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When you choose to publish with PLOS, your research makes an impact. Make your work accessible to all, without restrictions, and accelerate scientific discovery with options like preprints and published peer review that make your work more Open.

Receive credit for all of your contributions to science

Maximize academic credit and keep track of your contributions using Open Science tools and practices.

Research careers are built on scholarly output.

Open Science offers a broader range of publication options, while open software and taxonomic solutions track specific academic contributions with ease and granularity. Together, more published research outputs and a more detailed and accurate records let you showcase your work and build your reputation as a researcher.

Tracking your contribution

An ORCID iD (Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier) is a persistent, unique digital identifier for researchers, used to track both author and reviewer activity. With ORCID, you can:

  • Easily distinguish yourself from other researchers with similar names, so you always get the credit you deserve
  • Ensure that your work is properly attributed throughout your career, even if you change your name or email address, switch institutions, or move to another country
  • Enable auto-updates to your ORCID profile so that your bibliography is always up-to-date
  • Sign-in to multiple journal submission systems using just one username and password

At PLOS, all corresponding authors must provide an ORCID ID when submitting. Co-authors, reviewers, and editorial board members also have the option to provide an ORCID. Through an integration with our submission system, authors and reviewers can choose to have their ORCID profiles updated automatically as they complete activities in our system.

Publons is a platform for researchers to track less-visible contributions to science, like peer review and editorial activity. Editors can verify their activity by forwarding thank you emails to the service. Reviewers can choose to have their Publons profile automatically updated directly from our submission system.

The CRediT taxonomy is a system for transparently documenting each author’s individual contribution to a scholarly publication using 14 contributor roles. With CRediT you can:

  • Move beyond the coded language of authorship order to more fairly and accurately describe each authors’ role in conceptualizing, conducting, and reporting research
  • Ensure that everyone included on the author list truly played a role in conducting the research
  • Give hiring, tenure, and funding committees more insight into the scope and caliber of your work

At PLOS, each author listed on a submitted manuscript must have at least one CRediT contributor role assigned. Published articles list the contributor roles in detail, making them a permanent part of the scientific record.

*PLOS Medicine, PLOS Biology, PLOS Genetics, PLOS Pathogens, PLOS NTD

Track your impact

Impact cannot be measured by citations alone. We partner with Altmetric to capture and document the many ways scientists and the public engage with your research.

Read more about Credit

Showcase more of your science

Research articles are just one aspect of the value you create as a scientist. We believe you deserve credit for all of your research contributions, not just the final published research article. Discover options to surface and share more of your research through PLOS.

Open Methods 

Developing methods is among the most demanding and time-consuming aspects of scientific investigation. PLOS offers options for publishing and sharing methods to suit each type of study or stage of research, including Registered Reports, Lab and Study Protocols, Methods Research Articles, and linked code.

Open Data

Data is the main product of a scientific investigation. PLOS’ forward-looking open data policy requires authors to make the data underlying their published manuscript publicly available, while our Accessible Data feature highlights data shared in a repository to enable better discovery for readers. We believe that making data a part of the scientific record reflects the true importance and lasting relevance of datasets.

Published Peer Review History

Peer review is essential to trusted science and a major aspect of any career in research. In addition to our partnerships with ORCID and Publons, PLOS offers optional signed and published peer review, giving reviewers more opportunities to claim academic credit for this often-overlooked body of work.

TOOLBOX

The PLOS Open Science Toolbox

The future is Open

The PLOS Open Science Toolbox is your source for sci-comm tips and best-practice. Learn practical strategies and hands-on tips to improve reproducibility, increase trust, and maximize the impact of your research through Open Science.

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