BioMed Central
Encyclopedia
BioMed Central is a UK
-based, for-profit scientific publisher specialising in open access journal publication. BMC, and its sister companies Chemistry Central
and PhysMath Central
, publish over 200 scientific journal
s. Most BMC journals are now published only online. BMC describes itself as the first and largest open access science publisher. It is owned by Springer Science+Business Media
. The Managing Director is Matthew Cockerill.
concept for open-access publishing was scaled back. The first director of the company was Jan Velterop
. In 2002, the company's business model evolved to include article processing charges, and these have since been the primary source of revenue.
Tracz's SNG also publishes The Scientist
(a popular science
magazine—the daily news section is free access; the remainder is by subscription), Faculty of 1000
(a subscription-only current awareness service highlighting recent biological and medical research), Global DataPoint, Telmap and People's Archive. Other companies that have been part of SNG in the past include Current Medicine Group, which publish medical books, journals, websites and the Images.MD medical image database (both acquired by Springer in 2005), Current Drugs (acquired by Thomson Reuters
), and Current Biology
and the Current Opinion
journals (acquired by Elsevier
).
In October 2008, it was announced that BMC, Chemistry Central
, and PhysMath Central
had been acquired by Springer Science+Business Media
, the second largest STM publister.
In November 2008, BMC became an official supporting organisation of HIFA2015 (Healthcare Information For All by 2015)
.
, Genome Biology
, Genome Medicine, Arthritis Research and Therapy, Breast Cancer Research, and Critical Care
. It also produces the BMC series
of 64 journals covering the fields of biology and medicine, and including the leading titles BMC Biology
and BMC Medicine
. Chemistry Central Journal and the PhysMath series of journals are also produced by the company. Most of the other journals published by BioMed Central are owned and produced independently by societies and academic editorial boards, with BioMed Central providing the hosting, publishing platform and marketing.
All journals are published online; some of the flagship journals have in the past also been available as print subscriptions, but currently Arthritis Research and Therapy is the only journal to offer this. Publications in BioMed Central journals are, immediately upon publication, released under the Creative Commons "Attribution" license
which grants permission to reuse publications and produce derivative work. The only exceptions to this are the flagship journals, which reserve rights on review and commentary content; those articles are available to purchase on a subscription or on a pay-per-view basis, becoming freely available (but not fully open access) to all after six months.
The company also hosts three biomedical databases: Cases Network, a database of medical case report
s; Current Controlled Trials, a database of clinical trials; and Biology Image Library. The company also provides hosting for institutional repositories of publications based on the DSpace
platform under the brand Open Repository.
The company resells subscriptions to the review journals of its former sister company, Current Drugs, on its platform. Those journals are now published by Thomson Reuters
and are not open-access.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-based, for-profit scientific publisher specialising in open access journal publication. BMC, and its sister companies Chemistry Central
Chemistry Central
Chemistry Central, launched August 22, 2006, is a for-profit scientific publisher specializing in open access publication in chemistry. It is operated by BioMed Central and as such part of Springer Science+Business Media....
and PhysMath Central
Physmath Central
PhysMath Central was an imprint of Springer Science+Business Media, publishing online open-access scientific journals. It operated from 2009 until 2011.Journals published were:* PMC Physics A* PMC Physics B* PMC Biophysics...
, publish over 200 scientific journal
Scientific journal
In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. There are thousands of scientific journals in publication, and many more have been published at various points in the past...
s. Most BMC journals are now published only online. BMC describes itself as the first and largest open access science publisher. It is owned by Springer Science+Business Media
Springer Science+Business Media
- Selected publications :* Encyclopaedia of Mathematics* Ergebnisse der Mathematik und ihrer Grenzgebiete * Graduate Texts in Mathematics * Grothendieck's Séminaire de géométrie algébrique...
. The Managing Director is Matthew Cockerill.
