Dear Colleague:

This is an invitation to submit papers to the Journal of Integrative Biosciences.  This is a new, peer-reviewed and open access electronic journal being launched by Arkansas State University to promote the interdisciplinary approaches to biological problems, from the ecological to the molecular, in a medium that offers a number of opportunities rarely available in standard printed periodicals.

The Internet provides new avenues for research distribution with increased control of publishing by scholars, at no cost to the users, while broadening the research communities.  We intend to be robust in the criteria to be used for publishing, that is, that in addition to the standard research data, we also want to offer researchers the possibility to submit articles whose format and content are not allowed in the ordinary printed media.  You can find some of those possibilities in the attached appendix.

Thanks in advance for your participation.

Sincerely,

Aldemaro Romero, Ph.D.

Editor-in-Chief
 

Appendix

Some of the types of article we expect to publish are as follows:

(1)   “Live articles” in which the data is fed as the experiment takes place.  The user can log in at any time and see an experiment on an ongoing basis or see data collected that day.

(2)   The use of embedded software by which users can mirror authors’ work, manipulate data, running simulations based on other inputs

(3)   “Live” discussions on articles with suggestions, criticisms, and replies -- after being accepted by the editor to ensure that such messages adhere to the usual standards of scholarly etiquette

(4)   Op-ed pieces on any topics related to biological sciences

(5)   Book reviews

(6)   Publication immediately after the piece is accepted for publication

(7)   Electronic alerts of new articles via email

(8)   Publication in pdf format so any individual or library can print them and bind it in the standard printed-format of any journal

(9)   Click access to any sources cited in a given paper

(10)   Access to cited papers freely available

(11)   Links to corrections or to later articles that cite the paper

(12)   Access to more detailed (even raw) data so other colleagues can examine the same evidence and come up with independent conclusions

(13)   Access to multimedia information (e.g., videos)

(14)   “Scholarly skywriting’: Interactivity via links to reader comments and discussion forums related to the paper

(15)   We will have a Profiles and Legacies section, for which we will invite prominent scientists to write about their careers and experiences and will publish their photo. In addition, we will invite groups of authors to pay tribute to outstanding individuals who have had major impact in Biology.

(16)   We will invite submissions featuring new centers or major expansions at well-established institutions (new institutes or centers). This is a great way to share the excitement and attract attention to what’s happening

(17)   We will use this medium to publish papers generated in a conference

(18)   We will develop a section called “Exegeses and Views” and reserve it for more theoretical arguments and ideas that are not necessarily published, or views based on a body of work rather than a specific publication.

(19)   Other items as become available thanks to technological advances or intellectual innovations