Publishing Terms & Definitions

Glossary

Advisory Board

The Advisory Board of Gates Open Research comprises individuals who have a strong interest in open research and improving the way research findings are disseminated. They do not act as ‘Editors’ in the traditional sense (i.e. they do not handle manuscripts nor make decisions to accept or reject a paper). The main role of the Advisory Board is to advocate Gates Open Research to the wider academic community, as well as to provide constructive input and guidance on the strategic direction of the platform and advise on high-level policy decisions.

Approval Status: Approved

An Approved rating means that the reviewer has asked either for no changes to the article or only a few small changes. For original research, this means that the experimental design, including controls and methods, is adequate; results are presented accurately and the conclusions are justified and supported by the data. An article with two Approved ratings, or one Approved and two Approved with Reservations ratings, will be considered to have passed peer review. Peer review statuses will be given on Gates Open Research for articles submitted before August 2024. After August 2024, all peer review (and accompanying statuses) will be conducted on VeriXiv, the associated preprint server for Gates Open Research. From this point, all articles published on Gates Open Research will be the final, approved versions of record that have undergone prior peer review on VeriXiv.

Approval Status: Approved with Reservations

An Approved with Reservations rating means that the reviewer believes the paper has academic merit, but has asked for a number of small changes to the article, or specific, sometimes more significant revisions. An article with two Approved ratings, or one Approved and two Approved with Reservations ratings, will be considered to have passed peer review. Peer review statuses will be given on Gates Open Research for articles submitted before August 2024. After August 2024, all peer review (and accompanying statuses) will be conducted on VeriXiv, the associated preprint server for Gates Open Research. From this point, all articles published on Gates Open Research will be the final, approved versions of record that have undergone prior peer review on VeriXiv.

Approval Status: Not Approved

A Not Approved rating means that a reviewer considers the research in the article to have fundamental flaws and the work overall to be of poor quality. The article is still published and the authors are encouraged to revise their article to respond to the concerns raised by the reviewer. Peer review statuses will be given on Gates Open Research for articles submitted before August 2024. After August 2024, all peer review (and accompanying statuses) will be conducted on VeriXiv, the associated preprint server for Gates Open Research. From this point, all articles published on Gates Open Research will be the final, approved versions of record that have undergone prior peer review on VeriXiv.

Awaiting Peer Review

Peer review takes place after publication and articles that have not yet received any peer review reports are labelled as “Awaiting peer review”. Articles awaiting peer review are officially published and can be cited (for example in manuscripts, CVs, or grant applications), because the citation includes details of the reviewer status, making it clear to everyone what stage of peer review the article has reached. Readers who later follow the citation link to view the paper will be able to see its current peer review status. Peer review statuses will be given on Gates Open Research for articles submitted before August 2024. After August 2024, all peer review (and accompanying statuses) will be conducted on VeriXiv, the associated preprint server for Gates Open Research. From this point, all articles published on Gates Open Research will be the final, approved versions of record that have undergone prior peer review on VeriXiv.

CC-0 (Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication license)

Where possible, data associated with articles published in Gates Open Research should be made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC-0 license) to facilitate and encourage data re-use. Use of a CC-0 license also helps prevent ‘attribution stacking’, which occurs when combining separate datasets produced by different authors that are held under multiple different licenses. A Creative Commons license is also recommended for data associated with posters, slides and documents published on Gates Open Research.

CC-BY (Creative Commons Attribution license)

Gates Open Research articles, posters, slides and documents are published under a CC-BY license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and leaves the copyright of the article, poster, slideset or document with the current copyright holder (usually the author or his/her institution).

Crossmark

Crossmark is a version management tool from Crossref that enables users to check and see if an article has been updated. It is of particular benefit in the case of PDF files where, regardless of when the file was downloaded and where it has been stored, readers who are online can click on the Crossmark icon, and see if a new peer review report or a new version of the article is available. If one is available, Crossmark will link the user directly to the updated version.

Data note

Gates Open Research publishes Data Notes as an article type in its own right. Data Notes describe datasets and their associated protocols only, without any interpretation or conclusion. Many journals will accept submissions of full-length research articles that are based on datasets with a DOI and associated protocol information previously published. See the article guidelines for a full list of article types, and see our data policies to see which journals accept work based on published data notes.

Documents

Documents are end-of-grant reports, or outputs such as policies and guidelines. They are normally included in specific gateways and are of particular relevance to that gateway's readership and community. Documents are not peer reviewed and their formats vary and often differ from traditional scholarly research publications. Each document has a unique DOI and citation; documents are therefore permanently published.

DOI

Each version of an article and each peer review report, as well as some datasets within articles, have their own unique Digital Object Identifier (DOI). Every object with a DOI can be cited, so it is possible to reference a specific version of an article, a specific peer review report or a dataset associated with an article, as well as each poster, slideset or document.

