BioMed Central Blog

BioPsychoSocial Medicine announce Ikemi Award winner

Every year, BioPsychoSocial Medicine and the Japanese Society of Psychosomatic Medicine present the Ikemi Award in recognition of outstanding research in the field of psychosomatic medicine.

This year, at the 51^st Annual meeting of the Japanese Society of Psychosomatic Medicine, the Ikemi Award was presented to Takehiro Nozaki, M.D., Ph.D. (Kyushu University) for his work on the relation between psychosocial variables and type 2 diabetes. 

The Ikemi award was first introduced in 2002 and is named after the late Dr. Yujiro Ikemi, the first professor of the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine of Kyushu University and leading scientist in the field.

Posted by Srimathy Sriskantharajah at 08:39    Comments (0)

 

BioMed Central launches two new gateways

BioMed Central has recently launched two new gateways in the fields of Endocrinology and Gastroenterology, providing a useful resource to researchers in these disciplines where up-to-the minute information including relevant research, recent news and research highlights can easily be accessed.

Each gateway features an item about a renowned author in the field who has chosen to publish with us, as well as a "News from around the web" section displaying updates on the latest advances or discoveries in the relevant field.

Springer's Author Mapper, which can be used to view the location of BioMed Central authors around the globe, can also be accessed via the gateways, giving a picture of the geographical spread of specialists in these fields.

To view these new resources or to access any of our other 19 research gateways, please visit BioMed Central’s gateways page.

Posted by Sally Robertson at 11:14    Comments (1)

 

Family-centred services for children affected by HIV and AIDS - a new supplement

The Journal of the International AIDS Society, under the leadership of guest editor Linda Richter, is proud to introduce its supplement on ‘Family-centred services for children affected by HIV and AIDS’.

The HIV epidemic continues to place a great burden on children, and the importance that treatment and care for children are integrated into the broader context of family-support schemes is becoming increasingly recognized. In this month’s supplement, Journal of the International AIDS Society has brought together a wide range of articles by leading researchers in the field discussing the rationale for family-centred services and some of the available evidence for the effectiveness of doing so.

The articles presented have been solicited from the ‘The Road to Vienna’ initiative, led by the Coalition on Children Affected by AIDS. The Journal of the International AIDS Society hopes the supplement constitutes a beginning of what could be a groundswell of interest in family-centred services for children affected by HIV and AIDS. Readers are invited to participate in a dialogue on this important and timely issue, by using the ‘comment’ option below each individual article.

 

Posted by Srimathy Sriskantharajah at 16:12    Comments (0)

 

New and improved Impact Factors for BioMed Central journals in 2009 Journal Citation Report

The newly released 2009 edition of Thomson Reuters' Journal Citation Report includes official Impact Factors for 77 BioMed Central journals, 54 of which are new or improved. [See full list of new Impact Factors]

Some highlights:

• Genome Biology (IF 6.63) increased its Impact Factor and remains BioMed Central's most highly cited journal.
• BMC Biology (IF 5.64) is now ranked #4 of 73 in the BIOLOGY category.
• BMC Medicine (IF 3.99) climbs to #18 of 132 in MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL. 
• Five more medical journals in the BMC series received their first Impact Factors:
  • BMC Family Practice (IF 1.71)
  • BMC Medical Genomics (IF 2.66)
  • BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making (IF 1.90)
  • BMC Medical Research Methodology (IF 2.3)
  • BMC Psychiatry (IF 1.83)
• BMC Plant Biology (IF 3.77) remains in the top 10% of the PLANT SCIENCES category, while Plant Methods (IF 2.98) joins the category in the top 15%.
• Biotechnology for Biofuels (IF 4.12) received an impressive first Impact Factor.
• Breast Cancer Research (IF 5.33) has overtaken its closed-access rival to become the highest ranked breast cancer journal.
• Malaria Journal increased its Impact Factor to 3.00, maintaining its position at #2 in the TROPICAL MEDICINE category.
• Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases (IF 5.84) experienced a significant gain, taking it to #7 of 92 in the MEDICINE, RESEARCH & EXPERIMENTAL category.
• Parasites & Vectors (IF 2.05) made its debut in the JCR, ranked #11 of 28 in the PARASITOLOGY category.
• Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica (IF 1.00) saw an increased Impact Factor for the 3rd successive year.
• Journal of Neuroinflammation (IF 4.68) and Molecular Neurodegeneration (IF 5.09) both appeared in the top 20% of titles in the NEUROSCIENCES category.

