Better models of proteins, the mathematics of malaria, and an enzyme that detects foreign DNA are among the first contents of a new life sciences journal, eLife, launched earlier this month. The open access journal promises to get papers online faster, linking them with plain language summaries, statements of impact, and debate.
Funded by the US Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Germany's Max Planck Society, and the Wellcome Trust in the UK, the journal will not charge authors while it is 'being established'. However, it expects to levy in future 'an article processing charge as part of a broader plan for sustainability.'
Its board of reviewing editors, comprising 175 scientists, includes Australian geneticist John Mattick, director of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and a professorial fellow at the University of NSW.
The eLife journal seeks to distinguish itself from open access "megajournals" by being more selective.
