Dear subscribers,
Since the summer of 2016, ASAPbio has been iterating on a proposal for a “Central Service” for life sciences preprints, a database that would aggregate preprints from multiple sources and make them easier to access by humans and machines. We explain the benefits of such a service in a recent blog post.
Yesterday, 11 funders endorsed a set of principles for establishing a Central Service for preprints, and ASAPbio released an RFA to invite potential suppliers to apply to provide it. These developments were covered in articles in Nature, Science, and The Scientist, and more information can be found on the Wellcome Trust, MRC, and NIH websites. We welcome any thoughts or reactions through comments on the web or by email to jessica.polka (at) asapbio.org.
We’re also continuing our engagement with scientific societies. On February 23, we will hold a Scientific Society Preprint Town Hall meeting at NAS in Washington, DC to discuss how preprints can benefit scientific societies in the future. The meeting will feature perspectives from scientists, funders, and societies that are innovating with preprints. Please encourage your scientific societies to attend! More information is available by emailing jessica.polka (at) asapbio.org.
In other exciting news, the list of funding agencies supporting the use of preprints as evidence of productivity is growing: since December, HFSP, Wellcome Trust, MRC, and HHMI have announced new policies on allowing these products to be listed in grants and reports. We’ll continue to monitor these and other developments to policies at funding agencies, journals and institutions.