The future of research dissemination: Innovation in publishing formats

Peer-reviewed scientific journals have been used in formal research communication for decades, but the quality, accessibility, timeliness, clarity, and fairness of articles resulting from the currently dominant publishing model have been questioned. Many novel online publishing strategies have emerged to address gaps in the traditional publishing model. Strategies that reduce or eliminate pre-publication peer review, such as preprints, reduce the cost and time required to publish, thus enhancing accessibility and accelerating science. Other modalities such as multimedia journals provide access to and credit for new types of academic contributions, as well as findings that never result in traditional publications. While scientific grant-funding agencies have begun to embrace preprints and data repositories, most of these organizations have not yet addressed other innovative publishing modalities. Funding for publishing infrastructure development, support for preprints, and changes to grant evaluation guidelines targeted towards rewarding nontraditional publishing could facilitate more widespread adoption of a variety of publishing strategies.