The deadline to recommend an article for the BioMed Central Research Awards is fast approaching, with nominations closing on the 31st January.

Now in its 7th year, the awards will celebrate the best research published across BioMed Central’s portfolio of more than 240 open access journals in 2012. There are 10 refined categories covering all areas of Biology, Medicine and Health services research, as well as dedicated prizes for case reports, open data and advocacy, The awards this year will allow us to distinguish the articles that deserve recognition across several disciplines.

Each category will be overseen by a dedicated judging panel of internationally recognised leaders in their respective fields, including Edith Perez (Cancer), Alun Williams (Animal Science, Veterinary Research and Zoology), Martin McKee (Public Health and Health Services Research) and Jamie Timmons (Computational and high-throughput studies in genomics and systems biology). The winner of each category will automatically be shortlisted for the prestigious BioMed Central Research Award which carries a $5,000 prize for the winning article.

Last years’ BioMed Central Research Award winner, Áine McKnight said, ”At the time receiving the prize was a fantastic morale boost for my group. I’ve been an advocate of open access publishing from the early days. I’ve come to appreciate, even more, that if the work is significant publishing in an open access journal is the best way to ensure widespread and general exposure.”

To make a nomination please visit the awards website. Don’t let your favourite article miss out.