[Read More]

Posted by Matthew Cockerill at 10:02    Comments (0)

 

BioMed Central celebrates excellence in open access publishing

The winners of BioMed Central’s 4th Annual Research Awards were announced at London’s Swiss Re Tower last week. The event was attended by shortlisted authors, eminent researchers, publishers, open access advocates and science journalists from around the world.

The awards, now in their fourth year, acknowledge excellence in research that has been made universally accessible by open access publication. These awards were particularly special this year as BioMed Central also celebrates its 10th anniversary.

In addition to the Biology and Medicine Prizes, this year saw the introduction of a new prize, the BioMed Central Open Data Award, in association with Microsoft Research. This was presented to Yoosook Lee (School of Veterinary Medicine, UC Davis), for her article in Malaria Journal.

Genome Biology also gave a special award recognising the best article published in the journal during 2009, to mark its 10th anniversary. This was awarded to Ben Langmead (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health), for his research ‘Ultrafast and memory-efficient alignment of short DNA sequences to the human genome’.

Matthew Cockerill, Managing Director of BioMed Central, said "We are thrilled with the range and high calibre of this year's award nominees and congratulate the winners, along with those shortlisted, on their outstanding research. We would also like to thank our sponsors, Microsoft Research and Pfizer, for their continued support of the research awards."

Following the ceremony, BioMed Central hosted an auction to raise money for Computer Aid International. Items included a traditional Zambian king’s mask, an iPad and a cricket bat signed by the England team. Over £2,200 was raised in total.

Photos of the event can be found on our Facebook page and full details of winners can be found at the BioMed Central Annual Research Awards website.

Posted by Charlotte Webber at 12:03    Comments (0)

 

All content on the new-look Genome Biology website free in June

 

Genome Biology has moved to a new website design, joining its sister journal Genome Medicine on a new platform for BioMed Central journals.

To allow all users to explore and appreciate fully the benefits of the new website, which provides a modern and easy-to-use interface for efficient browsing of journal content, all subscription content in the journal has been made free to access until the end of June.

Genome Biology publishes open access research in all fields of biology informed by genomics and all aspects of genomic research. Alongside the original research, Genome Biology subscription content includes systematic reviews, critical assessments, reports, research news and commentary, covering work published both in the journal and elsewhere.


All Genome Biology content is free to access until June 30th.


This year, Genome Biology is celebrating its 10th anniversary, marking the occasion by publishing a collection of exciting reviews and special content that discuss key developments in the genomics field over the last decade. This specially commissioned content, along with all articles in the Genome Biology archive, will be available to all users during June.

For any questions regarding subscription to Genome Biology following the free period, please contact info@genomebiology.com

Posted by Ciaran O'Neill at 10:58    Comments (0)

 

On its 10th anniversary Ensembl publishes a thematic series with the BMC-series

The last 15 years has seen an explosion in genomic research and sequenced genomes. With the build up to sequencing larger chordate genomes it became very clear that manually annotating the billion base pairs of sequence produced was not practical and automated annotation systems were required. Several large organisations have helped address this issue, but the Ensembl project, a joint venture between the European Bioinformatics Institute and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, has in particular provided high-quality integrated annotation on vertebrate genomes within a consistent and open source infrastructure. This year marks the 10^th anniversary of the Ensembl project’s launch, and BioMed Central is today publishing a thematic series of articles describing the construction, content and current use of Ensembl's resources.

