PLoS ONE named as the new SPARC Innovator:

[Jennifer McLennan <jennifer@arl.org>]

For immediate release
June 30, 2011

For more information, contact:
Jennifer McLennan
jennifer [at] arl [arl] org
(202) 296-2296 ext 121

PLoS ONE named as the new SPARC Innovator
Public Library of Science changes the face of open-access 
publishing, again

Washington, DC -- For blazing a new trail in open-access 
journals, inspiring broader change in scholarly publishing, and 
thriving along the way, SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and 
Academic Resources Coalition) has named the Public Library of 
Science's (PLoS) PLoS ONE as the SPARC Innovator for June 2011.

Launched in 2006 by the San Francisco- and Cambridge-based 
non-profit publisher, PLoS ONE is an interdisciplinary journal 
and groundbreaking new model in which editors and reviewers do 
not assess the potential importance of the work submitted before 
publication. Instead, if the research is found solid, the author 
pays a flat fee and up it goes on the Web.

As when they launched PLoS in 2000, co-founders Pat Brown, 
Michael Eisen, and Harold Varmus considered the situation as 
scientists, this time frustrated by time wasted submitting, 
revising, and resubmitting papers. They aimed to eliminate the 
hassle of traditional journal publishing and help to get out 
research deemed worthy of joining the scientific literature 
through a set of objective criteria. Once vetted by their peers 
in this simplified approach, authors pay $1,350 per article and 
are published.

The innovative new model has led to tremendous success for PLoS 
ONE -- from both publishing and financial perspectives -- and for 
the Public Library of Science. In 2010, PLoS ONE published 6,800 
articles -- as compared to 1,200 in 2007 -- and became 
self-sustaining. In four years, this one journal has become the 
largest peer-reviewed journal in existence; and, on its current 
trajectory, PLoS ONE could be publishing 3 percent of all 
biomedical literature in 2012. The Public Library of Science is 
now the world's largest not-for-profit open-access journal 
publisher.

"PLoS ONE is a game-changer," said Heather Joseph, executive 
director of SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic 
Resources Coalition). "It breaks through the preconception that 
authors -- and readers -- require a journal to determine the 
significance of scientific research, and demonstrates that the 
community is ready and willing to take on that role."

For details on how the Public Library of Science scales the PLoS 
ONE model and how other top publishers have been inspired to 
adopt the concept, read the full June 2011 SPARC Innovator 
Profile at http://www.arl.org/sparc/innovator.

The SPARC Innovator program recognizes advances in scholarly 
communication propelled by an individual, institution, or group. 
Typically, these advances exemplify SPARC principles by 
challenging the status quo in scholarly communication for the 
benefit of researchers, libraries, universities, and the public. 
SPARC Innovators are featured on the SPARC Web site semi-annually 
and have included University of Massachusetts-Amherst professor 
Venture Perez, the Optical Society of America, R. Preston McAfee 
of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena; Harvard 
University Faculty of Arts and Sciences; student leaders; and 
others.

Individuals can nominate their colleagues as potential SPARC 
Innovators at http://www.arl.org/sparc/innovator/nominate.shtml.

For further information or a list of previous SPARC Innovators, 
see the SPARC Web site at http://www.arl.org/sparc.

###

SPARC

SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), 
with SPARC Europe and SPARC Japan, is an international alliance 
of more than 800 academic and research libraries working to 
create a more open system of scholarly communication. SPARC's 
advocacy, educational, and publisher partnership programs 
encourage expanded dissemination of research. SPARC is on the Web 
at http://www.arl.org/sparc.

-------------------------------------
Jennifer McLennan
Director of Programs & Operations
SPARC
jennifer@arl.org