Show the strength of your science
Sharing the foundational components of your research reduces opportunities for bias and increases transparency into the investigatory and peer review processes, demonstrating both the rigor of your research and the screening it has undergone.
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Open Science is an opportunity. To reach across disciplines, geographies, and occupations and share your discoveries globally. To contribute to, learn from, and grow our collected knowledge from diverse perspectives. At PLOS, openness is both central to our mission and seamlessly integrated into our publishing process so researchers can participate with ease and freedom.
Openness is an asset
PLOS offers a range of innovative Open Science options to enrich the scientific record, to reach a wider readership, to demonstrate integrity, and to maximize the impact of research.
Extend your impact
When your research is freely available and easily discoverable, it can achieve its full potential—for readership, for citations, and for change. Articles published under an Open Access license have the power to influence all types of readers, including policymakers, educators, and the public, as well as researchers worldwide..
Maximize your contribution
Sharing more of your research earlier in the process reduces waste across the scientific ecosystem and helps create opportunities for inspiration, reuse, and collaboration.
Increase trust and ensure long term viability
Take advantage of Open Science tools that integrate open methods, open data and study designs into published articles, to ensure that the ingredients necessary for reproduction become part of the permanent scientific record.
Publishing that fits your goals and values
What matters most to you when communicating your research?
Anyone can find and read your science when they need it most
- Remove restrictions with Open Access licensing
- Take control of your research communications with preprints
Readers trust in the quality and integrity of your science
- Demonstrate integrity by preregistering your research
- Underscore the validity of your work with Published Peer Review History
- Ensure that everyone who contributes to the research, writing and peer review process receives appropriate academic credit for their work
- Facilitate reanalysis and replication with Open Data
Your science is reproducible and reusable
- Enhance understanding and ensure reproducibility with detailed Open Methods
- Facilitate reanalysis and replication with Open Data
You receive academic credit for all of your contributions to science
- Claim academic credit for your work as an author and a reviewer with ORCID, Publons, and the CRediT taxonomy
- Publish more of your research as Methods, Code and Data
- Showcase peer reviews, editorial feedback and authors’ responses in Published Peer Review History
What does your Open Science look like?
Open more of your research to more of your community with PLOS
PLOS provides simple solutions for surfacing and sharing valuable artifacts from each stage of your investigation—including study designs, protocols, code and methods; raw data and images; preprints, peer reviews, and commentary, as well as articles.
Data
Our innovative Open Data practices ensure that your data remains accessible and discoverable over the long term as a permanent part of the scientific record. For verification, replication, reuse, and enhanced understanding of research.
Methods
Open methods advance research integrity, understanding, reproducibility and reuse. Save fellow researchers time and effort and maximize your own citation potential by making detailed methods publicly available. Take advantage of our unique publishing options and partnerships to share preregistered research, protocols and code in the way that best serves your study.
Published peer review history
Peer reviews and author responses to reviewers are research outputs in their own right. They enrich the scientific literature, contextualize research and improve understanding, and increase trust in published research. At the same time, the knowledge that their review may become public keeps reviewers accountable and encourages constructive feedback. When your article is accepted for publication at any PLOS journal, you can choose whether or not to publish the peer review history as well.
Preprints
With preprints, you control your scientific communications. Share your research when you’re ready—to establish priority, broadcast results, seek community feedback, increase readership, and bolster grant, job or tenure applications. PLOS welcomes submissions with preprints. And we’ve partnered with bioRxiv and medRxiv to make posting preprints easy.
The future is Open
Open Science offers an expansive vision of an inclusive research ecosystem, a community of scientists working across distance and discipline to produce verifiable, trusted research. To reach that goal, PLOS is working to better support our researchers, by…
Increasing understanding
Through high-quality meta-research
Increasing access
To reading and publication
Increasing credit
For all the components of your research
The PLOS Open Science Toolbox
The future is Open
The PLOS Open Science Toolbox is your source for sci-comm tips and best-practice. Learn practical strategies and hands-on tips to improve reproducibility, increase trust, and maximize the impact of your research through Open Science.
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