Andrew T. McKenzie, Emma Woodoff-Leith, Diana Dangoor, Alessandra Cervera, Hadley Ressler, Kristen Whitney, Kristen Dams-O’Connor, Zhuhao Wu, Elizabeth M.C. Hillman, Alan C. Seifert, John F. Crary
Alexander Himstead, Mari Perez-Rosendahl, Gianna Fote, Angie Zhang, Michael Kim, David Floriolli, Martha Quezado, Kenneth Aldape, Drew Pratt, Zied Abdullaev, Edwin Monuki, Frank Hsu, William Yong
Arnault Tauziede-Espariat, Nicolas Macagno, Daniel Pissaloux, Dominique Figarella-Branger, Romain Appay, Dorian Bochaton, Sanaa Tazi, Paul Kauv, Lauren Hasty, Alice Métais, Fabrice Chrétien, Pascale Varlet
10 reasons for publishing in Free Neuropathology (FNP)
✓FNP is made by scientists for scientists. Every stage of the process is managed by people who are familiar with neuropathology.
✓Our ethos is built on the enthusiasm of junior and senior neuropathologists.
✓FNP is free of any charges for authors and readers.
✓FNP does not have any commercial interests and no connections to commercial publishers.
✓FNP serves as the official organ of five national societies of neuropathology, providing visibility.
✓Turnaround times are very fast: just a few days from acceptance to online publication in final format.
✓FNP discourages requests for major revisions, such as time-consuming new experiments.
✓FNP supports flexibility, free formatting, open data, and free opinion.
✓Like every new journal, FNP does not yet have an impact factor; this will come, but it needs time. Publishing excellent papers will facilitate the process.
✓Try it out, submit your work, and contribute to changing the world of scientific publishing!
Why is the journal called Free Neuropathology and what exactly does free mean?
Free for authors means that there is no article processing fee. Free for readers means that the journal is published open-access without paywalls or any other restrictions of access. Together, these two features constitute what is called diamond open access. There is no revenue, no financial donation, no commercial advertising and no budget. Any expenses (editorial office, travelling, promotion, software, technical infrastructure etc.) are covered by academic institutions. To achieve this goal, we use open-source software such as Open Journal Systems (OJS). Free from publisher means that the journal takes care of all activities that traditionally are carried out by publishers, including but not restricted to copyediting, layout, permanent archiving of papers, maintenance of website, and promotion. This is based on the insight that commercial publishers are primarily interested in profit rather than in science, which has led to an economical and ethical crisis in scientific publishing. We feel that we can perform these activities more efficiently and more passionately than publishers do. For example, we are able to publish papers in the final format within three days after acceptance, including careful copyediting and layout. This is accomplished by our dedicated layout/copyediting board of enthusiastic young colleagues. Free formatting means that the journal refrains from exuberant formal requirements and extremely detailed instructions for authors, which abound in many scientific journal. However, the journal places much emphasis on a professional and appealing appearance of papers and supports consistent formatting within the paper according to authors’ preferences. Free opinion means that in addition to traditional categories of papers such as original papers, review articles and letters, the journal publishes opinion pieces expressing personal or minority (yet scientifically founded) views, and that it encourages frank scholarly discussion among authors and readers, among the editorial board members, and among scientists and the public. On our website we utilize the open source software called Hypothes.is which introduces a sentence-level annotation layer over any paper: comments from anyone about anything and visible for anyone.
If you’d like to make up your own mind about this project, head to the journal’s website at freeneuropathology.org where you’ll find out more about our publication model, our editorial board, FAQ, free access to all papers published so far, and more.
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Brenda D. Moore, Yona Levites, Guilian Xu, Hailey Hampton, Munir F. Adamo, Cara L. Croft, Hunter S. Futch, Corey Moran, Susan Fromholt, Christopher Janus, Stefan Prokop, Dennis Dickson, Jada Lewis, Benoit I. Giasson, Todd E. Golde, David R. Borchelt
Joni J. Hänninen, Madoka Nakajima, Aleksi Vanninen, Santtu Hytönen, Jaana Rummukainen, Anne Maria Koivisto, Juha E. Jääskeläinen, Hilkka Soininen, Anna Sutela, Ritva Vanninen, Mikko Hiltunen, Ville Leinonen, Tuomas Rauramaa
Steffen Albrecht, Barbara Miedzybrodzki, Laura Palma, Van Hung Nguyen, Roy W.R. Dudley, Torsten Pietsch, Tobias Goschzik, Nada Jabado, Catherine Goudie, William D. Foulkes
Two of our five dimensions of freedom, i.e. Free for Authors and Free for Readers, together constituting diamond open access, are directly related to money. As for every fundamental development occurring outside of the mainstream, this approach entails critique.
