It’s a conundrum of modern publishing – how to achieve the high standards of “peer-review” in a timely manner. This is a particularly important issue when it comes to public health topics.
Take H1N1, for instance. What is the best way to quickly disseminate authoritative information about the disease? PLoS (Public Library of Science), a leader in open-access, peer-reviewed publishing, to the rescue!
“PLoS Currents: Influenza, which we are launching today, is built on three key components: a small expert research community that PLoS is working with to run the website; Google Knol with new features that allow content to be gathered together in collections after being vetted by expert moderators; and a new, independent database at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) called Rapid Research Notes, where research targeted for rapid communication, such as the content in PLoS Currents: Influenza will be freely and permanently accessible. To ensure that researchers are properly credited for their work, PLoS Currents content will also be given a unique identifier by the NCBI so that it is citable.”
While the postings are not subject to the same rigorous peer-review process as formally published scientific journals use, “inappropriate” submissions are being screened out by two experts in the fields of microbiology and infectious disease. While many of the articles listed are focused specifically on the biology of the virus, other topics can be found here as well, such as “Swine origin influenza A (H1N1) virus and ICU capacity in the US: Are we prepared?” and “Reducing influenza spreading over the airline network“, which uses different models to determine the most effective method for containing the spread of disease through air travel.