Dryad is happy to announce a new initiative with Pensoft Publishers, the pioneering publisher behind ZooKeys and other rapid-publication open access journals, including BioRisk, Comparative Cytogenetics, International Journal of Myriapodology, Journal of Hymenoptera Research, NeoBiota, PhytoKeys, and Subterranean Biology. Dryad is working with Pensoft to support publication of data papers in the area of biodiversity, together with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility and the Barcode of Life. Through this effort, we aim to make the data publishing experience as smooth and rewarding as possible for authors, while at the same time making sure these important data are vetted through peer review and available for reuse in public repositories. The full press release from Pensoft is below.
Data publishing policies and guidelines for biodiversity data published by Pensoft
Pensoft Publishers announced a data publishing project for biodiversity data in response to the increasing demands from institutions and scientists to open scientific data to anyone who would be interested to use them.
“An opinion survey amongst the authors, readers and editors of the Pensoft journal ZooKeys carried out in April convinced us that the majority of participants (84 %) are willing to publish their data, so that to make them available to anyone to use, share or integrate with other data” said Dr Lyubomir Penev, managing director of Pensoft Publishers. Among the most important incentives to publish data, the scientists mentioned that “open data increases transparency and the overall quality of science, the potential for collaborative research as well as an opportunity to increase academic credit in the form of citations. Therefore, providing a service to ensure a permanent publication record for published data is of key importance for the success of the project”, adds Dr Penev.
The core of the project is the concept of the “Data Paper” developed in a cooperation with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Data Papers are peer-reviewed scholarly publications that describe the published datasets and provide an opportunity to data authors to receive the academic credit for their efforts. Currently, Pensoft offers the opportunity to published Data papers describing biodiversity data, Barcode of Life genome data and biodiversity-related software tools, such as interactive keys and others.
Pensoft reached an agreement for cooperation in data hosting and developing of data publishing workflows with the GBIF, the Dryad Data Repository and the Consortium for Barcode of Life.
“Data publishing becomes increasingly important and already affects the policies of the world’s leading science funding frameworks and organizations. Opening and integrating biodiversity data will be the future basis to increase efficiency of monitoring the processes of global change, conservation of nature and saving life on our planet” concluded Dr Vincent Smith, coordinator of the European Union FP7 project ViBRANT, in the framework of which a part of the work has been carried out.
