Bioinformatics in China
Today marks the publication of a new article in PLoS Computational Biology’s regional perspective series, this time focusing on the development of bioinformatics in China. We are pleased to be able to publish forward-thinking articles of this type, which examine scientific publishing and research in non-Western countries, and have so far published articles on Mexico , Brazil, Cuba, Argentina, and Costa Rica. The bioinformatics and computational biology market is particularly booming in China and India, and PLoS Computational Biology especially is seeing a large increase in submissions from these countries. In these early months of 2008 alone, we have had almost a dozen research articles submitted from China, and the same amount from India and Switzerland. Our highest submitting country remains the USA, followed shortly by the UK, Germany, Japan, and Israel. We’re also pleased to note we have reflected this geographical spread in our Editorial Board, with editors from all of the above mentioned countries.
The article, Bioinformatics in China, explores both the history of and the current projects in computational biology in China, including the Chinese element of the HapMap Consortium and Human Proteome Organisation, and new tools such as the Splice Variants Analysis Platform (SVAP). We also recently published a very high-profile article by authors from Peking University, “Genes and (Common) Pathways Underlying Drug Addiction”, which received coverage in The Economist, Reuters and The China Post. We are proud to be able to bring research from all over the world to the attention of international media, and invite you to comment on any of these articles with your personal experiences of living or working in these countries.