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

They want to speed up the pace at which research is published, and also make it accessible to even the poorest of graduate students.

It will be available on the Internet at http://www.plosbiology.org. The non-profit group that backs PLoS is based in San Francisco and will launch a second journal, PLoS Medicine, next year.

The scientific journals that now control the world of scholarly publishing can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year. They usually require a lengthy "peer review" process in which experts raise questions about studies and suggest changes to written reports.

Researchers complain the process takes too long and most journals require them to keep quiet about their research while it is in press.

But the journals, which include Nature, Science and hundreds of more specialized publications, virtually control the process by which scientific information is reported and shared.

"Scientists want their work to be seen and used," Varmus, chairman of the PLoS Board of Directors, said in a statement.

"The outstanding science in the first issue of PLoS Biology shows that many scientists believe in open access and are willing to demonstrate their convictions by sending their best work to a brand-new and non-traditional journal."

Among them are Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, who publishes a report on using brain implants that allowed monkeys to play a video game using only their thoughts.

"It was a very important point for us. It was a very clear statement," Nicolelis said in a telephone interview.

"We need wider, broader access for scientific data. People need to have more access, quicker and more affordable. Important results have to reach the community and society at large faster," added Nicolelis, who has previously published his research in Nature, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Science and other journals.

"I think PloS is a great step forward in that direction. This is one of our best papers. We have published in all the major journals and we felt this was a way for us to support this public effort."

Authors of articles in PLoS pay $1,500 to cover the costs of carrying out peer review, editing, and managing production.

"Science thrives on the free flow of information," said Dr. Patrick O. Brown of Stanford University in California, a co-founder of the new journal.

"By removing restrictions on the sharing of knowledge -- ensuring that anyone, anywhere can access the latest research findings -- PLoS Biology will speed the pace of scientific discovery."

© Reuters