The first six articles published today in BMC Bioinformatics and BMC Genomics, co-ordinated by Paul Flicek at Ensembl and the European Bioinformatics Institute, reveal in detail how many of the comparative genomics, variation and regulatory data resources have been constructed. The first article describes the comprehensive web-based functions available for tabulating and visualizing genome variants. A second related article discusses the database and software library supporting the integration of variation data into the existing Ensembl resources.

To be able to keep up with the ever increasing number of genomes reported (51 in the last release), Ensembl has had to use automated workflow systems. Jessica Severin and colleagues present an artificial intelligence pipeline ‘eHIVE’, based on a self-organizing workflow system akin to the behavior of honey bees, to provide updates to its comparative genomics resources. Benoît Ballester and colleagues also demonstrate how the Ensembl microarray annotation protocol handles the release of the latest commercial arrays. To keep a pace with both the increasing demands of users and the terabytes of data now available from the website, Anne Parker and colleagues show how they use caching and optimization techniques alongside Web 2.0 technologies to improve the performance of the Ensembl website.

A final article by Giulietta Spudich and Xosé Fernández-Suárez uses several examples to offer a practical guide for using Ensembl to learn about genomic annotations in regions of interest.

While most of this detailed “behind the scenes” information will not significantly alter the way users access genomic data, it guides molecular biologists to the full range of tools available to them. It will also be of great value to researchers building other bioinformatics applications, and demonstrates how Ensembl is constantly adapting and updating their tools to be able to prepare for its next decade.

Scott Edmunds

Senior Scientific Editor, BMC Series journals

Posted by Scott Edmunds at 16:26    Comments (0)

 

Canine vector-borne diseases – a new thematic series

Parasites & Vectors has published a thematic series grouping together a number of articles recently presented at a symposium on canine vector-borne diseases (CVBDs) in New York in April 2010.

 The aim of the 5th Symposium on Canine Vector-Borne Diseases, sponsored by Bayer Animal Health GmbH, was to facilitate the advancement of understanding in the diversity and prevalence of canine vector-borne diseases, and their significance for veterinary and public health.

 The articles address a number of such diseases, looking at the biological interactions between ectoparasite, pathogen and host, as well as their distribution across the globe. Contributions to the thematic series, edited by Chris Arme, include original research articles, alongside several reviews and short reports.

 If you are interested in publishing articles or proceedings from a conference in a BioMed Central journal, either as a thematic series or journal supplement, please contact journals@biomedcentral.com for further information.

Posted by Srimathy Sriskantharajah at 09:30    Comments (0)

 

Introducing the Open Data Award

In recognition of the fact that science publishing now goes beyond the traditional journal article, we have teamed up with Microsoft Research and Panton Principles to introduce the Open Data Award as part of our 4th Annual Research Awards. Data sharing, its preservation and re-use, is an increasingly important part of the research and publication process. But there are many challenges associated with openly sharing scientific data, particularly when sharing goes against cultural or community norms. 

The Open Data Award celebrates researchers who have published in any of our 207 journals during 2009 and have demonstrated leadership in the sharing, standardization, publication, or re-use of biomedical research data.

We are honoured that Peter Murray-Rust, Cameron Neylon, Rufus Pollock and John Wilbanks of Panton Principles, along with Lee Dirks of Microsoft Research, have agreed to judge the awards along with our in-house Editor, Iain Hrynaszkiewicz, Managing Editor of our special medical journals.

The shortlist will be announced in the coming weeks and the winner will be revealed at the awards ceremony on Thursday, 10 June in London.

Posted by Charlotte Webber at 11:50    Comments (0)

 

Fun at FASEB

This week BioMed Central exhibited at the Experimental Biology meeting in Anaheim, USA where 10,000 delegates descended upon the Convention Centre which was conveniently located next door to Disneyland.