History
BioMed Central was founded in 2000 as part of the Current Science Group (now Science Navigation Group, SNG), a nursery of scientific publishing companies. SNG chairman Vitek Tracz developed the concept for the company after NIH director Harold Varmus's PubMed CentralPubMed Central
PubMed Central is a free digital database of full-text scientific literature in biomedical and life sciences. It grew from the online Entrez PubMed biomedical literature search system. PubMed Central was developed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine as an online archive of biomedical journal...
concept for open-access publishing was scaled back. The first director of the company was Jan Velterop
Jan Velterop
Johannes Josephus Marinus Velterop is a science publisher. Born in The Hague, The Netherlands, he was originally a marine geologist and became a science publisher in the mid 1970s. He started his publishing career at Elsevier in Amsterdam...
. In 2002, the company's business model evolved to include article processing charges, and these have since been the primary source of revenue.
Tracz's SNG also publishes The Scientist
The Scientist
The Scientist: Magazine of Life Sciences is a professional magazine intended for life scientists. Coverage includes reviews of widely noticed research papers, informing its audience of current research, updates to technology, updates to career information, profiles of scientists achieving...
(a popular science
Popular science
Popular science, sometimes called literature of science, is interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is broad-ranging, often written by scientists as well as journalists, and is presented in many...
magazine—the daily news section is free access; the remainder is by subscription), Faculty of 1000
Faculty of 1000
Faculty of 1000 is a service for researchers and clinicians that provides ratings of and commentary on scientific research papers. The service acts as a filter, identifying and evaluating the most significant articles from biomedical research publications...
(a subscription-only current awareness service highlighting recent biological and medical research), Global DataPoint, Telmap and People's Archive. Other companies that have been part of SNG in the past include Current Medicine Group, which publish medical books, journals, websites and the Images.MD medical image database (both acquired by Springer in 2005), Current Drugs (acquired by Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters Corporation is a provider of information for the world's businesses and professionals and is created by the Thomson Corporation's purchase of Reuters Group on 17 April 2008. Thomson Reuters is headquartered at 3 Times Square, New York City, USA...
), and Current Biology
Current Biology
Current Biology is a scientific journal that covers all areas of biology, especially molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, neurobiology, ecology and evolutionary biology. The journal is published twice a month and includes peer-reviewed research articles, various types of review articles, as...
and the Current Opinion
Current Opinion
Current Opinion is a publisher of review journals on various subjects of biology owned by Elsevier . Each issue, published every two months, contains one or more themed ‘sections’ edited by scientists who specialise in the field and invite authors to contribute reviews aimed at experts and...
journals (acquired by Elsevier
Elsevier
Elsevier is a publishing company which publishes medical and scientific literature. It is a part of the Reed Elsevier group. Based in Amsterdam, the company has operations in the United Kingdom, USA and elsewhere....
).
In October 2008, it was announced that BMC, Chemistry Central
Chemistry Central
Chemistry Central, launched August 22, 2006, is a for-profit scientific publisher specializing in open access publication in chemistry. It is operated by BioMed Central and as such part of Springer Science+Business Media....
, and PhysMath Central
Physmath Central
PhysMath Central was an imprint of Springer Science+Business Media, publishing online open-access scientific journals. It operated from 2009 until 2011.Journals published were:* PMC Physics A* PMC Physics B* PMC Biophysics...
had been acquired by Springer Science+Business Media
Springer Science+Business Media
- Selected publications :* Encyclopaedia of Mathematics* Ergebnisse der Mathematik und ihrer Grenzgebiete * Graduate Texts in Mathematics * Grothendieck's Séminaire de géométrie algébrique...
, the second largest STM publister.
In November 2008, BMC became an official supporting organisation of HIFA2015 (Healthcare Information For All by 2015)
HIFA2015 (Healthcare Information For All by 2015)
Healthcare Information For All by 2015 is a global network of health professionals, producers of reference and learning materials, librarians, technologists, researchers, and policymakers...
.
Products
BioMed Central owns and produces in-house six flagship journals: Journal of BiologyJournal of Biology
The Journal of Biology was a scientific journal published by BioMed Central. It was launched in 2002 with the aim to provide an open-access alternative to the Top-tier Biology journals Nature, Science and Cell...
, Genome Biology
Genome Biology
Genome Biology is an online partially open access scientific journal that publishes original, peer-reviewed research in genomics. It is published by BioMed Central , and is currently the BMC journal with the highest impact factor...
