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Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak

The novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak is both saddening and concerning. The scientific community has come together rapidly to address this outbreak in an open and collaborative manner. As a publisher, we look to support the global response to this outbreak by sharing and amplifying research data and findings relevant to the outbreak. We are re-committing to a joint statement to rapid and open sharing of research data findings, coordinated by Wellcome, available here

Here is what we are doing:

  • We are fast-tracking submissions related to the virus or this outbreak across all our seven journals. Fee waiver assistance is available as needed.
  • We strongly encourage all authors submitting coronavirus papers to PLOS journals to also post a preprint, or if appropriate allow us to post to bioRxiv on their behalf at submission. We also strongly encourage all authors with coronavirus papers already under review at PLOS to post their work as a preprint as soon as possible, if they have not already done so
  • We strongly encourage all members of the scientific community with expertise in coronavirus or disease outbreaks to volunteer their time to review preprints and papers under review, and to also curate, reuse, repurpose, annotate, and otherwise guide people to resources for tackling this incident. For example, Outbreak Science Rapid PREreview (https://outbreaksci.prereview.org) is a web application for open, rapid reviews of outbreak-related preprints. The most recent preprints relating to the novel coronavirus outbreak – posted across bioRxiv and medRxiv – can be found using this search link.
  • We commit to assisting authors in providing their data and findings to the WHO on submission to the journals
  • We will be updating our Disease Forecasting and Surveillance Channel with research related to coronavirus (https://channels.staging.plos.org/dfs)

As a matter of course, the research and underlying data we publish in all seven of our journals is open by default from the time of publication, and we encourage and enable preprint posting at every opportunity. Posting a preprint or sharing data ahead of submission never pre-empts publication in PLOS journals. 

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