A PLoS Hub is a window onto content in a specific field, and it will collect together open-access articles from many journals. A PLoS Hub allows a group of people who are interested in the same subject to share their opinions and knowledge and, ultimately, to build a dynamic, interactive community.
Open access is ideally suited to community building because everything published is available for anyone to download, print, and share, without restriction. The interactive tools for rating, annotating, and discussing articles included in the PLoS Hub allow users to enhance the value of research findings, to provide novel insights, and to accelerate scientific progress....
Why does the first PLoS Hub cover clinical trials?
Clinical trials research is a field in which the benefits of transparency are well documented, which is why PLoS is committed to publishing the results of all clinical trials regardless of outcome, and making this essential information freely and publicly available.
We can publish clinical trials research more effectively by merging PLoS Clinical Trials with PLoS ONE, and launching the PLoS Hub for Clinical Trials. For authors of clinical trials articles published in PLoS ONE, this brings these added benefits:
Faster turnaround times (acceptance to publication in as little as three weeks)
Lower publication fees
Interactive tools and functionality—ratings, annotation, and discussion threads....
Can I submit a paper to the PLoS Hub for Clinical Trials?
No —a PLoS Hub is not a journal. You should continue to submit your work to the PLoS journal that best suits your needs. If you submit your clinical trials paper to PLoS ONE it will automatically appear in the PLoS Hub for Clinical Trials. If you submit your work to another PLoS journal a link to the paper will be provided on the PLoS Hub homepage, and the article will be fully incorporated into the PLoS Hub in the coming months.
Is the PLoS Hub for Clinical Trials a work in progress?
Absolutely. We will be adding more PLoS content, as well as open-access content from other journals, and we will be launching more PLoS Hubs on different topics. We will also be adding new functionality to the site, and are launching the PLoS Hubs in "beta" so that we can work with the community to help shape this and future PLoS Hubs.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 9/29/2007 01:14:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
