Public Library of Science

Public Library of Science
source
Name	Public Library of Science
Founder	Patrick O. Brown, Michael Eisen
Country	United States
Publications	PLOS ONE, PLOS Biology, PLOS Medicine

Public Library of Science is a nonprofit scientific publishing organization founded by Patrick O. Brown, Michael Eisen, and Harold Varmus in 2000, with the goal of making scientific research more accessible and open access. The organization is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and has been supported by Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Sloan Foundation, and National Institutes of Health. The founders were motivated by the need for more open access to scientific literature, and were influenced by the work of Aaron Swartz and the Budapest Open Access Initiative. The organization has been recognized for its innovative approach to scientific publishing by The New York Times, Nature (journal), and Science (journal).

History

The history of the organization dates back to 2000, when Patrick O. Brown and Michael Eisen wrote an open letter to scientific publishers, calling for more open access to scientific research. The letter was signed by Harold Varmus, David Baltimore, and other prominent scientists, including James Watson and Francis Crick. The organization was officially launched in 2001, with the support of Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and Sloan Foundation. The first journal published by the organization was PLOS Biology, which was launched in 2003, followed by PLOS Medicine in 2004, and PLOS ONE in 2006. The organization has also been influenced by the work of Tim Berners-Lee and the World Wide Web Consortium.

Organization

The organization is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and has a staff of over 200 people, including editors, publishers, and software developers. The organization is governed by a board of directors, which includes Patrick O. Brown, Michael Eisen, and Harold Varmus, as well as other prominent scientists and publishers, such as Vint Cerf and Larry Lessig. The organization also has a network of academic editors and reviewers, who are responsible for evaluating and publishing scientific research, including Eric Lander and Jennifer Doudna. The organization has partnerships with University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as other research institutions, including National Institutes of Health and European Molecular Biology Organization.

Publications

The organization publishes several scientific journals, including PLOS ONE, PLOS Biology, and PLOS Medicine. These journals are open access, meaning that they are available to anyone with an Internet connection, and are published under a Creative Commons license, which allows for reuse and redistribution of the content, as advocated by Lawrence Lessig and Richard Stallman. The journals are also peer-reviewed, meaning that the scientific research is evaluated by other experts in the field before publication, including Nobel laureates such as James Rothman and Randy Schekman. The organization has also launched several other journals, including PLOS Computational Biology and PLOS Genetics, which are edited by Eric Davidson and David Haussler.

Business_model

The organization's business model is based on article processing charges, which are paid by the authors or their institutions to cover the costs of publication, as used by BioMed Central and Hindawi Publishing Corporation. The organization also receives funding from grants and donations, including support from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Wellcome Trust. The organization is a nonprofit, meaning that any surplus is reinvested in the organization to support its mission of making scientific research more accessible, as stated by Patrick O. Brown and Michael Eisen. The organization has been recognized for its innovative approach to scientific publishing by The New York Times, Nature (journal), and Science (journal).

Impact

The organization has had a significant impact on the scientific publishing industry, by promoting open access and transparency in scientific research, as advocated by Peter Suber and Stevan Harnad. The organization's journals have published thousands of scientific articles, which have been viewed and downloaded millions of times, including articles by Nobel laureates such as Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol Greider. The organization has also been recognized for its innovative approach to peer review, which allows for post-publication review and commentary, as used by F1000Research and The Winnower. The organization has been supported by National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and other research funding agencies, including European Research Council and Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The organization has also partnered with Wikipedia and other open access platforms to make scientific research more accessible to a wider audience, including Wikimedia Foundation and Open Access Button.

Category:Scientific publishing