One point of concern states that something that does not cost anything does not have a value ("If it’s for free, it can’t be any good"). While I realize that this may be true for some kinds of business such as marketing and luxury goods, I cannot disagree more when it comes to science. Few people would oppose the view that the greatest treasures of mankind come for free, such as nature, love and kids. The same is true for the most important ingredients of excellent science, namely enthusiasm, curiosity, dedication, and … free publishing.
Another critique says that any kind of publishing involves costs for personnel, technology and consumables that must be covered by someone, even in a diamond open access journal ("Only the sun rises for nothing"). This is true to some extent. However, at Free Neuropathology we use freeware like Open Journal Systems, we receive advice and technical support from our University Library, and we rely on the work of volunteers within the neurocommunity like our dedicated Copyediting/Layout Editorial Board. Many colleagues traditionally believe that reviewing for commercial journals and designing designing the layout of slides for talks belongs to their job, whereas proofreading for others, laying out papers and developing a journal should be outsourced. I disagree and I strongly feel that all scientific activities belong into the hands of scientists, from the first idea of a project to the final adjustments in the layout.
Werner Paulus Editor, Free Neuropathology
The (moderate) financial support of a free journal has to originate from external sources, i.e. not from authors or readers. My view is that funding of individual free journals is not a good idea, irrespective of whether the support is public or private. Funds tend to be limited in amount and time, which endangers the sustainability and/or freedom of journals. On the other hand, integrating the entire process of publishing within the scientific community, i.e. bringing the traditional activities of publishers like copyediting, layout, promotion and maintenance of the website 100% back to science, will contribute to overcome the economical and ethical problems caused by the behavior of commercial publishers. So, who should cover the remaining expenses? Scientific institutions should shift part of the excessive and ever increasing expenses for publishers back to their own infrastructure, thus developing and maintaining up-to-date, in-house publishing services. This approach will result in much less costs, much higher efficiency and creativity, and (at least with increasing experience) in higher quality than the current approach of sponsoring a few big publishers via contracts such as DEAL or via open access publishing initiatives such as Plan S. In the meantime we will spread the word and try to convince authors, colleagues, administrations and science politicians that this is the way to go. Feel free to join the movement and to provide feedback to werner.paulus@uni-muenster.de
GENERAL INFORMATION
Why is the journal called Free Neuropathology and what exactly does free mean?
Free for authors means that there is no article processing fee. Free for readers means that the journal is published open-access without paywalls or any other restrictions of access. Together, these two features constitute what is called diamond open access. There is no revenue, no financial donation, no commercial advertising and no budget. Any expenses (editorial office, travelling, promotion, software, technical infrastructure etc.) are covered by academic institutions. To achieve this goal, we use open-source software such as Open Journal Systems (OJS). Free from publisher means that the journal takes care of all activities that traditionally are carried out by publishers, including but not restricted to copyediting, layout, permanent archiving of papers, maintenance of website, and promotion. This is based on the insight that commercial publishers are primarily interested in profit rather than in science, which has led to an economical and ethical crisis in scientific publishing. We feel that we can perform these activities more efficiently and more passionately than publishers do. For example, we are able to publish papers in the final format within three days after acceptance, including careful copyediting and layout. This is accomplished by our dedicated layout/copyediting board of enthusiastic young colleagues. Free formatting means that the journal refrains from exuberant formal requirements and extremely detailed instructions for authors, which abound in many scientific journal. However, the journal places much emphasis on a professional and appealing appearance of papers and supports consistent formatting within the paper according to authors’ preferences. Free opinion means that in addition to traditional categories of papers such as original papers, review articles and letters, the journal publishes opinion pieces expressing personal or minority (yet scientifically founded) views, and that it encourages frank scholarly discussion among authors and readers, among the editorial board members, and among scientists and the public. On our website we utilize the open source software called Hypothes.is which introduces a sentence-level annotation layer over any paper: comments from anyone about anything and visible for anyone.
If you’d like to make up your own mind about this project, head to the journal’s website at freeneuropathology.org where you’ll find out more about our publication model, our editorial board, FAQ, free access to all papers published so far, and more.
