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The 24^th March is annual World TB day, remembering Dr Robert Koch’s discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis on 24 March 1882. The day aims to increase public awareness of the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic which continues throughout much of the world, despite ongoing substantial and vital scientific research.

In their 2017 Global Tuberculosis report, the WHO estimated that there were 10.4 million new cases of TB. Challenges that were highlighted in this report were the disparity between diagnosis and treatment, only 61% of the estimated incidence of cases were actually diagnosed, and the continuing emergence of multi-drug resistant TB. Issues such as these are expected to be addressed in the UN General Assembly high-level meeting on TB in 2018, which ties in nicely with this year’s World TB day theme ‘Wanted: Leaders for a TB-free world’.

University College London and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine will be commemorating World TB day with their 2018 symposium taking place at LSHTM. In collaboration with the organisers we’re very pleased to be hosting a World TB Day collection on F1000Research, which highlights contemporary research innovation and future challenges in tuberculosis. The evidence published here could help influence decisions taken by leaders during this year’s UN General Assembly.

The collection, which will run beyond World TB day, invites contributions in the way of research articles, data notes, opinion articles and study protocols, among many other article types. Articles already published as part of the collection cover topics such as social determinants and BCG efficacy; the epidemiology of TB and human cytomegalovirus infection; and research into the monocyte to lymphocyte ratio association with BGC administration.

The F1000Research publication model means authors decide what results they want to share rather than editors. This means all articles submitted to the collection will be published on average seven days after final submission and then undergo invited open peer review. All articles that are submitted before the end of September will receive a 20% discount, just use the code WTB2018 when submitting your manuscript.

One of the first articles published in the collection was an editorial from the collection’s advisors: Helen Fletcher, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; Molebogeng X. Rangaka, University College London; Gillian Tomlinson, University College London; and Ankur Gupta-Wright, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. To mark World TB day, we spoke to one of the advisors, Helen Fletcher, about how she sees this collection support research into TB. 

Why is it important to have this World TB Day collection for TB research?

The UK is a world leader in TB research and development and the World TB Day collection provides an opportunity to highlight the strength and diversity of TB research in the UK and also around the world. We also recognise the power of a collective voice and the additional impact that can be gained from a focused collection of research outputs. This is of particular importance in 2018 as there will be a high-level UN general assembly meeting where heads-of state will, for the first time, gather together to discuss TB. We need to be talking about TB and taking action against TB and this World TB Day collection is part of that action.

What do you think are the benefits of this publishing and open peer review model?

Post-publication invited open peer review, enables articles to be shared within days of submission and provides immediate open access to research results. The UN general assembly meeting is in September 2018 – time is running out to influence the conversation with your research. Have you got something to say? The open peer review publishing model enables “real time” publication and sharing of research findings. If you want impact and you want it quickly this is the best publication model you could use.

Why is this year’s theme ‘Wanted: Leaders for a TB-Free World’ important?

We need action on TB in 2018, we need world leaders to take responsibility and commit to tackling TB.