What is PLoS?

• PLoS stands for the Public Library of Science: http://www.plos.org

• An online publisher of peer-reviewed scientific and medical journals

• A mission-driven non-profit organization committed to making the world’s scientific and medical literature a public resource

PLoS aims to: • Open the door to the world's library of scientific

knowledge by giving any scientist, physician, patient, or student - anywhere in the world - unlimited access to the latest scientific research.

• Facilitate research and inform medical practice and education by making it possible to freely search and access the full text of every published article for ideas, methods, experimental results, and observations.

• Enable scientists, librarians, publishers and entrepreneurs to develop innovative ways to explore and use the world's treasury of scientific ideas and discoveries.

What is PLoS Medicine?

• The leading open-access general medical journal

• An innovative and influential venue for research and comment on the major challenges to human health worldwide

PLoS Medicine…• …publishes highly-selected papers of

relevance to a global audience, that address the major biological, environmental, social, and political determinants of health

• …has an editorial policy prioritizing papers addressing the conditions and risk factors that cause the greatest burden of disease worldwide

• PLoS Medicine contains an informative magazine section with insightful, stimulating and influential comment and opinion

• Editors’ summaries of research articles make medical research accessible to non-specialists, including patients and their families

PLoS Medicine: more than just research

Who reads PLoS Medicine?

• Over 200,000 page views/month (2010 average)

• Viewed by readers from 231 countries

• Visitors include researchers, students, clinicians, teachers, patients, health care providers, and policy-makers

Online features:• Easy menus to download open access PDF and html versions of

every article

• Hosted on an innovative open-source publishing platform

• Web tools for discussion and feedback through the addition of comments, notes and ratings

• Links on every article to related papers

• ‘Article Level Metrics’ allow readers and authors to see how many times the article has been viewed and cited and how it’s been rated.

Editorial team

• Chief Editor: Virginia Barbour

Deputy Editor: Melissa Norton

Senior Magazine Editor: Jocalyn Clark

Senior Research Editor: Susan Jones

Senior Editor: Emma Veitch

Associate Editor: Paul Simpson

• Editorial board of 129 experts from 33 countries

Author experience“We have been very impressed by the effect that your press release had. We greatly appreciate your efforts, which to my knowledge are not matched by any other journal. Thank you again for publishing our paper.” 

Sydney Rosen, Center for International Health and Development, Boston University School of Public Health

“It has been a pleasure working with you, and we are exceedingly pleased with the final product.”

Pedro Lowenstein, Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of California Los Angeles

“The amount of attention that our article received was almost overwhelming. Publication in PLoS Medicine has played a prominent role in my emerging academic career.”

Jeffrey Lacasse, College of Social Work Florida State University

PLoS Medicine’s articles gain regular, prominent coverage in some of the world’s most read pages, websites, and blogs and is shown and heard on TV & radio; in 2010 this included:

International Media Coverage

TIMEThe GuardianReutersScientific AmericanBBC NewsFinancial TimesSydney Morning HeraldABC Australia Voice of America Globe and MailWall Street Journal

Daily MailNew ScientistNHS ChoicesABC Evening News, USACNN HealthLA TimesUSA TodayNew York TimesToronto StarThe TelegraphThe Times

Following PLoS MedicinePLoS Medicine’s online presence includes our blog ‘Speaking of Medicine’ and our Twitter account (@PLoSMedicine).

Speaking of Medicine gains 7,450 page views a month (2010 average) and includes guest posts from academics, students, clinicians and researchers working in the field.

The PLoS Medicine Twitter feed, @PLoSMedicine, has over 2,500 followers, and counting!

Impact and Influence• PLoS Medicine Policy Forum ‘Syndromic Surveillance: Adapting Innovations to Developing Settings’

- Awarded the 2008 ‘Paper of the Year’ award from the International Society for Disease Surveillance

• PLoS Medicine Research Article ‘The Global Burden of Snakebite: A Literature Analysis and Modelling Based on Regional Estimates of Envenoming and Deaths’

- Prompted the World Health Organization to classify snakebite as a Neglected Tropical Disease in 2009

• January 2011: World Health Organization (WHO) and PLoS Medicine announce a call for papers to inform the World Health Report 2012, which will be a groundbreaking report focusing for the first time on research for better health.

How can you get involved?

• Submit your work to PLoS Medicine

• Read, comment on and rate articles published in PLoS Medicine

• Register for Email Contents Alerts

• Subscribe to RSS feeds in your discipline

• Check out the Speaking of Medicine blog and PLoS Medicine on Twitter.

http://www.plosmedicine.org

Image Credits

• Slide 5: Brendan Bannon 2007• Slide 6: Carl Henderson• Slide 11 Cristiano Betta• Slide 17: Lizzy Parisotto, PLoS. Orange:

Umberto Salvagnin 2008. Food Aid: New Ways Merka at Wikimedia 2008. Pregnant woman and child: Valarie Apperson at Flickr.com 2008. Hands with Drugs: Brendan Bannon 2007. Pills/leaf: Dr. Johannes Friesen. Hospital: Rod Escombe. X-ray: Ninette Amariglio