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Gilbert Georg Klamminger, Karoline Klein, Laurent Mombaerts, Finn Jelke, Giulia Mirizzi, Rédouane Slimani, Andreas Husch, Michel Mittelbronn, Frank Hertel, Felix B. Kleine Borgmann
ing Liang Oon, Lutfi Hendriansyah, Patricia Diana Pratiseyo, Eka J Wahjoepramono, Jian Yuan Goh, Chik Hong Kuick, Kenneth TE Chang, Arie Perry, Char Loo Tan
WHAT MAKES A DIAMOND OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL SUCCESSFUL?
As you may know, the idea behind Free Neuropathology (FNP) is to run a journal that is fully controlled by scientists without any financial, technical or administrative involvement of commercial parties. As a technical editor, I'm in charge of assisting our editorial boards in making this vision a reality.
The majority of scientists across disciplines supports open access. There are many diamond open access journals such as FNP where both reading and publishing is free. However, this model is still the exception. Instead, by paying for open access publication, scientists enable commercial publishers to generate a huge profit from their own, publicly-funded research under the banner of so-called "gold" open access.
In my PhD project I ask why the open access revolution is stuck and what might be done about it. My goal is to shed light on the chances of success for diamond open access journals by taking a systematic look at similar endeavors in biomedicine. What are the factors determining the formation, performance, and sustainability of independent open-access journals? I will also analyze the conditions under which diamond open access journals are established and run, what they add to the global open access landscape, and what it will take to transform the open-access landscape in the long term.
I'm interested in your opinion on this! What are the reasons diamond open access hasn't fully caught on yet? Send me a line if you have thoughts on this.
Henry Robbert Technical Editor
GENERAL INFORMATION
Why is the journal called Free Neuropathology and what exactly does free mean?
Free for authors means that there is no article processing fee. Free for readers means that the journal is published open-access without paywalls or any other restrictions of access. Together, these two features constitute what is called diamond open access. There is no revenue, no financial donation, no commercial advertising and no budget. Any expenses (editorial office, travelling, promotion, software, technical infrastructure etc.) are covered by academic institutions. To achieve this goal, we use open-source software such as Open Journal Systems (OJS). Free from publisher means that the journal takes care of all activities that traditionally are carried out by publishers, including but not restricted to copyediting, layout, permanent archiving of papers, maintenance of website, and promotion. This is based on the insight that commercial publishers are primarily interested in profit rather than in science, which has led to an economical and ethical crisis in scientific publishing. We feel that we can perform these activities more efficiently and more passionately than publishers do. For example, we are able to publish papers in the final format within three days after acceptance, including careful copyediting and layout. This is accomplished by our dedicated layout/copyediting board of enthusiastic young colleagues. Free formatting means that the journal refrains from exuberant formal requirements and extremely detailed instructions for authors, which abound in many scientific journal. However, the journal places much emphasis on a professional and appealing appearance of papers and supports consistent formatting within the paper according to authors’ preferences. Free opinion means that in addition to traditional categories of papers such as original papers, review articles and letters, the journal publishes opinion pieces expressing personal or minority (yet scientifically founded) views, and that it encourages frank scholarly discussion among authors and readers, among the editorial board members, and among scientists and the public. On our website we utilize the open source software called Hypothes.is which introduces a sentence-level annotation layer over any paper: comments from anyone about anything and visible for anyone.
If you’d like to make up your own mind about this project, head to the journal’s website at freeneuropathology.org where you’ll find out more about our publication model, our editorial board, FAQ, free access to all papers published so far, and more.
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Fatma E. El-Khouly, Rianne Haumann, Marjolein Breur, Sophie E.M. Veldhuijzen van Zanten, Gertjan J.L. Kaspers, N. Harry Hendrikse, Esther Hulleman, Dannis G. van Vuurden, Marianna Bugiani
Matthew A. Smith-Cohn, Zied Abdullaev, Kenneth D. Aldape, Martha Quezado, Marc K. Rosenblum, Chad M. Vanderbilt, Fausto J. Rodriguez, John Laterra, Charles G. Eberhart
German Society of Neuropathology and Neuroanatomy (DGNN)
REFLECTIONS: A VIEW INTO THE LIVES OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL NEUROPATHOLOGISTS
Dear reader,
Publishing your research paper open-access is usually expensive. It means that for those working in low-income countries with limited institutional or grant support, publishing is becoming increasingly difficult. Economic problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic already hit the research sector quite hard, even in affluent countries. Subscriptions to journals without compulsory open-access models but high costs are imposing a challenge to many institutions and researchers who are not inclined to pay for it from their own pocket. Therefore, the concept of free publishing has become even more important. Free Neuropathology is a flagship journal not only for cost-free publishing, but also for publishing without administrative restrictions.
