PLOS Update

Over four years ago we launched PLOS Channels to highlight research and news relevant to our research communities. Eventually, the portfolio grew to include 13 Channels in topics from stem cells to tuberculosis to cholera (see the full list below). New content was added to Channels by expert Channel Editors, who selected articles to include in a journal- and publisher-agnostic manner. Channels were initially conceived as a meaningful space to serve a variety of communities beyond typical journal boundaries and challenge the assessment of impact and importance of research.  

Today, we are announcing that we have made the difficult decision to stop updating the Channels. Despite positive feedback from some authors and their institutions, we have not seen the usage from the community that would allow us to achieve our goals. Moreover, we were not able to scale the program to meet everyone’s needs, and we suspect that post-publication curation of content may be best done by a neutral third party, rather than an organisation like PLOS, which publishes some of the content included in the Channels. 

The content in all Channels will be archived and will remain available online. The following two Channels will migrate to PLOS Curated Collections, where they will continue to be updated with relevant research from PLOS to connect people to content and inspire collaboration:

–        Veterans Disability & Rehabilitation Research: to maintain our commitment to the Veteran’s Administration

–        Disease Forecasting & Surveillance: because the current pandemic demonstrates the essential nature of this content, and its curation. This Channel will be renamed to Infectious Disease Epidemiology to ensure that all relevant content on this important topic is included.

PLOS would not exist without the people who believe in our mission and values, and who help us with  projects like Channels. We rely on scientists like our Channel Editors to keep pushing us on our collective journey to make science more open, accessible and transparent.

On behalf of everyone at PLOS, we want to thank all our Channel Editors and Administrators (past & present) for their tireless work and dedication and all of the loyal subscribers who have followed PLOS Channels over the years. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You have truly enriched our organization and science as a whole.

Antimicrobial Resistance: Patricia Bradford, Laura Piddock, Manica Balasegaram, Ursula Theuretzbacher, Peter Beyer, Ingrid Smith, Iruke Okeke and Carmem Pessoa-Silva

Cholera: Andrew Azman, Louise Ivers, Francisco Luquero and Lorenzo Pezzoli 

Cognitive Neuroscience: Giovanni Bosco, Muireann Irish, Kendrick Kay and Siddharth Ramanan

Complexity: Chiara Poletto, Daniele Marinazzo, José Soares Andrade Jr., Laurent Hébert-Dufresne and Daniele Marinazzo

Crops, Food Security and Food Systems: Gert Kema, Molly Jahn, Zerihun Tadele and Robert Sharwood, David Torres Sanchez

Disease Forecasting & Surveillance: Cecile Viboud, Elaine Nsoesie, Nicholas Reich, Michael Johansson, Don Olson

Ebola: Adam Kucharski and Sebastian Funk

Microbiome: Zaid Abdo, Noelle Noyes, John Rawls, Jessica Metcalf, Pankaj Trivedi, Sarah Facey and  Steven Lakin

Open Source Toolkit: Jenny Malloy, Tom Baden, Andre Maia Chagas, Nikoleta Glynatsi and Yo Yehudi

Responding to Climate Change: Juan Antonio Añel, Vanesa Magar  and João Miguel Dias, Johan Lilliestam and Emma Archer

Stem Cells: Joshua Brickman, Emma Rawlins, Azim Surani, Rita Monteiro and Siham Yennek

Tuberculosis: Soumya Swaminathan, Madhukar Pai, Sophie Huddart and Emily MacLean

Veterans Disability & Rehabilitation Research: Yih-Kuen Jan, Libbey Bowen, Noam Harel, Alicia Koontz, Lisa Brenner, Thomas Stripling