Monthly Archives: September 2014

Which system of peer review for you?

blindfold

It’s two years now since the journals BMC Pharmacology and BMC Clinical Pharmacology merged to create BMC Pharmacology and Toxicology. Chris Morrey, the Executive Editor for the journal marks the occasion with a birthday post over on the BMC series blog. In merging a biology journal that has ‘traditional’ anonymous peer review (BMC Pharmacology) with… Read more »

Publishing

MozFest: Bringing the Web to Science

Mozilla_infographic_D5R3

In just a month’s time from now, Mozilla will be hosting their annual Mozilla Festival (“MozFest” for short), which for the 2nd year will feature a Science Track, which this year we will be contributing to through a 3-hour sprint on author contributorship, the journal article, and the Open Badges Infrastructure. We’re organising this with our friends… Read more »

Publishing Technology

Publication ethics in North America – COPE North American Seminar 2014

COPE

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) North American Seminar was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA this August with a record breaking attendance from across the region of 81 delegates, including myself representing BioMed Central. The focus of the seminar was new technologies and behaviors for identifying publication ethics issues and those present were fortunate to be involved… Read more »

Publishing

‘You might as well patent oxygen’ – an unashamedly unbalanced take on Australia’s support for gene patents

patent cartoon

Last year, a rainbow coalition of civil liberties campaigners, cancer patients and eminent geneticists – heck, even Jim Watson! – argued before the US Supreme Court that gene sequences are a product of nature and therefore ineligible for patent protection. And the Supreme Court replied, in all its refined wisdom: 'Well, duh!' A nine-to-nothing unanimous… Read more »

Biology Health Medicine Technology
1