 BioMed Central has launched a new journal with a unique peer-review model to recognize the importance of public input in co-producing knowledge. Research Involvement and Engagement has an Editorial Board that is representative of both patients and academics, with all articles peer reviewed by both groups and carrying equal weight in the Editorial decision.
For the launch, the journal published a study revealing that research on treatments for health problems, such as diabetes, stroke and schizophrenia, was not being focused on the treatments considered most important by patients and clinicians. Co-authored by Iain Chalmers, one of the founders of the Cochrane Collaboration, the study suggests that current research is instead favoring drug treatments over physical or psychological therapies, the latter of which are priorities for patients and clinicians.
| BioMed Central journals see growth in Impact Factors |
Nine journals in BioMed Central’s publishing portfolio received their first impact factor in the recently published Journal Citation Report 2014, meaning that 171 BioMed Central journals now have Impact Factors, 104 of which are in the top half of their categories. Of particular note are the new impact factors for Biology of Sex Differences with an Impact Factor of 4.84 and Infectious Diseases of Poverty receiving an Impact Factor of 4.11.
Molecular Neurodegeneration is now the highest ranking open access journal in the Neurosciences category, with an Impact Factor of 6.56, and overall is one of the highest ranked journals dedicated to neurodegeneration research.
BioMed Central’s flagship journals have also seen increases in their Impact Factors over the last year. Genome Biology now has an Impact Factor of 10.8, making it the highest ranking open access journal in the Biotechnology and Applied Microbiology category, and fifth out of all 162 journals in this category. BMC Biology has grown to 7.98, making it fourth out of 85 in the Biology category.
| Pathfinders on the way to open access |
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 JISC recently highlightedthe Pathfinder projects that it has been working on with UK higher education institutes to help with the implementation of open access. With open access policies varying from institution to institution, the Pathfinder projects aim to develop ‘real world’ models of good practice that meet the open access policies of research funders.
Developing these models has focused on five areas: cost management; workflows; policy and strategy; systems and metadata, and advocacy/communications to researchers. There are currently projects being undertaken by institutes such as University College London, Oxford Brookes University and University of Bath. More information and a full listing of current projects can be found here.
| Research integrity takes centre stage in Rio de Janeiro |
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Representatives from the research and publishing worlds converged on Rio de Janeiro at the beginning of June for the 4th World Conference on Research Integrity. This seemed like the ideal place to launch BioMed Central’s new journal Research Integrity and Peer Review, which is now accepting submissions.
While at the conference, three of the journal’s four co-Editors-in-chief presented. As part of the EQUATOR Symposium, Iveta Simera discussed the consequences of poor reporting in medical literature. Also at the symposium Stephanie Harriman, co-Editor-in-chief and Medical Editor at BioMed Central, presented alongside Associate Publisher Daniel Shanahan on what we have done to improve published research. One of the plenary talks was delivered by co-Editor-in-chief Elizabeth Wager on the subject ‘Why waste in research is an ethical issue’.
| Upcoming conferences to focus on open access |
Registration has opened for two conferences. This year’s Conference on Open Access Scholarly Publishing will take place at The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in Amsterdam from September 15 to 17. Confirmed speakers in the preliminary program include Sander Dekker (Minister of Education, Culture and Science, The Netherlands), Dick Wilder (Gates Foundation) and Juliane Ritt (Springer Nature).
OpenCon will be hosted in Brussels from November 14 to 16. This conference is dedicated to the three areas of open access, open data and open education, and focused on students and early career researchers. The program is currently being put together by the organizing committee based on input from the community they represent. You can keep up-to-date about OpenCon by signing up here.
 New research sheds light on why cats are such fussy eaters and intrigued many cat owners the world over. The research published inBMC Neuroscience showed how cat taste receptors respond in a unique way to bitter compounds compared with human receptors. This gives a first glimpse into how domestic cats perceive bitterness in food at a molecular level.
The research was covered by Science magazine. It was also picked up internationally inThe Times, Daily Mail, and The Naked Scientists in UK; Bao Moi in Vietnam; The Statesman and Chennai Online in India; Sciences et Avenir and Metro news in France; La Stampa in Italy; lenta.ru in Russia.
Researchers from Deakin University, Australia investigated the link between sedentary behavior and anxiety. The research, published in BMC Public Health, showed that activities such as watching TV, working at a computer or playing electronic games, are associated with mental health problems.
There was a lot of attention for the research in the US, reported by prominent media channels and outlets, including ABC, CBS, KCTV, Fox news, and The Huffington Post. It was widely reported in the authors’ home country of Australia, being covered in Brisbane Times, The Courier and The Sydney Morning Herald to name but a few.
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