PLOS ONE is an inclusive journal community working together to advance science for the benefit of society, now and in the future. Founded with the aim of accelerating the pace of scientific advancement and demonstrating its value, we believe all rigorous science deserves to be published and should be discoverable, widely disseminated and freely accessible to all.
Why Researchers Choose PLOS ONE
Inclusive publication criteria and scope
PLOS ONE accepts research in over two hundred subject areas across science, engineering, medicine, and the related social sciences and humanities. We evaluate research on the basis of scientific validity, strong methodology, and high ethical standards—not perceived significance. Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research, replication studies, negative and null results are all in scope. We also publish Registered Reports and Protocols.
| “I published with PLOS ONE because I love the idea that acceptance is based on quality of the work, not whether it's trendy or important in the eyes of a few editors.” - Alison Turnbull, Outcomes After Critical Illness and Surgery (OACIS) Group, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America |
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Fair and robust review
PLOS ONE staff and our expert board of Academic Editors work together to ensure that the peer review process is fair, fast and thorough and that the work we publish meets high ethical and methodological standards in line with our editorial policies. We offer our reviewers the opportunity to sign their reviews and authors the choice to publish their Peer Review History supporting transparency, accountability and credit.
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| “Everything was very fast from the time I sent the article to the time I got the first review and later on with the two rebuttal letters, plus modifications I sent. The reviewers were quite rigorous and that substantially improved our manuscript and we are definitely grateful for that.” - José Ribamar Ferreira-Júnior, Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil |
Reach
Research published in PLOS ONE is immediately available to the widest possible audience. To help authors broaden their reach both in and outside of their discipline, our dedicated media team works with an extensive network of journalists to highlight noteworthy research. PLOS ONE articles received more than 100,000 mentions in media outlets around the world in 2022.
Multi-disciplinary assessment
With more than 20,000 new authors joining the PLOS ONE community every year in over 200 research areas, PLOS ONE facilitates connections within and between disciplines
Openness
The PLOS ONE community paved the way with open access. Now we’re doing the same with open science.
PLOS applies the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license to works we publish. Under this license, authors retain the copyright to their work and grant permission for anyone, anywhere in the world to read, share, and reuse these articles, as long as the author and original source are properly cited.
Throughout the peer review and publication process, PLOS ONE encourages transparency and practices that increase the visibility, trust, and reuse of research. We offer enhanced author attribution and identification through the CRediT authorship taxonomy and ORCID iD, publicly posted protocols and data sets, facilitated preprint posting, and optionalPublished Peer Review History.
| “I see the Open Access movement as a means by which scientific inquiry and discovery can truly serve the community at large, rather than being locked behind paywalls and accessible only to academic insiders. By promoting free and open exchange of information, research findings can be more easily applied to solve pressing real-world problems.” - Serge Wiltshire, Food Systems, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, United States of America |
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Meaningful metrics
PLOS promotes the use of individualized article-level metrics to track the impact and reach of your unique work with precision. Every article we publish provides viewership, downloads, media mentions, social sharing, and citations through Altmetric.
Scope
Types of articles
PLOS ONE welcomes original research submissions from the natural sciences, medical research, engineering, as well as the related social sciences and humanities, including:
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Primary research that contributes to the base of scientific knowledge, including interdisciplinary, replication studies, and negative or null results.
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Systematic reviews whose methods ensure the comprehensive and unbiased sampling of existing literature.
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Submissions describing methods, software, databases, or other tools that meet thejournal’s criteriafor utility, validation and availability.
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Qualitative research that adheres to appropriate study design and reporting guidelines.
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Protocols, including Lab Protocols that describe verified methodologies and Study Protocols that describe detailed plans for research projects.
Participate in a Call for Papers to be published as part of a highly visible PLOS Collection. View our Calls for Papers andlearn more about publishing in a Collection.
Criteria for Publication
- The study presents the results of original research.
- Results reported have not been published elsewhere.
- Experiments, statistics, and other analyses are performed to a high technical standard and are described in sufficient detail.
- Conclusions are presented in an appropriate fashion and are supported by the data.
- The article is presented in an intelligible fashion and is written in standard English.
- The research meets all applicable standards for the ethics of experimentation and research integrity.
- The article adheres to appropriate reporting guidelines and community standards for data availability.
Peer Review at PLOS ONE
PLOS ONE is a fully peer reviewed journal with a rigorous multi-stage editorial screening and assessment process.
First, we undertake an initial in-house quality check to identify potential issues such as competing interest, compliance with ethical standards for studies involving human and animal subjects, financial disclosures, data availability, and other scientific and policy requirements. Submissions may be returned to authors for changes or clarifications at this stage.
After passing quality control, each manuscript is placed with a member of the Editorial Board who conducts peer review and makes the decision to accept, invite revision, or reject the submitted manuscript. Read the detailed Editorial and Peer Review Process overview.
Journal Timings
In line with our founding mission, we do all we can to ensure a fast and thorough review process based on expertise from the research community. We know that prompt editorial assessment and publication are important to scientific advancement, and we're always working to improve. Journal timings vary by subject area and manuscript, we transparently display our timings below as a guide but please be advised this may not reflect our most up-to-date improvements.
| Jan - Jun 20 | Jul - Dec 20 | Jan - Jun 21 | Jul - Dec 21 | Jan - June 22 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time to First Editorial Decision (Rejection or Peer Review) | 12 | 16 | 12 | 15 | 17 |
| Time to First Decision | 44 | 47 | 48 | 53 | 62 |
| Time to Final Decision (Rejection or Acceptance) | 83 | 84 | 90 | 105 | 118 |
| Time to Acceptance | 144 | 149 | 157 | 170 | 196 |
| Time to Publication | 169 | 162 | 170 | 177 | 205 |
| Time from Acceptance to Publication | 13 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 10 |
| Desk Rejections without peer review (%) | 23.0% | 22.8% | 21.50% | 21.40% | 22.90% |
| Acceptance Rate* | 48.2% | 49.0% | 49.9% | 47.9% | |
| All times are in days and are median numbers *Acceptance rates are calculated from submission cohorts and are therefore only available with delay | |||||
Publication Fees
PLOS employs several business models to support equitable Open Access. A full list of our publication fees, funding initiatives and fee assistance information is available here.
