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3rd Annual BioMed Central Editors’ Conference 2012

Welcome and Introduction

Deborah Kahn, Publishing DirectorBioMed Central

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Aims of the day• An opportunity for Editors of

journals published by BioMed Central to: – hear an update on Open Access

generally and on what is happening at BioMed Central

– Meet fellow Editors-in-Chief and discuss issues of mutual importance

– meet with BioMed Central contacts

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A wide spread of journals are represented here today

From those around a decade old,to those which are new to BMC this year

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Open access in 2012

• Over 7750 open access journals in the DOAJ

• Over 1200 open access journals are indexed by Thomson Reuters

• Open access to research is now mandated in nearly 150 institutions and by over 50 funders

• Much debate about OA in the news – the “academic spring”

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In the past couple of weeks...

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“My work on biomedical research in developing countries has shown me that lack of access to current publications has a severe impact.…The vast majority of biomedical scientists in Africa attempt to perform globally competitive research without up-to-date access to the wealth of biomedical literature taken for granted at western institutions.”

Winston Hide, Harvard School of Public Health

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These days, more than ever, efficient access to scientific information is a must, for all kinds ofresearch and innovation.

In particular, researchers, engineers, and small businesses need to access scientific results quickly and easily.

If they can't, it's bad for business: for small businesses, for example, it can mean two years' extra delay before getting new products to market. So if we want to complete globally, that kind of access cannot be a luxury for Europe — it's a must-have.

Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, in a speech entitled “Making Open Access a reality for Science”, 29th May 2012

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Not just impact factor but impact

• BioMed Central has 125 journals tracked by Thomson and 55 open for evaluation

• 80% of the decisions we have received since 2011 have been acceptances. 

• “The timing of these publications worked out perfectly for me.  In June, I will be seeing a doctor who is new to me.  Among others, I have a lesion in my shoulder that is behaving badly and causing a lot of pain.  I read and copied both the publications on surgical and pain management.  They are precise and informative.  I believe these articles will prove to be invaluable for all of us as we seek proper care for this disease"

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Papers published by major OA publishers 2000-2011

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Growing “open access share” in Web of Science

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Subscription Journals

"Full" OA Journals

Share OA Articles

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Funding Open Access• Funding Bodies, Research Councils and Universities

– Including Wellcome, National Institutes of Health– German Research Council (DFG) fund contributes 75% of the

amounts made available through Open Access funds run by individual universities

– NWO in the Netherlands has a fund of €2.5m per year to cover open access fees

– Many universities have established central funds for researchers to cover open access publication costs (see for example COPE)

• BioMed Central Memberships– BioMed Central has 395 members in 44 countries. – Membership allows institutes to actively support open access,

researchers benefit from the removal of some or all of the cost of publishing , the institute has a customized web page all research is listed and linked to the full text.

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BioMed Central• Launched first open access journal in 2000• Now publish 236 OA titles• Over 125,000 peer-reviewed OA articles

published • More than 10 million article downloads per

month• All research articles published under Creative

Commons licence• Costs covered by 'article processing charge'

(APC)• Hosts SpringerOpen portfolio of open access

journals

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BioMed Central submissions

2411589 1683

3349

6894

10793

15145

17950

22957

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35602

42328

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2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

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Different business model changes the publisher’s

focusSubscription model Open access model

Emphasis is on service and value to author rather than selling subscriptions to libraries

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BioMed Central is unique in that we are the only large open access publisher who is keen to publish “independent” journals.

We have proven the model works and, working with you, we are keen to build on this success.

So in addition to focusing on the author experience we are also focused on our the satisf.action of our Editors.

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BioMed Central’s focus

• Key metrics for us are:– Author satisfaction– Editor satisfaction– System reliability– Innovation

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Editor satisfaction survey (September 2011)

Overall score 3.9/5

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Listening to our Editors

• We have– Completed the rollout to new design websites and

supporting platform– Improved journal development support– Set up the Editors Advisory Group and the Senior

Contact Network– Built and implemented a reviewers database– Improved the reviewer experience– Reengineered our production systems– Improved marketing and PR targeting– Extended customer services support to overnight

and weekend coverage

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New Production Process• Significantly streamlines the process of

pre-publication and production making the overall process faster and less cumbersome

• Offers variations on production routes– Author version then final version– Final version only

• Offers various copyediting levels• Options for controlling publication dates, or

linking related articles so they travel through the publication process together

 

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Reviewer database

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Coming soon

– Enhanced peer review tools– Flexible instructions for authors– Date of editorial acceptance

– And much more.........

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Listening to our Authors

One of our key aims as a publisher is to support the

author through the publication process and to help them find a home for

their sound research

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Author satisfaction

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Enhanced service to authors

• New production process to improve speed and author experience. Changes to process will mean fewer requests from production and speedier publication.

• Manuscript transfer tools• Improved article-level metrics • 10 categories of Research Awards to allow

broader visibility of the whole portfolio

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BioMed Central Research Awards – 10 new categories

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In summary

• BioMed Central aims to continue to be at the forefront of open access by providing research communities with a high-quality, innovative publishing service.

•  We look forward to continuing to work with our Editors-in-Chief to improve our journals and the service we deliver.

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Thank you

Deborah.kahn@biomedcentral.com