This meeting provided the ideal opportunity to celebrate the relaunch of our new improved BMC Biology incorporating Journal of Biology. To mark the occasion, the journal’s Editor-in-Chief, Miranda Robertson, hosted a party on Monday night. We were thrilled that Greg Petsko, President of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Angelo Azzi, President of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology came along. We were also fortunate to be joined by the distinguished Editors-in-Chief of three of our journals, Hin Wing Yeung (Chinese Medicine), Kuan-Teh Jeang (Retrovirology) and Andrew Lumsden (Neural Development) and a host of other people too numerous to mention.

Naturally, like any party there was cake and champagne. Plus, there were presents. We gave away our new BMC Biology t-shirts which proved to be a hit – so much so that there was a stampede and a lot of disappointed delegates.
 
Most importantly, we got to meet a lot of open access fans and plenty more were interested to hear about open access. It was encouraging to hear so many delegates say ‘it’s the way science will go’.

Pictures from the event can be found at our fan page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/biomedcentral

 

Posted by Charlotte Webber at 13:34    Comments (2)

 

Meeting the challenges of supplement publishing

Publishing supplements in journals is a practice that frequently comes under scrutiny due to the external sources of funding involved.  Some journals choose to avoid publishing supplements altogether to protect against any potential perception that industry involvement might lead to lost objectivity.  In an editorial in the latest issue of Arthritis Research & Therapy however, the Editors set out how supplements can be published without risking scientific integrity.

Editorial    
Challenges and opportunities of publishing supplements at Arthritis Research & Therapy
Frances Mulvany, Jo Baker, Peter E Lipsky, Ravinder N Maini
Arthritis Research & Therapy 2010, 12:113 (28 April 2010)

They outline the rigorous peer-review process that supplement articles undergo before publication, and the full and transparent disclosures that are made by all parties throughout the supplement process – from the initial consideration of an idea through to publication.

Supplements can be a valuable educational resource and, provided relevant guidelines and procedures are followed, editorial independence can be maintained when publishing these articles, which are described by the ICMJE as serving useful purposes.

Posted by Iain Hrynaszkiewicz at 11:46    Comments (0)

 

Evolution and cancer: a mathematical biology approach

 “Cancer is, in some sense, a condensed-time laboratory of evolution” says Marek Kimmel, in an Editorial to introduce a new thematic series published in Biology Direct.

The series brings together cancer researchers and mathematicians to provide insight into the various ways that evolutionary mechanisms relate to cancer, and how these mechanisms can be modeled mathematically. Articles in the series focus on three broad themes; carcinogenesis and the emergence of cancer, evolution and progression of cancer cells and structures, and implications for therapy.

A broad spectrum of areas where evolutionary forces such as mutation and selection are at work are considered; from the level of gene regulation and DNA repair mechanisms disrupted in cancer, to the development of resistance and invasion mechanisms in cancerous tumors themselves.

Mathematical models of the processes relating to cancer have become progressively more infused with genetic and biological details, with the aim of being able to develop functional models reconcilable with the epidemiology of given cancers.

Kimmel states that “qualitative and quantitative understanding of cancer is a necessary condition for engineering approaches to fight it - the latter are still scarce”; the articles in the series illustrate the substantial progress that has been made in this field over the past decade.

Posted by Ciaran O'Neill at 16:29    Comments (1)

 

Section Editors leading peer-review for BMC series journals

BMC Cancer, BMC Genomics, BMC Bioinformatics, and BMC Neuroscience have all begun operating under an enhanced editorial structure with the appointment of academic Editors to head up different sections of each journal. We are proud to be working with such esteemed scientists and we look forward to other journals in the BMC series adopting this editorial structure in the near future.

Under the new structure, each journal is categorised  into sections, and each section is led by a Section Editor with extensive knowledge of the discipline. The Section Editors work closely with a group of Associate Editors to peer-review manuscripts and with the Editor-in-Chief and BioMed Central’s editorial staff to develop their journals by formulating journal policies and encouraging submissions.

This editorial structure ensures that manuscripts are handled by members of the scientific community with expert knowledge of the field, helping to speed up review times and reduce the need for re-review. This continues the BMC series’ mission to provide the most rapid and reliable service to our authors.

