Springer Nature continues to drive OA with launch of brand new OA journal series
Discover Journal series from largest OA publisher enables swift route to OA through enhanced author services
London | Heidelberg 23rd June 2020
Springer Nature continues to drive the transition to open access (OA) with the launch of a new fully OA journal series. The Discover series introduces a new streamlined OA publishing experience, extending Springer Nature’s commitment to OA by supporting quick access to high quality research to aid the advancement of scientific discovery.
The Discover series will consist of up to 40 new titles covering topics from across the full range of applied science, physical, life, medical and social science disciplines. The series puts the author at the heart of the publication process and aims to publish manuscripts 7-10 weeks from submission - whilst maintaining the high levels of research integrity expected of any Springer Nature title. The Discover series will also seek to address the issue of reproducibility and negative publication bias by introducing Registered Reports (1) across the portfolio for authors conducting hypothesis-driven research.
Speaking of the series, Toby Charkin, Publishing Director, commented:
“Taking advantage of publisher resources, AI and deep learning technologies , we can streamline the submission process and shorten the time to publication. Combine this with both in-house and external editorial expertise, and the Discover series offers a more user-friendly, personal journey for authors. We are committed to becoming more efficient in delivering value to and serving our research community. We see this new series as a positive example of that commitment.”
As a new fully OA series, the journals will complement Springer Nature’s comprehensive portfolio of around 600 OA journals, including Nature Communications and Scientific Reports, and will build on the over 100,000 OA articles published each year by Springer Nature.
Alison Mitchell, Chief Journals Officer at Springer Nature, said:
“As a leader in OA for the past 20 years and as the largest OA publisher we continue to drive forwards open research - be this through our active role in the OA transition, through the development of sustainable routes to publication or through the launch of new OA books or journal series such as the Discover series. We know that there are real benefits to authors when publishing OA, from increased citations, higher numbers of downloads and greater overall impact. With the Discover series it is our aim to not only enable authors to take advantage of the benefits of OA within these broad spectrum journals, but to also enhance that experience once they are there through a simple, personalised route to OA publication.”
The first in the series, Discover Sustainability, launches today and is a multi-disciplinary OA community focused journal publishing results from across all fields relevant to sustainability research. The journal aims to support multi-disciplinary research and policy developments addressing all 17 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Founding Director of the European School of Sustainability Science and Research and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Professor Walter Leal further commented:
“The launch of this new journal is very important since, as the international community engages in the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, it meets the need for a publication which addresses matters related to sustainable development in a truly inclusive and holistic way.”
More on the journal can be found here. Further details on Springer Nature’s OA strategy and SDG approach can be found here and here respectively.
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(1) Registered Reports allow authors to submit their rationale and methods for peer-review before any experiments are conducted. Articles that pass peer-review will be accepted in principle meaning that, as long as the study is completed in accordance with the pre-registered methodology, the article will be published following a second round of peer-review. Registered Reports shift the emphasis from research results, to the scientific questions being asked and the strength of the study design. The goal is to make it easier for high-quality research to be published regardless of the outcome, allowing researchers to take a proactive approach towards improving transparency and reproducibility in science. Authors will also benefit from having their experimental designs peer-reviewed, providing the opportunity to respond to expert feedback prior to conducting experiments.
For over 175 years Springer Nature has been advancing discovery by providing the best possible service to the whole research community. We help researchers uncover new ideas, make sure all the research we publish is significant, robust and stands up to objective scrutiny, that it reaches all relevant audiences in the best possible format, and can be discovered, accessed, used, re-used and shared. We support librarians and institutions with innovations in technology and data; and provide quality publishing support to societies.
As a research publisher, Springer Nature is home to trusted brands including Springer, Nature Research, BMC, Palgrave Macmillan and Scientific American. For more information, please visit springernature.com and @SpringerNature
Katie Baker| Head of Communications
katie.baker@springernature.com
