Our Scientific Review Process

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Our Scientific Review Process

Abstract:

High quality scientific research and articles require years of training for scientists to become adept at planning and writing. In its pursuit to eliminate barriers to sharing information, InfectionControl.tips provides access to a global network of experts to help organizations and people create the studies and standards that will become the benchmarks for innovation. From planning and executing experiments, to writing, peer-review, and publishing of articles, InfectionControl.tips provides access to all of these resources to improve our understanding of and the solutions for combating infectious diseases.

Main Article:

Creating and executing scientific studies is not easy. Researchers train for years, and sometimes decades to become experts at this. Unfortunately, this is not something that can be taught from a textbook. Scientists regularly submit their work for strict evaluation from their peers. This exposure to constant peer-review and criticism becomes a large facet of the scientific training process.

Accessibility to this resource is scarce, and sometimes impossible for many developing organizations. At InfectionControl.tips, we have recruited a number of leading scientists from universities and companies around the world to provide this service to those who need it, free of charge.

Developing the Studies

Products and services provided by companies are evaluated for their effectiveness, and their success is largely dependent on how well they stand up to scrutiny. No two products are ever alike, and thus our approach to evaluating their effectiveness must be highly customized.

For most studies, we will start with doing background research on the control –  the technology that is available has already been extensively tested, and already satisfies the consumers’ need. New products need to improve on this function somehow, and how this is achieved can be very diverse. Once we have an understanding of the problem, we reach out to our subject experts for their input. These experts range from researchers in academic institutions and infection control specialists to front line workers from around the world. The experts provide a wealth of information regarding additional topics or products to investigate, and can propose experiments to validate the new products. The experiments can be in vitro (performed under laboratory conditions), in vivo (performed in living subjects), or ex vivo (performed on biological samples, distinct from the target – e.g. using mice samples instead of human samples). These experiments are then filtered to identify the ones that provide the most striking results. InfectionControl.tips can work with companies or on its own to design the protocols and perform the experiments.

Abstracting and Analysis of Data

The information and observations obtained from these experiments are the most important aspects of the scientific process. Analysis of both the experimental protocols and raw information is extremely important, as any material produced or published by InfectionControl.tips is under strict quality control to eliminate bias, and is able to withstand the peer-review process. The information is sent to the principal author, and is processed into figures and tables for publication. The world class experts then review this information, and provide any feedback that would be useful for the publication. Once all of the information is collected, the principal author then prepares the article. Sponsoring companies can review the information at any point, and provide more information if it would elevate the article’s content.

Peer-Review and Publication

Already familiar to our authors so far, the principal author can then submit the article to [email protected]. The article is first sent to an editor to identify any editorial issues, and then sent to a primary peer-reviewer who is an expert (and typically a researcher) in that field. The peer-reviewer evaluates the article to ensure that all information presented is evidence-based, relevant to our journal guidelines, and not plagiarized. At this point, the reviewer may suggest edits, or even reject the publication if it is not scientifically sound. The article is sent back to the author for revisions. We encourage all authors to resubmit with the proposed changes. The author’s resubmission is then reviewed by a secondary peer-reviewer, and then potentially published. Please note that due to our commitment to only presenting high quality information, many submissions are rejected. However, our editors try their best to work with authors to rework their articles into a high quality resource.

After the review, the article is published on InfectionControl.tips. Due to our extensive network, we also will publish the article to specific interest groups to ensure that the target audience is being reached.

Costs

Unlike almost all peer-reviewed publications, InfectionControl.tips provides all of these services without charge. Based on our principle of creating a truly “Pan Access” resource, we strive to eliminate all barriers to planning, conducting, and publishing scientific resources to improve our global health 1.

Conclusion

With access to world class scientists, InfectionControl.tips provides a necessary resource in the fight against infectious diseases. Helping companies and people plan, execute, and publish open-access articles empowers those who have the passion to create meaningful change the opportunity to see it realized.

Read More:

Hello World! Welcome to InfectionControl.tips

Pan Access: The Need for Open Access

Global Collective of Independent Thought

References:

  1. Duong, A (2015) Pan Access: The Need for Open Access. InfectionControl.tips Accessed March 1, 2016. https://infectioncontrol.tips/2015/11/28/the-need-for-open-access/

 

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With over 7 years of research experience, Andrew joins InfectionControl.tips as a co-editor and contributing author. After obtaining his Bachelor of Science in Genetics, he earned a Master of Science in Microbiology from the Michael DeGroote Institute of Infectious Disease Research at McMaster University. As a previous Ontario Graduate Scholar, he has applied his accolades as a teaching assistant and has become a research associate in the department of surgery at Hamilton Health Sciences. Andrew has received numerous awards and scholarships including: the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, the William Henry Yates Travel Scholarship and the Institute of Infectious Disease Research Undergraduate Research Award. Andrew is an avid runner, and is said to dabble in the culinary arts, when he’s not spoiling his dog.

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