Free Neuropathology offers a forum for free opinion and personal reflections. An example of this is a series of papers offering retired members of the worldwide neuropathology community an opportunity to reflect on their career, personal life and work-life balance, on highlights and setbacks, likes and dislikes, complemented with valuable suggestions for their younger colleagues. The Reflections series is popular – around a quarter of published papers so far fall in this category, and they are accessed and downloaded by researchers from all over the world. I encourage you to read these personal memoires, submit your own reflections if you are at that stage in your life, and draw the attention of your mentors and senior colleagues to the opportunity to contribute to the series. Every life is unique and every neuropathologist is much more than an expert reporting clinical cases, delivering lectures, and publishing research papers.
Tibor Hortobágyi Associate Editor University of Debrecen King’s College London
GENERAL INFORMATION
Why is the journal called Free Neuropathology and what exactly does free mean?
Free for authors means that there is no article processing fee. Free for readers means that the journal is published open-access without paywalls or any other restrictions of access. Together, these two features constitute what is called diamond open access. There is no revenue, no financial donation, no commercial advertising and no budget. Any expenses (editorial office, travelling, promotion, software, technical infrastructure etc.) are covered by academic institutions. To achieve this goal, we use open-source software such as Open Journal Systems (OJS). Free from publisher means that the journal takes care of all activities that traditionally are carried out by publishers, including but not restricted to copyediting, layout, permanent archiving of papers, maintenance of website, and promotion. This is based on the insight that commercial publishers are primarily interested in profit rather than in science, which has led to an economical and ethical crisis in scientific publishing. We feel that we can perform these activities more efficiently and more passionately than publishers do. For example, we are able to publish papers in the final format within three days after acceptance, including careful copyediting and layout. This is accomplished by our dedicated layout/copyediting board of enthusiastic young colleagues. Free formatting means that the journal refrains from exuberant formal requirements and extremely detailed instructions for authors, which abound in many scientific journal. However, the journal places much emphasis on a professional and appealing appearance of papers and supports consistent formatting within the paper according to authors’ preferences. Free opinion means that in addition to traditional categories of papers such as original papers, review articles and letters, the journal publishes opinion pieces expressing personal or minority (yet scientifically founded) views, and that it encourages frank scholarly discussion among authors and readers, among the editorial board members, and among scientists and the public. On our website we utilize the open source software called Hypothes.is which introduces a sentence-level annotation layer over any paper: comments from anyone about anything and visible for anyone.
If you’d like to make up your own mind about this project, head to the journal’s website at freeneuropathology.org where you’ll find out more about our publication model, our editorial board, FAQ, free access to all papers published so far, and more.
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If you would like to unsubscribe from this newsletter, please send us an email by clicking here.
Newsletter #4, May 27, 2021
DEAR READER,
Today I would like to inform you about three exciting developments related to Free Neuropathology (FNP):
First, three national societies of neuropathology have decided to appoint FNP as their official organ, namely the French (SFNP), the Scandinavian (SNS) and the Canadian (CANP) societies. I expect that tight links between neuropathological societies and FNP will promote these societies, the journal, and neuropathology in general.
Second, FNP has published its first two papers of the Flashback series. These papers deal with important findings in the history of neuropathology (such as the first description of a disease) and discuss their impact on contemporary neuropathology. In addition, they provide high-resolution virtual microscopy of original historical slides as in the Flashback paper on Taylor's focal cortical dysplasia – check it out!
Third, two giants of neuropathology and grandmasters of scientific editing celebrate special birthdays in May 2021: Paul Kleihues, who founded Brain Pathology in 1990 and served as its first editor, turned 85, and Kurt Jellinger, who edited Acta Neuropathologica for 28 years (1976–2004), will turn 90. Both have served as mentors, role models and inspiration for generations of neuropathologists until this day. They have contributed to developing and shaping FNP in that Paul Kleihues' young Brain Pathology of the 1990s was a refreshing grassroots journal (which is hopefully true for FNP today), while Kurt Jellinger always considered editing and copyediting as integral parts of science; he has actually published review articles and his reflections in FNP during the last months.
