... [T]he Topaz platform will bring some valuable additional benefits. Authors of research articles, for example, will see an increase in publication speed, as a result of a streamlined publication process. ... We are also introducing a workflow that will help authors who use Latex. Finally, we have a mechanism for highlighting any corrections that need to be made to published articles – this can take place within days, instead of the usual lag of several months ... Once these new processes are bedded in, we hope to shave at least two-three weeks off the time to publication.
Readers will notice some more options when they are looking at the articles – notes can be added, a discussion can be started or joined, and the article can be rated. ...
One final point about these changes concerns the finances of the journals. The streamlined production and web hosting via Topaz brings cost savings too, which will take the journals very close to economic self-sufficiency. If they continue to grow at their current trajectories, one or two of the community journals will be supporting themselves by the end of this year. ...
The migration of PLoS Computational Biology, PLoS Genetics, and PLoS Pathogens places five of our journals on the open source publishing platform called Topaz. PLoS Biology and PLoS Medicine will follow later this year. ...
As announced yesterday, they're still working out some software troubles with the new platform, so you may encounter errors if you visit the sites at this time.
Posted by
Gavin Baker at 3/04/2008 02:14:00 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.
