Category Archives: PLOS ONE Collection

Spotlight on PLOS ONE’s NeuroMapping and Therapeutics Collection

Posted on by

Collection image.pcol.v02.i17.g001Launched in 2010, the Neuromapping and Therapeutics Collection is a unique collaboration between PLOS ONE and the Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics. The Neuromapping and Therapeutics Collection provides a forum for interdisciplinary research aimed at translation of knowledge across a number of fields such as neurosurgery, neurology, psychiatry, radiology, neuroscience, neuroengineering, and healthcare and policy issues that affect the treatment delivery and usage of related devices, drugs, and technologies. The Collection is open to submissions on these topics from any researcher—so far, 24 research papers have been published as part of this Collection.

We spoke to Dr. Allyson Rosen, one of the members of the Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics who helps coordinate the Neuromapping and Therapeutics Collection, to discuss the latest news and research in this area, and the new submissions to the collection they’re hoping to see in the next few months:

What’s exciting in Neuromapping and Therapeutics at the moment?

CollectionSBMT-BMF-Logo for blog

 

It is exciting to see how creative scientists and clinicians are at solving important clinical problems by combining diverse techniques in innovative ways. We see our collection as a home for cross-disciplinary work that might not “fit” in traditional journals. For example, we have published MR methods to enable effective brain infusions and work that exploits computer-aided design for cranial reconstructions. There are invasive and non-inva

What are the implications of President Obama’s commitment to Human Brain Mapping research?sive techniques for stimulating selective brain regions and creating focal lesions, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation, transcranial Doppler technology, and X-ray microplanar beam technology. There are also innovative analysis techniques that exploit powerful computational methods that were previously unavailable.

Given the high-profile nature of the Brain Mapping Initiative and the state of the US economy, we have advocated that there be some clinical implications to the announcement. We believe that this approach will ensure continued public support at a time of great need and uncertainty.

Are there any specific research areas where you’d like to see more submissions to the Collection?

We are proud of the work we’ve received and deeply impressed with the broad array of papers submitted so far. This is a testament to the creativity of our contributors, and we welcome their diversity. We particularly welcome work presented at the international meeting of the Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics that occurs in the spring of each year.

Why do you think it’s important to publish this kind of research in an open access journal such as PLOS ONE?

Our society is committed to being inclusive and welcoming any profession that seeks to improve the health and wellbeing of patients with brain disorders. An open access journal enables easier promotion of work we feel is important and encourages sharing among diverse disciplines. Often, truly cutting-edge work is so far ahead of its time that there is not yet an appreciation for its importance. Often, clinical problems are seen as practical but not necessarily novel. We appreciate the mission of PLOS ONE as upholding strong scientific integrity and not as triaging work based on arbitrary decisions regarding importance.

To read more about this Collection, including new research papers like, “Verifying three-dimensional skull model reconstruction using cranial index of symmetry” and “Unique anti-glioblastoma activities of Hypericin are at the crossroad of biochemical and epigenetic events and culminate in Tumor Cell Differentiation,” click here.

Come visit us at SFN 2013.

Both the Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics and PLOS ONE will be attending SFN 2013 – please drop by booth #136 to say hello and learn more about the Collection. For instructions on how to submit to the Collection, please visit the Collection page and download the submission document.

If you have any questions about this Collection, or any other PLOS Collections, please email collections@plos.org

Image credit for Collection cover: Alka Joshi

Ecology Highlight: PLOS ONE at ESA 2013

Posted on by

 

climate change vulnerable species

 

PLOS ONE is eagerly anticipating a trip to the 98th annual meeting of Ecological Society of America, August 4 – 10 in Minneapolis, to meet with our Academic Editors, authors, reviewers, and readers and to learn about the latest in ecology research. Attending the meeting will be Terry Monahan (Senior Editorial Manager), Lindsay Morton (Publications Manager), Elizabeth Silva (Associate Editor), and myself (Meg Byrne, Associate Editor).

In conjunction with the Ecology Society of America meeting, PLOS will be launching “The Ecological Impact of Climate Change Collection” on Monday, August 5, 2013. This collection, curated by PLOS ONE Academic Editor Ben Bond-Lamberty, highlights 16 articles recently published in PLOS ONE and PLOS Biology. These articles underscore the far-reaching impacts of climate change and the important contributions scientists are making to increase our understanding of how diverse species are effected by and are responding to climate change. Come back to the EveryONE blog on Monday for a full introduction to the collection by Dr. Bond-Lamberty.

“The Ecological Impact of Climate Change Collection” is part of a larger research and blog series at PLOS helping to refocus the conversation on climate change. The series is scheduled to run over a two-week period, between July 29 and August 9, and features pieces by 10 regular and guest bloggers, including award-winning science journalist Linda Marsa. Topics include changing habitats and species, climate modeling, the impact of climate change on disease, the difficulties facing science writers covering climate change, and the politics of climate change science.

Come find us at the meeting: We would love to hear about your research and your thoughts about the future of science publishing. We’ll be at booth #501 from Monday, August 5, 2013 through Thursday, August 8, 2013.

PLOS ONE Academic Editors: We hope you can join us for our Editorial Board Reception on Wednesday, August 8, from 6 to 9 PM.  We look forward to chatting with you in person, filling you in on our future plans, getting your feedback, and saying a huge “Thank you!” Please contact Lindsay Morton for further information.

Authors: Come get a special author t-shirt! Also, let us show you how to track your article-level metrics, including the number of HTML views, PDF downloads, citations, comments, bookmarks, and even tweets and Facebook likes. We can also demonstrate one of our latest features, Relative Metrics (Beta), which allows you to compare your paper’s usage to the average usage of articles in related subject areas.

Consider submitting your manuscript to PLOS! We will be available to answer your questions about submitting to PLOS ONE and PLOS Biology. Come learn about the many advantages of publishing in our open access journals, including free readership rights, reuse and remixing rights, unrestricted copyright, automatic posting of the article, and machine accessibility of the published article.

Call for New Academic Editors: Because of a growing number of submissions in ecology, PLOS ONE is looking to grow our board in this area. If you run your own research lab, supervise students and postdocs, hold research grants, and have a strong publication record, we hope you will consider applying to join our Editorial Board. Please stop by the booth for more information or contact Lindsay Morton.

We look forward to visiting the Twin Cities, briefly escaping the summer fog in San Francisco, and talking with the many scientists who have made important contributions to the field of ecology.

Image: Map showing areas with increased proportions of birds that are vulnerable to climate change. In red are regions with the highest proportion of birds that are sensitive to and have a low adaptive capacity to climate change and, at the same time, have the highest exposure.

Image credit: Foden WB, Butchart SHM, Stuart SN, Vié J-C, Akçakaya HR, et al. (2013) Identifying the World’s Most Climate Change Vulnerable Species: A Systematic Trait-Based Assessment of all Birds, Amphibians and Corals. PLoS ONE 8(6): e65427. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0065427