Gateways

Gateways provide portals for institutions, organizations or specific funding programs with links to featured content and other resources.

F1000 Research Limited

Gates Open Research is a platform controlled by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with F1000 Research Limited providing the publishing service, including development and maintenance of the technology underlying the publication platform, editorial and production services supporting the authors, reviewers and readers, and so on. F1000 Research Limited has been operating with this technology and the post-publication peer review model since 2013.

Open data

Gates Open Research requires full data deposition for all published articles. Data are usually made available under a CC-0 license in data repositories that meet certain criteria. In the case of clinical trials or other research where patient privacy is a concern, if data cannot be adequately anonymised, we work with authors to establish appropriate levels of access control, while ensuring that researchers who do meet required standards can get access to the data quickly and easily.

Open peer review

The phrase “open peer review” is used to describe the formal, invited article review process that occurs on VeriXiv, ahead of publication on Gates Open Research (for articles that pass peer review). The peer review process on VeriXiv is “open” in the sense that all reviewer names and peer review reports are publicly accessible.

Peer review report

Peer review reports are written by invited reviewers, and are open for all to read on VeriXiv, the associated preprint server for Gates Open Research. They consist of an approval status (Approved, Approved with Reservations, or Not Approved) and comments that explain the status and present any suggestions for improvements. All peer review reports are assigned a DOI. Authors and other registered users can publicly comment on peer review reports.

Preprint

A preprint is the version of your manuscript that has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal, also known as the author's original manuscript. This is the version of your manuscript that will be transferred to VeriXiv on submission to Gates Open Research, where it will undergo pre-publication checks ahead of publication on VeriXiv, followed by optional peer review on VeriXiv, and final publication on Gates Open Research.

Published

At Gates Open Research, an article is published online on an associated preprint server, VeriXiv, before peer review starts on VeriXiv. If an author opts to progress to peer review on VeriXiv, with the intention of publishing the approved version on Gates Open Research, an article cannot then be removed or withdrawn at a later stage, regardless of the outcome of the peer review. Published articles have passed our internal editorial check and are formatted and then put live - published - before peer review begins on VeriXiv. As peer review progresses and peer review reports are received, they will appear alongside the published paper. Once an article receives sufficient positive peer review reports, it will be considered to have passed peer review and will be transferred to Gates Open Research, which will publish the final post-peer review version of record.

Registered user

Authors and reviewers must register and create an account in order to submit articles, other content (e.g. posters) or peer review reports. Users who wish to comment on content also have to register. All registered users must supply both their name and affiliation. Registration is free.

Reviewer

VeriXiv reviewers are checked for suitability and any conflicts of interest. They are experts in the field of the article they have been invited to review, and their reports and approval statuses (Approved, Approved with Reservations, or Not Approved) ultimately determine whether or not a paper will pass peer review. Names of all reviewers (with their peer review reports) are openly published on VeriXiv and Gates Open Research (for the final version of record).

Revised Revised 

The 'Revised' badge is used to denote an article that has been revised by the authors, usually following reviewer and/or reader feedback. These revisions are published as new versions of the article, and are individually citable. The Revised badge contrasts with the 'Update' badge, which denotes a new version (often after the article has passed peer review and/or the peer review is considered complete), in which authors can add small developments relevant to research discussed in that article.

Update Update 

The ‘Update’ badge is used for new article versions following small developments. These Updates are published as new versions of the article (often after the article has passed peer review and/or the peer review is considered complete), and are individually citable. The Update badge contrasts with the ‘Revised’ badge, which indicates when the article has been revised, usually following reviewer and/or reader feedback.

User comments

Registered users can leave comments on articles and the accompanying peer review reports, and on posters, slides and documents. Registered users must provide their full name and affiliation, which will be published alongside their comment. User comments on articles do not affect whether the article passes peer review or not, but they can help to provide additional perspectives on the article or on the reviewer's comments.

VeriXiv

VeriXiv is the preprint server associated with Gates Open Research that has been built in partnership with the Gates Foundation to support Gates-funded authors to comply with the refreshed open access policy. All articles submitted to Gates Open Research will first be assessed ontransferred VeriXiv, where they will be subject to an extensive set of pre-publication checks to ensure compliance with the platform's publication and ethics policies. Articles that pass these checks will be published on VeriXiv where they may undergo optional post-publication peer review. Articles that pass peer review will then be transferred to Gates Open Research for final publication and indexing, for example, in Scopus and PubMed.

Versions

Gates Open Research authors can upload new versions of their articles, either to address comments made in peer review reports, or to update the paper for other reasons. Versions are linked and are individually citable, and older versions will display a clear notification that a new version has been uploaded.