Newsletter volume 23: Hello from Iratxe, COVID-19 preprint resources, increased visibility for journal review & preprint policies

Dear all,

May has been a busy month for ASAPbio, we have launched new resources related to preprints, and continued to engage with many colleagues in conversations about transparency in peer review and open science; details below.

Hello from Iratxe

Earlier this month I joined ASAPbio as Associate Director. I am thrilled to be part of ASAPbio’s important work to drive innovation and openness in science communication.

A little bit about me – After doing research in biotechnology for several years, I moved into publishing, I worked in the editorial team for the BMC series (BioMed Central) before joining PLOS to work on the journal PLOS ONE, most recently as Deputy Editor-in-Chief. I am also involved with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) as Facilitation and Integrity Officer.

I have developed a passion for open research and a growing interest in preprints. I am excited to have an opportunity to contribute to initiatives towards greater transparency to the communication of life sciences research.

I am looking forward to working with the members of the ASAPbio Community. In my immediate to-do list I have the upcoming start of the ASAPbio Fellows program and to look into how to most efficiently engage with all of you.

If you have comments, suggestions or feedback, I would love to hear from you, please feel free to contact me at iratxe.puebla@asapbio.org.

ASAPbio resource for preprints and rapid communication of COVID-19 research

With so much information around COVID-19 being released, it can be challenging to keep up to date with preprint activity related to the outbreak. To help you find the latest preprints on COVID-19 and to keep up to date with initiatives around the early sharing of research related to the pandemic, we have developed a dedicated page with a number of tools and resources, you can read more about it on the blog and browse the resources on this page.

We welcome suggestions for additions and updates to the page, so if you have any items you would like to see included, please let us know.

COVID-19 preprints per week from https://icite.od.nih.gov/covid19/search/

Clarivate’s Master Journal list now displays Transpose information

Clarivate’s Master Journal list, a tool to assist authors in finding the journal that fits their needs, is now displaying Transpose information. Transpose is a community database of journal policies, it provides information on the type of peer review the journal operates, transparency around reviewer identities and reports, co-reviewing policies and preprint-related policies for over 3,000 journals.

The Master Journal list also integrates information from topfactor.org, a project by the Center for Open Science that catalogs journals’ implementation of the TOP (Transparency and Openness Promotion Guidelines).

We are delighted to see the data from Transpose reused to increase transparency and visibility for authors around journal policies.

ASAPbio Fellows Program

Applications recently closed for the ASAPbio Fellows program. We had a great response and we were really pleased to see the interest from the community in learning more about preprints. We have selected a cohort of 26 participants for the initial Fellows program cycle and we will be starting with an orientation session on June 3.

We look forward to providing further updates on the accomplishments of the program participants over the coming weeks.

News Roundup

Events

ASAPbio will participate in

Jessica will participate in a panel on media coverage of preprints in a National Association of Science Writers webinar on June 3 (must be a member to register)
Jessica will discuss preprints in the time of COVID-19 in the session ‘Preprints and independent peer review services in crisis times’ on June 12 as part of the online EASE meeting.

Other events