Stefan Grathwohl, Emmanuel Quansah, Nazia Maroof, Jennifer A. Steiner, Liz Spycher, Fethallah Benmansour, Gonzalo Duran-Pacheco, Juliane Siebourg-Polster, Krisztina Oroszlan-Szovik, Helga Remy, Markus Haenggi, Marc Stawiski, Matthias Selhausen, Pierre Maliver, Andreas Wolfert, Thomas Emrich, Zachary Madaj, Arel Su, Martha L. Escobar Galvis, Christoph Mueller, Annika Herrmann, Patrik Brundin, and Markus Britschgi
Free Neuropathology has such an innovative and forward-thinking model for the process of providing peer-reviewed publications. First, I find the idea of cutting out the traditional publisher as a "middle man" between the author and reader, whereby neither party has to pay any fees, extremely liberating to both parties. Second, we have an ambitious turnaround time.
As a copyeditor, I love our system of volunteering to review a paper instead of having it assigned to us. Because we only volunteer when we know we can commit to the swift publishing workflow, we are able to do a better job in our review because the task fits our availability instead of the other way around. I know we have gotten feedback from authors appreciating the prompt turnaround time!
I am very glad I get to be part of the Free Neuropathology team and excited for what it might signal for the future of scientific publishing in general.
If you would like to participate in shaping this future together with us, join the copyediting/layout board of Free Neuropathology.
Deanna C. Fang Member, Copyediting Board University of California, San Diego, USA
GENERAL INFORMATION
Why is the journal called Free Neuropathology and what exactly does free mean?
Free for authors means that there is no article processing fee. Free for readers means that the journal is published open-access without paywalls or any other restrictions of access. Together, these two features constitute what is called diamond open access. There is no revenue, no financial donation, no commercial advertising and no budget. Any expenses (editorial office, travelling, promotion, software, technical infrastructure etc.) are covered by academic institutions. To achieve this goal, we use open-source software such as Open Journal Systems (OJS). Free from publisher means that the journal takes care of all activities that traditionally are carried out by publishers, including but not restricted to copyediting, layout, permanent archiving of papers, maintenance of website, and promotion. This is based on the insight that commercial publishers are primarily interested in profit rather than in science, which has led to an economical and ethical crisis in scientific publishing. We feel that we can perform these activities more efficiently and more passionately than publishers do. For example, we are able to publish papers in the final format within three days after acceptance, including careful copyediting and layout. This is accomplished by our dedicated layout/copyediting board of enthusiastic young colleagues. Free formatting means that the journal refrains from exuberant formal requirements and extremely detailed instructions for authors, which abound in many scientific journal. However, the journal places much emphasis on a professional and appealing appearance of papers and supports consistent formatting within the paper according to authors’ preferences. Free opinion means that in addition to traditional categories of papers such as original papers, review articles and letters, the journal publishes opinion pieces expressing personal or minority (yet scientifically founded) views, and that it encourages frank scholarly discussion among authors and readers, among the editorial board members, and among scientists and the public. On our website we utilize the open source software called Hypothes.is which introduces a sentence-level annotation layer over any paper: comments from anyone about anything and visible for anyone.
If you’d like to make up your own mind about this project, head to the journal’s website at freeneuropathology.org where you’ll find out more about our publication model, our editorial board, FAQ, free access to all papers published so far, and more.
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Newsletter #3, March 30, 2021
DEAR COLLEAGUE,
I have news about Free Neuropathology (FNP) which might be of interest for you.
New papers in FNP’s Top Ten series on recent developments in various areas of neuropathology have been published. These are interesting, concise and well-written review papers by the experts – useful to remain up-to-date.
FNP now invites the submission of Case Reports with no formal restrictions. As you probably know, it is often hard to find appropriate journals for publishing single cases or case series. For FNP these papers should be well-written and the findings should be interesting and novel. Here is our first Case Report.
FNP has recently been indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). While general indexing by PubMed will need some time, as for every new journal, authors can already upload their paper to PubMed if they have been supported by one of several funders. See this paper, for example. The process of uploading is described here.
FNP encourages open communication among authors and readers. By using the Hypothesis function everyone can comment on any FNP paper. You have to click the arrowhead in the upper right corner of the html version of an article. To see how it works, go to our recent review paper on neuro-COVID.
