Digital Science, a business division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Group and a technology incubator focused on jumpstarting innovation in the research community, has awarded 'Catalyst Grant' to Penelope, an 'automated manuscript scrutiniser' that ensures the drafts that authors submit to their publishers are perfect.
The Catalyst Grant Program helps incubator companies or individuals with an innovative idea to support scientific research to develop their initiative, by awarding a monetary grant. Apart from the financial backing, Digital Science will provide a home for Penelope's staff at its base in London's King's Cross and the expertise needed to bring the product to market.
The program, founded and run by Digital Science, aims to support and invest in early stage, innovative scientific software ideas with an award of up to £15,000 each to the most promising ideas for novel uses of information technology in science. It has awarded more than £65,000 in grants to date.
Due to the high number and quality of entrants, Digital Science decided to award two grants this year. The second will be announced later this month.
Penelope's aim is to improve scientific research by providing a commercially viable way for journals to enforce good scientific practice and adhere to mandates set by funders. The automated tool screens manuscripts for common reporting errors and helps researchers improve their work before submitting it to a journal. It suggests improvements, tells authors why they are important and shares links to further resources.
Penelope ensures manuscripts cite their data, adhere to subject specific reporting guidelines, report statistics soundly and include all necessary sections and statements. It helps authors make their work more valuable and accessible to other researchers, whilst vastly reducing processing times and costs for publishers.
The Catalyst Grant Program is an international initiative to support the innovation of new software tools and technologies for scientific research.
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