This document discusses the motivations, editorial aims, and future prospects of eLife, an online open-access scientific journal. The three main motivations for eLife are to drive open access publishing, reform peer review processes to be more swift and fair, and exploit digital media to better connect narratives and data. Editorial aims include having a broad scope, selective acceptance of highly influential work, and world-class editorial backing. The website allows figures, tables, and data to be treated individually and connected to the narrative. Going forward, eLife will continue building its foundation through increasing content and usage while exploring new ways to interact and collaborate.

1. UKSG, 8-10 April, 2013
“Bringing
to life”
Mark Patterson

2. Outline
• Motivations
• Editorial aims
• A tour of the website
• Future prospects

4. March 23rd, 2001

5. Motivations

6. Motivation 1 – drive OA
OA journals with APC
OA journals no APC
Hybrid subscription journals
Laakso and Björk BMC Medicine 2012 10:124 doi:10.1186/1741-7015-10-124

7. Motivation 1 – drive OA
0.0%
2.0%
4.0%
6.0%
8.0%
10.0%
12.0%
14.0%
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
%PubMed available as open access in PMC

8. Motivation 2 – reform peer review
Martin Raff, Alexander Johnson
and Peter Walter

9. Motivation 2 – reform peer review
http://youtu.be/-VRBWLpYCPY

10. Motivation 3 – digital first
• Presentation of new
research often
limited by the print
edition
• Time to put digital
first
http://www.fybridphotos.com/objects
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11. eLife: motivations
Serve
science
Open
access
Swift, fair
decisive
process
Exploit
digital
media

12. eLife
Announced
EIC
Editors
Staff
Infrastructure
First
Submissions
First
Publications
Journal
Website
~65 Articles
Published
June’11 July’11 Nov’11 June’12 Oct’12 Dec’12 Mar’12
Timeline

13. Editorial

14. eLife – scope
• BROAD
From basic and theoretical work to
translational, applied and clinical research.
• SELECTIVE
Highly influential work that advances understanding,
opens new doors or has real-world impacts.

15. World-class backing
• Supported by three of the world’s leading research funders
• Effective research communication is a critical part of research
• Editorially, eLife is entirely independent of the funders

16. Editors
• Editor-in-Chief
• 2 Deputy eds
• 17 Senior eds
• Board of
reviewing eds
~180

17. Editorial process
Cover letter
and single
PDF
Swift triage
process by
Senior Editors
Full
submission
BRE member
plus external
reviewer(s)
Decision after
peer review
Revision
assessed by
BRE member
Limit submissions entering peer review
Consultation amongst reviewers
Single set of instructions
Limit rounds of revision
Easy submission process
Source files plus other information
The end result
> A constructive process
> Reduced times from submission
to acceptance

19. ~90 DAYS

20. Presentation of content

21. Initial targets
• Great design and reading experience
• Connecting narrative and data
– Inline video
– Figures, tables, data files treated individually
• Article metrics

22. “A great deal of data has become
detached from the published
conclusions that depend upon it,
such that the two vital
complementary components of the
scientific endeavour - the idea and
the evidence - are too frequently
separated.”

23. Making supplementary files usable

24. “We are now on the brink of an
achievable aim: for all science
literature to be online, for all of the
data to be online and for the two to
be interoperable.”

25. • From narrative to primary
data sources
• From summary data to
primary/source data
• From main figures to
secondary figures
• All parts searchable,
discoverable, citable
Connecting narrative with data

26. Launching eLife: the story so far

27. Website demo
• Home page
• Article pages
• Figure supplement
• Figures and data
• Article info
• Video
• Source data
• Article metrics
• Insight article

28. elife.elifesciences.org

53. • Continue building the foundation
– Content
– Process
• Stratification of content
• Usage of open content
– Increase ‘surface area’
– New ways to interact
• Collaboration
– share experience and tools
What’s next?

54. Fluidinfo

57. Questions?
Mark Patterson
m.patterson@elifesciences.org