PHG Foundation | Open access publication of evidence on genomic tests

Open access publication of evidence on genomic tests
23 November 2010 | By Dr Philippa Brice | News story

PLoS Currents is an open-access publication forum for very fast dissemination of new research, intended to reduce the traditionally very lengthy process of submission, peer review and publication to the absolute minimum. The advantage of this initiative is to allow rapid sharing of research findings with appropriate scrutiny and review from relevant experts, whilst ensuring that the work is citable, archived in PubMed Central, and searchable in PubMed.

PLoS Currents: Evidence on Genomic Tests provides reviews and summaries on the validity and utility of genomic tests and applications, and aims to highlight gaps in current knowledge. This is a very valuable endeavour since this sort of information has no central repository and can be surprisingly difficult to access. Genomic is used in the broadest sense, encompassing various forms of related diagnostics and applications such as proteomic tests.

PHG Foundation Director Dr Hilary Burton recently joined the editorial board for PLoS Currents: Evidence on Genomic Tests, joining editorsDavid Dotson and Muin Khoury of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, US and Katrina Goddard of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Portland, US.

Dr Burton commented: “Evidence (most notably on the utility of genomic tests) can be difficult to gather, particularly in the context of rare disorders, where traditional large epidemiological studies are impossible. I hope that this venture will provide a valuable way of sharing evidence from experts around the world and building up our body of knowledge in order to improve population health. I am delighted to be joining this exciting enterprise, and look forward to bringing in the wealth of experience from our colleagues in the UK”.
PHG Foundation | Open access publication of evidence on genomic tests