The American Society of Microbiology has launched its first fully open access journal online, mBio. It's peer-reviewed and covers a broad range of research incorporating microbiology and its allied disciplines. The full-text and supplementary materials of an article are available online immediately upon publication.
mBio is trying a few new things in the world of scientific publishing. First, it is asking authors to write a brief description in plain, non-scientific English, to explain why their work is important. They hope to reach nonspecialist scientists and critical nonscientific audiences such as policy makers. The second new departure is a "rapid and clear decision on the disposition of the paper. Papers will either be accepted with minimal revisions or rejected." They believe this will make for a clearer and more effecient review process.
