PLoS celebrates milestone
PLoS is delighted to announce that our 50,000th research article was recently published. To everyone who has contributed to this achievement – from our authors, editors, and reviewers to our staff, board, and advocates at large– we’d like to offer a well-deserved thank you.
“This milestone represents a significant contribution toward the public resource of unrestricted scientific research now open for discovery,” said Peter Jerram, CEO of PLoS. “We are proud to publish high-quality, peer-reviewed research that anyone can freely access at any time.”
In our annual 2012 author survey, journal quality was cited as one of the top reasons authors chose to publish with PLoS. Authors also appreciate the fact that one of our core values is providing ways to overcome unnecessary barriers to immediate availability, access, and use of research.
We still have a lot of work ahead of us–only a small proportion of the world’s scientific and medical research is open access. However, the movement is gaining momentum. Governments, colleges and funders are beginning to fully understand its benefits both economically and to society as a whole. A recent petition calling for open access to government-funded research gathered 25,000 signatures in just 2 weeks, demonstrating widespread support for the idea that everyone should see the results of taxpayer-funded research.
The Public Library of Science was born out of a simple belief that the internet offered a better way to publish scientific and medical research. The huge community support we’ve garnered is testament to the success of PLoS as a publisher and to full open access as a business model that is leading a transformation in research communication.