Our grassroots movement tends to be more efficient than the products of commercial publishers. Our copyediting is performed by dedicated scientists working in the field of neuropathology. We undertake professional layout, and we publish papers in the final format within five days on average following acceptance (including copyediting, layout, editorial checks, proof corrections by authors). And: everything is for free – it’s diamond open-access.
FNP is a living and developing journal that is run by dedicated neuroscientists who feel that our publisher-free approach may be the future of scientific publishing. For any ideas, suggestions, critique, or if you would like to join: please let me know.
Jerry J. Lou, Mehrnaz Movassaghi, Dominique Gordy, Madeline G. Olson, Ting Zhang, Maya S. Khurana, Zesheng Chen, Mari Perez-Rosendahl, Samasuk Thammachantha, Elyse J. Singer, Shino D. Magaki, Harry V. Vinters, William H. Yong
Adrian Levine, Carol Lee, Craig Fava, Frankie Tsang, Kelly MacNeil, Stephen T. Yip, Veronica Hirsch-Reinshagen
REFLECTIONS: A VIEW INTO THE LIVES OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL NEUROPATHOLOGISTS
Free Neuropathology offers a forum for free opinion and personal reflections. An example of this is a series of papers offering retired members of the worldwide neuropathology community an opportunity to reflect on their career, personal life and work-life balance, on highlights and setbacks, likes and dislikes, complemented with valuable suggestions for their younger colleagues. The Reflections series is popular – around a quarter of published papers so far fall in this category, and they are accessed and downloaded by researchers from all over the world. I encourage you to read these personal memoires, submit your own reflections if you are at that stage in your life, and draw the attention of your mentors and senior colleagues to the opportunity to contribute to the series. Every life is unique and every neuropathologist is much more than an expert reporting clinical cases, delivering lectures, and publishing research papers.
Tibor Hortobágyi University of Debrecen, Hungary King’s College London, UK
GENERAL INFORMATION
Why is the journal called Free Neuropathology and what exactly does free mean?
Free for authors means that there is no article processing fee. Free for readers means that the journal is published open-access without paywalls or any other restrictions of access. Together, these two features constitute what is called diamond open access. There is no revenue, no financial donation, no commercial advertising and no budget. Any expenses (editorial office, travelling, promotion, software, technical infrastructure etc.) are covered by academic institutions. To achieve this goal, we use open-source software such as Open Journal Systems (OJS). Free from publisher means that the journal takes care of all activities that traditionally are carried out by publishers, including but not restricted to copyediting, layout, permanent archiving of papers, maintenance of website, and promotion. This is based on the insight that commercial publishers are primarily interested in profit rather than in science, which has led to an economical and ethical crisis in scientific publishing. We feel that we can perform these activities more efficiently and more passionately than publishers do. For example, we are able to publish papers in the final format within three days after acceptance, including careful copyediting and layout. This is accomplished by our dedicated layout/copyediting board of enthusiastic young colleagues. Free formatting means that the journal refrains from exuberant formal requirements and extremely detailed instructions for authors, which abound in many scientific journal. However, the journal places much emphasis on a professional and appealing appearance of papers and supports consistent formatting within the paper according to authors’ preferences. Free opinion means that in addition to traditional categories of papers such as original papers, review articles and letters, the journal publishes opinion pieces expressing personal or minority (yet scientifically founded) views, and that it encourages frank scholarly discussion among authors and readers, among the editorial board members, and among scientists and the public. On our website we utilize the open source software called Hypothes.is which introduces a sentence-level annotation layer over any paper: comments from anyone about anything and visible for anyone.
If you’d like to make up your own mind about this project, head to the journal’s website at freeneuropathology.org where you’ll find out more about our publication model, our editorial board, FAQ, free access to all papers published so far, and more. You can also find the inaugural editorial here.
5
Average number of days between acceptance and publication of a manuscript in final format in FNP.
If you support the idea of this journal and share our spirit: join the movement. If you have intriguing data on human or experimental neuropathology: submit an Original Paper. If you have concisely written up something you would like to see published as a letter: consider Free Neuropathology for prompt publication. If you have strong views about a controversial issue or if you disagree with current developments in the field: send us an Opinion Piece. If you like “soft revolutions”: support and recommend the journal. If you would like to become actively involved in our editorial activities or want to share comments, questions, criticism, ideas or any other suggestions: send us a note.
There are interesting and exciting news about Free Neuropathology - the Diamond Open Access journal that is free for authors and for readers. In this newsletter I would like to tell you about our newest publications, give voice to the perspectives of our authors and copyeditors, and tell you how you can get your FNP-accepted paper indexed on PubMed Central.
