Tuyển tập các báo cáo nghiên cứu về sinh học được đăng trên tạp chí sinh học Journal of Biology đề tài: What are journals for. | Journal of Biology BioMed Central Editorial What are journals for Published 27 January 2009 Journal of Biology 2009 8 1 doi jbiollll The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at http content 8 1 1 2009 BioMed Central Ltd Here is a truism. The function of a scientific journal is to disseminate the results of research. It also of course has a responsibility to ensure as far as possible that the results reported are valid. But it would seem from the comments of many biologists -sometimes in print 1-3 - that the policing function of journals especially but not exclusively the high-profile journals is in danger of overwhelming their primary function as publishers. The chief source of frustration seems to be with increasingly frequent timeconsuming and sometimes iterative rereview which it is commonly felt makes little difference to the eventual validity or quality of the paper. For that reason Journal of Biology will embark starting now on an experimental policy of allowing authors to opt out of re-review. This is in keeping with the premise of open-access publishing of which our publisher BioMed Central was the pioneer that freedom from the practical constraints imposed by paper and printing should remove all needless barriers to access to research results. The decision to launch the experiment was taken after consultation with members of our Editorial Board who were on balance by about four to one and often emphatically in favor of it. Box 1 contains a highly selective sample of the raw data. Even those members of the Board who had misgivings on which more below often expressed themselves with some passion about difficulties with reviewers one of the most impassioned of the six we have quoted in fact felt that the need for rigorous review should nonetheless transcend the wish to escape the horrors of current reviewing practice. - Not that we are proposing to abandon review. Briefly the proposition is as .
