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Michael Markie discusses a new gateway on F1000Research that aggregates all research outputs published on our platform related to global disease outbreaks, making the information on endemics, epidemics or pandemics publicly available so that others can respond to an outbreak effectively.

Sharing all disease outbreaks information is crucial

We are pleased to announce a newly created hub on F1000Research, the Disease Outbreaks Gateway. This gateway has been created to provide a platform to enable the sharing and review of all types of findings discovered during major disease outbreaks. This includes not just the standard research articles but many other types of outputs such as collaboratively written policies on what actions to take during such emergencies, or what doctors, nurses, humanitarians and aid workers on the ground are learning through their hands-on experience that typically gets lost once the disaster recedes.

“We encourage all public health and aid agencies and researchers working in topics related to this current outbreak and similar disasters to think about submitting their work to the gateway to help extend the visibility of this important information that could be vital for others working on tackling these unfortunate events.”

This is crucial information that can be used both during the emergency to update processes and support ongoing research, as well as important learnings for future emergencies, and yet this information is typically hidden on a disparate range of websites or never shared at all.

The inception of the gateway is in response to the current outbreak of Ebola in Democratic Republic of Congo. Along with other funding bodies, publishers and research organisations, we are signatories to a joint statement released by Wellcome that demonstrates our commitment to providing the services and infrastructure to enable the rapid sharing of research findings and data relevant to this outbreak.

Our model of publication is especially valuable for these types of situations. For findings that need to undergo peer review, our immediate publication process means that any new findings can be shared right away. Our mandatory open data policy means that the data that any new findings are based on are shared (subject to data and patient confidentiality issues) such that others can immediately start to reuse them and/or try to replicate them. And our fast and transparent post publication peer review model means that others can benefit from the views of other experts in quickly assessing the new findings.

It’s not just research articles that are important…

The new gateway also enables the sharing of ‘Documents’ which are outputs that do not need peer review, and could include policies on how to set up treatment centres, guidelines on use of protective equipment, burial procedures, policy briefings, etc as well as short case reports from those working on the ground and any other type of information that needs to be shared in a timely manner. These can be uploaded immediately and will be fully open access and citable for others to read and reuse.

Some examples of these documents can be seen in our Disease Outbreaks gateway from Dr Juliet Bedford, Founder and Director of Anthrologica, a research-based organisation specialising in applied anthropology in global health. She has uploaded a strategic document that shares the statement of action from the Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform, and a policy brief that summarises key socio-cultural considerations concerning events related to death, burial, funerals (rites or ceremonies), and mourning in the context of the outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Dr Juliet Bedford, Founder and Director of Anthrologica:

“In the context of a public health emergency, it is vital that information from researchers, institutes and public health agencies is shared as widely as possible. We need to make information available to responders, both globally and in country, so that the growing evidence base can help shape interventions and we can collaborate effectively to stop disease transmission and improve health outcomes.”

To submit to the gateway is simple; just upload your articles, documents, posters or slides via the simple submission form.

If you have any questions about the gateway, then please do feel to contact us at info@f1000research.com.