BioMed Central

BioMed Central is an open access publisher that produces scientific literature under an open license, allowing anyone to access, use, distribute, and build upon the research. It was established in the United Kingdom in 2000 and has since become a significant force in the scientific publishing industry.

History

BioMed Central was founded in 2000 by Vitek Tracz, a pioneer in the field of open access publishing. The company was initially a part of the Current Science Group (now known as the Science Navigation Group), but was acquired by Springer Science+Business Media in 2008. In 2015, Springer became part of the larger Springer Nature group, which continues to operate BioMed Central as a separate entity.

Business Model

BioMed Central operates on a business model that differs significantly from traditional scientific publishing. Instead of charging readers and libraries for access to articles, BioMed Central charges authors a publication fee upon the acceptance of their manuscript. This model, known as the author-pays model, ensures that all research published by BioMed Central is freely available to the public.

Journals

BioMed Central publishes over 290 peer-reviewed journals across all areas of biology, biomedicine, and medicine. These include the BMC series, a group of open access, peer-reviewed journals that span the fields of biology and medicine. Other notable journals include Genome Biology, Malaria Journal, and Arthritis Research & Therapy.

Impact

BioMed Central has had a significant impact on the scientific publishing industry. It has been a major proponent of the open access movement, which advocates for free and unrestricted access to research. This has led to a shift in the way scientific research is disseminated and accessed, with many other publishers following BioMed Central's lead in offering open access options.

Criticism

Despite its successes, BioMed Central has faced criticism. Some have questioned the quality of the peer review process in open access publishing, and there have been instances of BioMed Central retracting articles due to issues such as plagiarism and data fabrication. However, the company has implemented strict peer review policies and ethical guidelines to address these concerns.

See Also

• Open access (publishing)
• Scientific publishing
• Springer Nature
• Author-pays model