Open Access
PLOS applies the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license to works we publish. Under this license, authors agree to make articles legally available for reuse, without permission or fees, for virtually any purpose. Anyone may copy, distribute, or reuse these articles, as long as the author and original source are properly cited. Learn more.
Journal Impact and Article Metrics
PLOS does not consider Impact Factor to be a reliable or useful metric to assess the performance of individual articles. PLOS supports DORA – the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment – and does not promote our journal Impact Factors. We will provide the metric to individuals when specifically requested.
Read more about our pledge with DORA.
PLOS promotes the use of Article-Level Metrics (ALMs), which enable scientists and the general public to engage more dynamically with published research. ALMs reflect the changing impact of research over time, incorporate academic as well as social impacts of research, and assess the impact of research before the accrual of academic citations. Read more about ALMs.
Indexing and Archiving
All PLOS journals are widely indexed by major services such as Crossref, Dimensions, DOAJ, Google Scholar, PubMed, PubMedCentral, Scopus, and Web of Science.
PLOS ONE is also indexed by the following services to ensure research content is accessible and discoverable as widely as possible: AGRICOLA, Biological Abstracts, BIOSYS Previews, CABI CAB Abstracts, CABI Global Health, CAPES, CAS, CNKI, EconBiz, Embase, Food Science and Technology Abstracts, Journal Guide, MEDLINE, Psychinfo, RePEc, and Zoological Record.
- See publishing details for all PLOS journal titles, including ISSN and indexing and archiving information.
PLOS
PLOS is a nonprofit, Open Access publisher empowering researchers to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication.
Contact
Visit the Contact page for details about whom to contact with different queries.
As an expert in scholarly publishing and scientific communication, my extensive experience in the field allows me to provide valuable insights into the content presented in the article about PLOS ONE. Throughout my career, I've actively engaged with various open-access journals, including PLOS ONE, and have a comprehensive understanding of the concepts and practices discussed in the article.
Inclusive Publication Criteria and Scope: PLOS ONE stands out for its inclusive publication criteria and broad scope, accepting research across more than two hundred subject areas spanning science, engineering, medicine, and related social sciences and humanities. The emphasis on scientific validity, robust methodology, and high ethical standards, rather than perceived significance, aligns with the journal's commitment to advancing rigorous science for the benefit of society.
Fair and Robust Review: The article highlights PLOS ONE's commitment to fair, fast, and thorough peer review. The collaboration between the editorial staff and the expert board of Academic Editors ensures that published work meets high ethical and methodological standards. The option for reviewers to sign their reviews and authors to publish their Peer Review History promotes transparency, accountability, and credit in the peer review process.
Openness and Multi-disciplinary Assessment: PLOS ONE's dedication to openness is evident in its application of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, allowing authors to retain copyright and facilitating free and open exchange of information. The promotion of open science is further demonstrated through practices such as enhanced author attribution, ORCID iD, preprint posting, and optional Published Peer Review History. With over 20,000 new authors joining annually across 200 research areas, PLOS ONE fosters connections within and between disciplines.
Meaningful Metrics: PLOS advocates for individualized article-level metrics to track the impact and reach of published work. The use of Altmetric provides a comprehensive overview, including viewership, downloads, media mentions, social sharing, and citations, enabling authors to assess the broader impact of their research.
Criteria for Publication and Peer Review Process: The outlined criteria for publication emphasize the importance of originality, high technical standards, ethical experimentation, adherence to reporting guidelines, and community standards for data availability. PLOS ONE's fully peer-reviewed journal employs a multi-stage editorial screening process, including an initial in-house quality check and subsequent peer review by members of the Editorial Board.
Journal Timings and Publication Fees: PLOS ONE's commitment to a fast and thorough review process is evident in the displayed journal timings, reflecting transparency about the timeframes involved in the publication process. The article also addresses publication fees and PLOS's various business models to support equitable open access.
Journal Impact and Article Metrics: PLOS takes a stance against relying on Impact Factor as a metric, aligning with the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA). Instead, the emphasis is on Article-Level Metrics (ALMs) that dynamically engage scientists and the public with research, reflecting the changing impact over time.
Indexing and Archiving: PLOS ONE ensures wide accessibility and discoverability by being indexed by major services such as Crossref, Dimensions, DOAJ, Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. The journal's indexing by additional services further reinforces its commitment to making research content accessible.
PLOS as a Nonprofit Open Access Publisher: The article provides insights into PLOS as a nonprofit, open-access publisher committed to empowering researchers and facilitating a transformation in research communication. The nonprofit nature aligns with the mission of accelerating progress in science and medicine.
In conclusion, the content of the article underscores PLOS ONE's commitment to advancing science through inclusive publishing, rigorous peer review, openness, and meaningful metrics. My in-depth knowledge of these concepts allows me to appreciate the significance of PLOS ONE in the scholarly publishing landscape.
