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F1000Research is now open to all disciplines. Here, F1000’s Guillaume Wright introduces physical sciences and engineering researchers to the open research publishing platform and its benefits.

What is F1000Research?

F1000Research is a broad scope, open access publishing platform. All aspects of publishing on F1000Research embrace the philosophy and practices of open research:

• F1000Research publishes all articles open access
• Our invited peer review model is open and transparent — both reviewer names and peer review reports are available alongside the published article
• Open commenting is available on every article to encourage discussion among the wider community
• Our open data policy is in place to maximize reproducibility, discoverability, and collaboration
• We offer a range of article types and article versioning

Overall, F1000Research values rigor, reproducibility, and the intrinsic value of individual research outputs.

Developing open research in physical sciences and engineering 

Open research is a framework, and some journals are adopting some elements of that framework. However, none offer the same breadth of opportunities to embrace open research as F1000Research.

F1000Research offers one of the most progressive and innovative forms of open research for physical sciences and engineering researchers. As such, we are well-positioned to support researchers encouraged by their funders, institutions, and research assessment bodies to adopt open research practices.

Key challenges to address

Researchers in the physical sciences and engineering are at the forefront of many of the major challenges we face in the 21st century. In the same breath, there is increasing demand for pioneering approaches to transition research into solutions.

On F1000Research, we intend to address the same challenges where it is critical to share research openly. Whether that is fundamental questions about the universe’s origins or humanitarian issues such as climate change, clean energy, and sustainable infrastructure. 

We also wish to improve transparency and knowledge equity around innovative technologies of fundamental value to society. These include:

• Applications of quantum research 
• Novel materials 
• Artificial intelligence 
• Machine-learning technologies 

Telling the full story of your research

F1000Research puts the decisions of what, when, and how to publish in the hands of authors. It removes traditional barriers to publishing by focusing on the rigor and quality of work rather than its novelty. Additionally, we allow authors to publish null, negative, and confirmatory studies. We offer multiple flexible, format-free article types that go beyond the traditional Research Article. These article types cater to the variety of outputs that naturally result from the research cycle. As a result, authors can take full advantage of their grant-funded research.

A variety of benefits for researchers

You can publish your research without delay on F1000Research. Crucially, your article will be discoverable and citable during the open peer review period. 

Furthermore, by sharing your data and methods, you can receive credit for your work across the research cycle — not to mention that this can lead to more citations and greater potential for future collaboration.

You can also be confident that you are publishing with a reputable outlet compliant with all existing open access funder mandates, including Plan S. As a result, equal access is granted to anyone who wants to read and use your research.

Finally, your research will draw the attention of F1000Research’s global, multi-disciplinary readership and be indexed in leading databases, such as Scopus. Taken together, these benefits show how you can maximize the impact of your work and improve reproducibility in research.

Opportunities to submit your research

If you have research to share, we invite you to explore our current Gateways and Collections. Some of our established Gateways include Chemical Information Science, Climate Action, and Agriculture, Food and Nutrition. Additionally, there are the recently-opened thematic Collections around Energy Systems Modelling and Nanotoxicology. All of these Gateways and Collections are open for submissions.

Finally, we will be launching more topical Gateways and Collections in the coming months on energy, nanotechnology, and quantum technology. F1000Research welcomes proposals from the community for Collection theme topics.

Final thoughts

Ultimately, F1000Research aims both to serve the research community, and develop alongside it. We are building a sustainable, quality alternative to the existing journal publishing landscape, with the principles of open research as the driving force. We can only achieve this by working collaboratively with the research community with open ears. 

We’re excited to be working with physical sciences and engineering researchers to advance open research within their communities and across academic publishing. We encourage researchers in these fields to get in touch with ideas, thoughts, and feedback. We’re excited to be working with you.