Public Library of Science (PLOS)

PLOS (Public Library of Science) is a nonprofit publisher and advocacy organization based in San Francisco US and Cambridge UK. It was founded to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication. The objectives of PLOS are to: 1) Provide ways to overcome unnecessary barriers to immediate availability, access and use of research; 2) Pursue a publishing strategy that optimizes the quality and integrity of the publication process; and 3) Develop innovative approaches to the assessment, organization and reuse of ideas and data.

PLOS publishes a suite of influential Open Access journals from diverse areas of science and medicine that contain rigorously peer-reviewed research articles, together with expert commentary, analysis and educational material. The total content  amounts to more than 160,000 articles published in PLOS journals since 2003. PLOS also provides blogs on matters of interest to diverse audiences. The PLOS Blogs Network features staff and community scientists and science writers contributing on topics ranging from the discipline-specific ‘DNA Science,’ focused on genomics research, to the broad interest ‘Public Health Perspectives.’ and ‘SciComm,’ an open platform for opinion and discussion on the art and science of science communication.

Staff at PLOS have extensive editorial and production experience in publishing Open Access content across a range of digital and social media as well as experience in software development, web design and community collaboration. Our core business experience also covers the financial, marketing and human resources requirements necessary to run a large sustainable publishing company. PLOS has participated in another EU funded project as part of the Technical and Human infrastructures for Open Research (THOR) grant consortium with partners ORCID, DataCite, Dryad, Zenodo, Europe PubMed Central, Elsevier Labs and others to ensure the increasingly complex network of digital identifiers and systems developing around research studies is linked and that digital identifiers are recognized across diverse systems. PLOS was among the original signatories of a 2016 Open Letter by which major publishers committed to adopt best practices and require ORCID iDs within the year.