Today, four foundations (Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Laura and John Arnold Foundation, Simons Foundation) announced their provisional support for a scientist-driven effort (Accelerating Science and Publication in Biology; ASAPbio.org) whose mission is to promote the use of preprints in the life sciences. The combined total funding from the four foundations is $400,000 for work to be conducted over the next 18 months.
The hope is that use of preprints will catalyze scientific discovery, facilitate career advancement, and improve the culture of communication within the biology community. Preprints have been used extensively and successfully in the math and physics communities for over 25 years (arXiv.org), but their adoption has been much slower in the life sciences.
This funding will allow ASAPbio to hire a director who will work closely with Dr. Ron Vale and Dr. James Fraser, both researchers at University of California, San Francisco who have led the recent charge for preprints in biology. The key roles of the new director will be to engage stakeholders (journals, funding agencies, scientific societies, academic institutions) to discuss adoption of policies consistent with the mission of ASAPbio, and to help various stakeholders to develop appropriate and effective material, including maintaining the ASAPbio website as a core information hub.
The decision to fund ASAPbio follows two successful international meetings in 2016: a general meeting in February and a Funders Workshop in May). A recent article in Science reported on the February meeting that brought together scientists, publishers and funders, with the authors voicing strong support for a robust preprint mechanism in biology.
“Currently, many biologists have either never heard of preprints or have incomplete or inaccurate information,” said Vale. “Translating excitement into action will not be trivial as several large elements of the scientific enterprise will have to move in synchrony towards adoption. This grant will help establish a ‘command post’ charged with disseminating accurate information on preprints and helping to facilitate cooperation among different parts of the scientific enterprise needed to effect changes in policy and culture.”
Moore Foundation program officer Carly Strasser was present at both ASAPbio meetings, was a co-author on the Science article mentioned above, and has been the major force at Moore for the grant to ASAPbio. “It’s rare that researchers get involved in what might be considered infrastructure issues for research. I’m thrilled that Vale, Fraser, and their colleagues have managed to build excitement and promote conversation around how research is communicated.”
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