Prof. Werner Paulus Editor, Free Neuropathology University Hospital Münster Germany
The recent experience of submission followed by review, response to reviewers and decision for publication in Free Neuropathology has been a refreshing change from the similar processes in other journals. The initial decision was fast and the request for an extension for responses to reviewers was granted almost instantly.
It is wonderful to see how the editorial team is personally engaged in the process and in the scientific assessment of the papers, with careful scrutiny of the reviewers’ comments and the authors’ responses to the reviewers. One of the major advantages of this Journal over others is the fact that it is free and therefore committed to the advancement of science unhindered by unnecessary publication costs that may stop many authors from publication.
Thank you, Free Neuropathology!
Prof. Roxana Carare, MD, PhD Faculty of Medicine University of Southampton United Kingdom
COPYEDITORS KNOW WHAT THEY'RE READING
Transitions are difficult – ask any trainee-cum-junior faculty member. As I neared the end of my post-doctoral training in a translational laboratory to commence my first faculty position at a high-volume center, I was faced with the daunting task of staying abreast of clinically-relevant changes in the field and building an academic presence, all the while submitting my first primary author publication. During that transition, I encountered two major obstacles: limited access as a reader and limited freedom as a young contributor.
When I joined the Free Neuropathology copy-editing board, I began understanding the importance and need for open access publishing, particularly for trainees and junior faculty. Publishing work can be expensive, both in time and money; however with Free Neuropathology, the cost is low but the value is high. The turn-around-times are quick, and the cost for publication is heavily advertised in their name.
Free Neuropathology, as a uniquely open access journal with high quality publications, removes the barriers to publication and—ultimately—to professional development. This democratization of information levels the playing field for those who are moving beyond their transition and ready to write the first sentence in their career.
Aivi Nguyen, MD Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN United States
GENERAL INFORMATION
Why is the journal called Free Neuropathology and what exactly does free mean?
Free for authors means that there is no article processing fee. Free for readers means that the journal is published open-access without paywalls or any other restrictions of access. Together, these two features constitute what is called diamond open access. There is no revenue, no financial donation, no commercial advertising and no budget. Any expenses (editorial office, travelling, promotion, software, technical infrastructure etc.) are covered by academic institutions. To achieve this goal, we use open-source software such as Open Journal Systems (OJS). Free from publisher means that the journal takes care of all activities that traditionally are carried out by publishers, including but not restricted to copyediting, layout, permanent archiving of papers, maintenance of website, and promotion. This is based on the insight that commercial publishers are primarily interested in profit rather than in science, which has led to an economical and ethical crisis in scientific publishing. We feel that we can perform these activities more efficiently and more passionately than publishers do. For example, we are able to publish papers in the final format within three days after acceptance, including careful copyediting and layout. This is accomplished by our dedicated layout/copyediting board of enthusiastic young colleagues. Free formatting means that the journal refrains from exuberant formal requirements and extremely detailed instructions for authors, which abound in many scientific journal. However, the journal places much emphasis on a professional and appealing appearance of papers and supports consistent formatting within the paper according to authors’ preferences. Free opinion means that in addition to traditional categories of papers such as original papers, review articles and letters, the journal publishes opinion pieces expressing personal or minority (yet scientifically founded) views, and that it encourages frank scholarly discussion among authors and readers, among the editorial board members, and among scientists and the public. On our website we utilize the open source software called Hypothes.is which introduces a sentence-level annotation layer over any paper: comments from anyone about anything and visible for anyone.
If you’d like to make up your own mind about this project, head to the journal’s website at freeneuropathology.org where you’ll find out more about our publication model, our editorial board, FAQ, free access to all papers published so far, and more. You can also find the inaugural editorial here.
IS FNP INDEXED IN PUBMED YET?
As for every new journal, Free Neuropathology is not listed in PubMed yet. The National Library of Medicine has published criteria for new journals, and we work hard to meet these criteria as soon as possible. However, your paper might still be indexed in PubMed. Authors can upload their accepted, peer-reviewed open-access manuscripts to PubMed, if their research has been supported by the NIH or many other funders. Please click here for specific information on whether your FNP manuscript can be deposited to PubMed and how to proceed. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch with our Technical Editors, who will gladly assist you if any questions arise. Click here for an example of an FNP paper that has been indexed in PubMed.
