F1000Research, an Open Access life-sciences journal launched in January 2013, has pioneered a uniquely fast and transparent Open Science Publishing model enabling research papers to be published within a week. After analysing its first few months, F1000Research shares that on average, articles go live within seven days of acceptance, with 35 percent of those published within four days or less.
F1000Research achieves such speedy publication as a consequence of its innovative and completely open post-publication peer review process. All accepted articles are published immediately and are then reviewed, openly, by named referees. This system puts science into the public domain without unnecessary delay. It encourages fair, honest and fast peer review, with most articles receiving two referee reports within two weeks.
F1000Research's first articles span topics from cell biology to public health and are freely accessible to all at F1000Research.com.
The journal further encourages transparency by requiring publication of complete data sets for all papers, where appropriate, and making them freely available for sharing and reuse. In addition, the journal encourages the submission of non-traditional article formats, such as data papers.
F1000Research will publish all research, regardless of potential impact. It is dedicated to encouraging scientists to publish null and negative studies, replications, and other results not normally accepted by standard journals, in the belief that all research should be communicated because doing so helps prevent redundant work and ultimately saves time and valuable funding. In addition, F1000Research will publish all article types, not only classic research papers, but also case studies, single findings, protocols, data-only papers, posters, commentaries, opinion pieces, reviews and other information that is valid and useful for other scientists.
