The Public Library of Science (PLOS), on the eve of its tenth anniversary, has announced that the redesign of all PLOS journals is now live. This refresh seeks to offer users more effective ways to access and read content, update the overall appearance of the sites and harmonise them with the new PLOS look announced earlier this year.
The three goals of this initiative were to ensure that readers can quickly assess the relevance and importance of an article through a figure browser and highly visible Article-Level Metrics; improve site navigation to help users discover content more easily; and launch a flexible platform from which to build out future innovations.
The new user features include more prominent figures – featured throughout articles and search so that one can quickly determine if an article is relevant; enhanced discovery, where in the search reflects PLOS' new expanded taxonomy of subject categories. Also on offer are metrics signposts – sub-sets of ALM data that provide at-a-glance measures of article reach and impact; and custom saved search, wherein users can log in, enter keywords and save, then receive via e-mail new content that precisely meets their interests.
The other new features include author data – clear presentation of affiliations/attribution for each author as well as grouped by institution; abstract and figure viewer – providing new ways for users to get around and find what matters; faster navigation; and clearer tabs for providing enriched article information.
PLOS is said to be taking advantage of the most powerful web technologies to improve its reader experience, promote open access and encourage conversation around the latest research to accelerate progress in science and medicine and lead a transformation in research communication.
