The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) has named the Public Library of Science's (PLoS) PLoS ONE as the SPARC Innovator for June 2011.
Launched in 2006, 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 the same is uploaded on the Web.
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 journal claims to have 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 SPARC Innovator program recognises 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.
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