Posted by Lisa Phelps at 11:35    Comments (0)

 

Biology flagships join forces

The two flagship biology journals of BioMed Central, BMC Biology and Journal of Biology, are combined today to become a single title with all the best features of both. The combined journal will be called BMC Biology, reflecting the strong relationship with the subject-specific BMC-series journals, but will include high-profile commissioned content that to date has appeared only in Journal of Biology.

The new BMC Biology will publish research and methodology articles of special importance and broad interest across all areas of biology and biomedical sciences, importing from Journal of Biology the re-review opt-out experiment introduced last year to answer the widespread frustration of researchers with current peer review procedures.

The fused journal will be edited by Miranda Robertson, who explains in an inaugural editorial how the journal will reflect and build on the strengths of both parent publications.  

BMC Biology is already listed in Web of Science, tracked by ISI and ranked within the top 2% of all journals listed in Scopus (212 of 17,124). The journal has close to 50,000 registrants and research published in the journal regularly features in the scientific and mainstream press. Highly-cited articles often received upwards of 50 citations and highly-accessed articles receive over 15,000 unique downloads from the journal website.

The journal fusion is marked by a special collection of articles, which introduces a new feature - Video Q&A articles with prominent scientists that provide a platform for leading researchers to express a personal perspective on a variety of scientific topics. The first Video Q&A features Martin Raff from University College London, who explains, as a grandfather and a neuroscientist, his interest in what goes wrong in autism, and  how he thinks genomic and stem cell technology may lead to answers.

Also published today are the first of a series of ‘Hope of progress’ articles on biology relevant to clinical problems, including reviews on biology-based cancer therapy and on vaccine adjuvants. 

Stay up-to-date with new content from BMC Biology, update your RSS feed and sign up for articles alerts.

 

Posted by Charlotte Webber at 13:13    Comments (0)

 

Zebra finch thematic series takes off

The zebra finch joins the chicken today as the second bird species to have its genome fully sequenced. The abilities of this bird to learn songs makes the zebra finch an attractive species to study the neurobiology and evolution of learned behavior. Songbird studies will also shed light on cognitive processes involved in vocal communication and related aspects of brain development and evolution.

With the announcement of the full genome sequence, BioMed Central launches an exciting new thematic series, bringing together zebra finch related research across our journals.

In Journal of Biology, Raphale Pinaud highlights some of the new insights and areas of study that profit from the sequence announced today.With a second reference point in the bird world it is now possible to have an in-depth look into similarities and differences of large-scale genome structures  between birds and mammals.

In an article published today in BMC Biology, Christopher Balakrishnan and co-workers explore the intriguing evolutionary  history of the zebra finch major histocompatibility complex. In a second article in the journal, Fang Xie and colleagues survey the neuropeptidome of the song bird.

Victor Quesada and colleagues report in BMC Genomics  how genomic expansions and deletions shape the  repertoires of proteases in birds and mammals, Estrogenic steroids are responsible to shape the male neural circuits that control zebra finch singing and Sarah London and David Clayton had a close look at steroid related genes in the songbird genome .

As with every new genome, the announcement of the sequence is a first step towards a new research program, rather than the endpoint of it. The questions that can now be addressed, using the song bird as a genomic model, are supported by new genetic tools. In BMC Genomics, Alexander Ball and colleagues explore the types of markers that can be applied to detailed genetic studies.

Our new thematic series takes off today, but we will add further content to the series in the near future. The interest in zebra finch research brings together scientists from backgrounds as diverse as neuroscience, evolutionary biology,  genomics , developmental biology and ecology. From basic questions on the evolution of language to the study of avian virology as a potential threat to human health, the songbird genome will open new doors to understanding. The series will be a home for songbird research from all these fields and we hope that bringing these articles together will prompt continued interest in the wider scientific community and promote fruitful collaborations.

Hans Zauner

Scientific Editor, BMC Series journals

Posted by Scott Edmunds at 13:58    Comments (0)