7
Average number of days between acceptance and publication of a manuscript in final format in FNP.
If you support the idea of this journal and share our spirit: join the movement. If you have intriguing data on human or experimental neuropathology: submit an Original Paper. If you have concisely written up something you would like to see published as a letter: consider Free Neuropathology for prompt publication. If you have strong views about a controversial issue or if you disagree with current developments in the field: send us an Opinion Piece. If you like “soft revolutions”: support and recommend the journal. If you would like to become actively involved in our editorial activities or want to share comments, questions, criticism, ideas or any other suggestions: send us a note.
I have always been passionate about unrestricted access to scientific literature, but the options for open access publishing within the neuropathology field have been frustratingly limited: We had no fully open access neuropathology journals until 2013, and only one such journal (Acta Neuropathologica Communications, founded by Dr. Werner Paulus) from 2013-2020. I was therefore delighted to accept Werner's invitation to support Free Neuropathology (FNP), his new open access publishing venture, by serving on its Editorial Board and by contributing to the first volume as one of the authors of the inaugural Top 10 Discoveries of the Year review series.
Why do we need FNP, and why do we need it now? The overall transition to open access publishing has accelerated and will soon reach a tipping point; however, not all open access journals are created equal with respect to the quality of their articles, the size of their publication fees, or the independence of their editors. Some open access journals create large profits for their publishers by publishing low-quality articles but charging high publication fees, and this predatory behavior has cast a long shadow over the entire open access ecosystem. Other journals publish good work, but limit the academic freedom of their editors by having them bow to the publisher demands. FNP, in contrast, represents an infinite value for its authors, its readers, and the entire neuropathology field: By leveraging the expertise and volunteer services of the scientists on its two Editorial Boards, FNP publishes only the highest quality papers, and does so at a zero cost, with no publisher meddling, blazingly fast, and while providing services that have vanished form many other journals (such as careful copyediting and creation of visually appealing layouts). So send us your papers and you won't be disappointed - we'll treat your work with the respect it deserves and we'll do it for free!
Marta Margeta, MD, PhD Departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine University of California, San Francisco
Why is the journal called Free Neuropathology and what exactly does free mean?
Free for authors means that there is no article processing fee. Free for readers means that the journal is published open-access without paywalls or any other restrictions of access. Together, these two features constitute what is called diamond open access. There is no revenue, no financial donation, no commercial advertising and no budget. Any expenses (editorial office, travelling, promotion, software, technical infrastructure etc.) are covered by academic institutions. To achieve this goal, we use open-source software such as Open Journal Systems (OJS). Free from publisher means that the journal takes care of all activities that traditionally are carried out by publishers, including but not restricted to copyediting, layout, permanent archiving of papers, maintenance of website, and promotion. This is based on the insight that commercial publishers are primarily interested in profit rather than in science, which has led to an economical and ethical crisis in scientific publishing. We feel that we can perform these activities more efficiently and more passionately than publishers do. For example, we are able to publish papers in the final format within three days after acceptance, including careful copyediting and layout. This is accomplished by our dedicated layout/copyediting board of enthusiastic young colleagues. Free formatting means that the journal refrains from exuberant formal requirements and extremely detailed instructions for authors, which abound in many scientific journal. However, the journal places much emphasis on a professional and appealing appearance of papers and supports consistent formatting within the paper according to authors’ preferences. Free opinion means that in addition to traditional categories of papers such as original papers, review articles and letters, the journal publishes opinion pieces expressing personal or minority (yet scientifically founded) views, and that it encourages frank scholarly discussion among authors and readers, among the editorial board members, and among scientists and the public. On our website we utilize the open source software called Hypothes.is which introduces a sentence-level annotation layer over any paper: comments from anyone about anything and visible for anyone.
If you’d like to make up your own mind about this project, head to the journal’s website at freeneuropathology.org where you’ll find out more about our publication model, our editorial board, FAQ, free access to all papers published so far, and more. You can also find the inaugural editorial here.
If you support the idea of this journal and share our spirit: join the movement. If you have intriguing data on human or experimental neuropathology: submit an Original Paper. If you have concisely written up something you would like to see published as a letter: consider Free Neuropathology for prompt publication. If you have strong views about a controversial issue or if you disagree with current developments in the field: send us an Opinion Piece. If you like “soft revolutions”: support and recommend the journal. If you would like to become actively involved in our editorial activities or want to share comments, questions, criticism, ideas or any other suggestions: send us a note.
