Access Microbiology Editor Q&A Helina Marshall
The Access Microbiology Open Research Platform relaunched with a commitment to transparent research and supporting the microbiology community.
Helina Marshall, Editor-in-Chief of Access Microbiology , discusses the importance of publishing negative or null findings, the benefits of submitting work to the platform, and her hopes for the future of scientific publishing.
sure other researchers don’t waste time in repeating “failed” experiments. If the research is sound, there should be a way for this to be published and shared with the community. What advice would you give to someone thinking about submitting to the journal? Access Microbiology is a great place to submit work that was maybe part of a larger story initially, but for various reasons didn’t work out or ended up being less relevant to the final project. If the science is sound but doesn’t seem to fit in your other work, it fits in Access Microbiology !
Please introduce yourself I completed my PhD at University College London before going on to carry out postdoctoral work at Queen’s University Belfast and University College Dublin. Currently, I am a new Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Strathclyde, working on host-pathogen interactions and immune evasion mechanisms, primarily focusing on clinically relevant but rare serotypes of Salmonella , as well as Streptococcus pneumoniae . What has been the most enjoyable part of working on Access Microbiology ? The Access Microbiology Open Research Platform is committed to promoting open research and serves as a platform for publishing all sound science within the Microbiology Society’s portfolio. It offers a unique model that includes preprints, transparent peer review, and a record of the article’s history from original submission to final version. The platform’s broad scope results in submissions covering a wide range of subject areas, providing an opportunity for our early career researcher Editors to handle papers they would not typically encounter. Furthermore, our Editor Mentors are readily available to assist Mentees with any questions that may arise. Having such a communicative and supportive Editorial Board is a great asset. What does publish for the community mean to you? Our publishing portfolio supports and invests in the work of the Microbiology Society, publishing for the community and reinvesting the profits in supporting microbiology and microbiologists. With commercial for-profit publishers expanding their reach so much in recent years, there has never been a more important time to publish with and for our community. Why is it important for negative or null findings to still be published? The ability to combat data waste is so important, both in ensuring an accurate scientific record and pragmatically to make
What are your hopes for the future of science publishing?
The future of scientific publishing matters to everyone – the publication of data and ideas that arise from research is fundamental to how science advances. I hope that, with the move to Open Access and open science, we place more emphasis on sound, reproducible research. We’re no longer publishing in a print medium, we don’t need to limit ourselves to only publishing the most novel results. Digital publishing means more seats at the table.
Helina Marshall Editor-in-Chief, Access Microbiology University of Strathclyde, UK
helina.marshall@strath.ac.uk
14 Microbiology Today May 2023 | microbiologysociety.org
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