, Genome Medicine, Arthritis Research and Therapy, Breast Cancer Research, and Critical Care
Critical Care (journal)
Critical Care is an online open access peer-reviewed medical journal covering intensive-care medicine published by BioMed Central....
. It also produces the BMC series
BMC journals
The BMC-series of journals are a collection of over 100 online research journals published by BioMed Central. Like all BioMed Central journals, they have a policy of open access to the research articles they publish. Between them, they cover all major subject areas within biology and medicine...
of 64 journals covering the fields of biology and medicine, and including the leading titles BMC Biology
BMC Biology
BMC Biology is an online open access scientific journal that publishes original, peer-reviewed research in all fields of biology, together with opinion and comment articles. The journal is part of a series of BMC journals published by the UK-based publisher BioMed Central...
and BMC Medicine
BMC Medicine
BMC Medicine is a peer-reviewed electronic-only medical journal published since 2003 by BioMed Central, addressing topics in "all areas of medical science and clinical practice"....
. Chemistry Central Journal and the PhysMath series of journals are also produced by the company. Most of the other journals published by BioMed Central are owned and produced independently by societies and academic editorial boards, with BioMed Central providing the hosting, publishing platform and marketing.
All journals are published online; some of the flagship journals have in the past also been available as print subscriptions, but currently Arthritis Research and Therapy is the only journal to offer this. Publications in BioMed Central journals are, immediately upon publication, released under the Creative Commons "Attribution" license
Creative Commons licenses
Creative Commons licenses are several copyright licenses that allow the distribution of copyrighted works. The licenses differ by several combinations that condition the terms of distribution. They were initially released on December 16, 2002 by Creative Commons, a U.S...
which grants permission to reuse publications and produce derivative work. The only exceptions to this are the flagship journals, which reserve rights on review and commentary content; those articles are available to purchase on a subscription or on a pay-per-view basis, becoming freely available (but not fully open access) to all after six months.
The company also hosts three biomedical databases: Cases Network, a database of medical case report
Case report
In medicine, a case report is a detailed report of the symptoms, signs, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of an individual patient. Case reports may contain a demographic profile of the patient, but usually describe an unusual or novel occurrence....
s; Current Controlled Trials, a database of clinical trials; and Biology Image Library. The company also provides hosting for institutional repositories of publications based on the DSpace
DSpace
DSpace is an open source software package that provides the tools for management of digital assets, and is commonly used as the basis for an institutional repository. It supports a wide variety of data, including books, theses, 3D digital scans of objects, photographs, film, video, research data...
platform under the brand Open Repository.
The company resells subscriptions to the review journals of its former sister company, Current Drugs, on its platform. Those journals are now published by Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters Corporation is a provider of information for the world's businesses and professionals and is created by the Thomson Corporation's purchase of Reuters Group on 17 April 2008. Thomson Reuters is headquartered at 3 Times Square, New York City, USA...
and are not open-access.
See also
- BMC journalsBMC journalsThe BMC-series of journals are a collection of over 100 online research journals published by BioMed Central. Like all BioMed Central journals, they have a policy of open access to the research articles they publish. Between them, they cover all major subject areas within biology and medicine...
- Trials (journal)Trials (journal)Trials is an open access, peer reviewed online journal regarding performance and outcomes of randomized controlled trials. The journal is published by BioMed Central whose editors in chief are Doug Altman Curt Furberg, Jeremy Grimshaw, and Peter Rothwell...
- Open Access Scholarly Publishers AssociationOpen Access Scholarly Publishers AssociationThe Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association is an industry association which aims to promote open access publishing and to establish best practices in the field...
, of which BioMed Central is a founding member
External links
- Science Navigation Group
- Open Access News by Peter SuberPeter SuberPeter Suber is the creator of the game Nomic and a leading voice in the open access movement. He is a senior research professor of philosophy at Earlham College, the open access project director at Public Knowledge, a senior researcher at SPARC , and a Fellow at Harvard's and...
- Vitek Tracz, founder of open access publisher BioMed Central, talks to Richard Poynder