... The structural papers not only represent an advance for the epigenetics field, but also an advance for how the science was done. The concurrent publication of the three papers highlights the competitive nature of this field, but in fact these papers were made possible because the [Structural Genomics Consortium], in keeping with its policy of making its data freely and immediately available, made the underlying information available in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) late in 2007. The availability of this information allowed the other groups to make more rapid progress in their own work.
"By releasing the structural information into the public databases as soon as it was available, we have ensured that other research groups could make immediate and maximum benefit from the shared knowledge," says Professor [Sirano] Dhe-Paganon [of the SGC].
[Masahiro] Shirakawa openly acknowledges that the SGC data was crucial to his team's paper, which also appears in the journal Nature. "Structural biology is a complex, but very important field, with the potential to drive forward important research in many areas. The information provided by the SGC significantly speeded up our own work."
The SGC's "open source" policy contrasts with the accepted practice in the structural biology field, which is to make the underlying data available only after the work appears in print. However, Professor Al Edwards, Director of the SGC, believes strongly that data such as the 3D structure of proteins should be made freely available as soon as they are discovered.
"From the outset, it's been important to us to release our structural data immediately," says Professor Edwards. "This is contrary to the way many scientists work, but we believe it is crucial for facilitating scientific and medical progress, and our policy has not inhibited our ability to publish our work in the top journals. All the protein structures studied by the SGC have medical relevance and making them freely available ensures that scientists are able to use them to make progress in our understanding of disease and the development of new drugs."
Posted by
Gavin Baker at 9/06/2008 08:20:00 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.
