Analysis and news
A dynamic and rapid evolution Leon Heward-Mills and Rebecca Lawrence discuss the Taylor & Francis acquisition of F1000 Research
When we announced the acquisition of F1000 Research in early January, it is fair to say that we did this with a mix of excitement and some element of trepidation. Research communication is being
disrupted, and to the casual onlooker, on one side we had F1000 Research, one of the leading drivers of innovation in open research, on the other Taylor & Francis, one of the larger publishers whose portfolio of more than 2,700 journals largely still follows traditional peer review processes and workflows. When you look beneath the surface,
however, this partnership is rooted in pragmatism and ambition. We both share the goal of dynamically and rapidly evolving research communication – working in partnership with the communities we work alongside. The last few years have been
characterised by debate, at times polarised, on the future of research communication and the roles of the various actors in that process. More often than not this debate has focused on cost, transparency, ownership and access, which are all important issues. However, our belief is that there are other equally important factors at play. The problems the world faces in the 21st century demand a different approach to convert applied, expert and advanced research into solutions, quickly, and we all have a part to play in ensuring that this happens. Well-documented challenges in the
current system include: • Discoverability, reproducibility and problems of research waste;
• A lack of interoperability of research and collaboration across disciplines;
• Public perception – trust and truth; • How to rapidly convert new discoveries into real-world impact; and
• How to maximise speed of generating and communicating new knowledge. All of this is against a backdrop of a proliferation of knowledge and data: today’s expanding human knowledge corpus can no longer be contained on
20 Research Information April/May 2020
“Researchers, funders, provosts, librarians and scholarly societies share a vision”
a library shelf, or even on all shelves contained in all 45,000 global academic libraries combined. There needs to be a new approach to research communication. Many of those involved in research,
scholarly communication and policy making (including ourselves) are resolute in finding solutions to these issues. Researchers, funders, provosts, librarians and scholarly societies share a vision for the work they deliver, fund and support to have impact beyond the academy. Sometimes, however, the various actors have found themselves talking at cross- purposes, as they seek to solve the same problems in different ways. Furthermore, real progress in transforming the system requires collective action across these different actors Our goal, through this partnership, is
to transform research communication workflows across all disciplines, to speed up research and to provide mechanisms that enable (and indeed encourage) researchers to rapidly communicate and debate all types of discoveries, regardless of format or perceived impact. Alongside this, we want to champion openness and transparency to deliver knowledge to the benefit of all, and in doing so to play
our part in solving what isn’t working for everyone under the current system.
Research communication fit for the 21st century When F1000 Research launched in 2013, it presented a completely new model of publication, combining ‘pre-printing’ with quality and transparency through rigorous editorial checks, FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data support and invited open peer review. This model provides authors with
autonomy throughout the publishing process and provides readers with direct access to the views and criticisms of peers on the work. It also aims to support a shift away from using the venue of publication as the main indicator for assessing research outputs and researchers themselves. As a new startup, it was in the enviable position to dream up a workflow for research communication, unbridled by many of the issues facing legacy publishers. In the intervening years, the model has matured and has been adopted by leading funders and research organisations, who have set up dedicated platforms using this publication model, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust. In the same timeframe there has been
an explosion of new open research ideas and initiatives. Some of those that Taylor & Francis has been involved with include supporting I4OC as a founding member, being an early adopter of Open Science Badges, launching a suite of data-sharing policies, signing the TOP guidelines,
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