UMBI’s Center of Marine Biotechnology Faculty Member DasSarma to Launch Online “Saline Systems” Journal with BioMed Central

Baltimore, MD - UMBI’s Center of Marine Biotechnology faculty member, Dr. Shiladitya DasSarma has been named Editor-in-Chief of a new BioMed Central online scientific journal entitled “Saline Systems.” The new online journal being launched today, spans the interdisciplinary science of marine environmental biology and microbial systems biology. BioMed Central (UK based), is the publisher of Saline Systems and is one of the largest companies in the world based for open access journals online.

“UMBI is taking a lead role in open access publishing” says Saline Systems Editor-in-Chief, Shiladitya DasSarma. “The journal will be the first online journal in this field, which will allow researchers around the world, to have free access to vital scientific research. With Saline Systems being online, disseminating scientific, environmental, and health information throughout third world countries will be easier and faster since most countries have access to the internet,” says DasSarma. The journal will contribute toward “leveling the scientific playing field,” he writes in the lead editorial, published on the 4th of July (see http://www.salinesystems.org/content/1/1/1).

Dr. Zohar, Director of UMBI’s Center of Marine Biotechnology said “this new journal will integrate cutting edge information in the marine sciences, ranging from genes to the biology of marine life. I am pleased to see a world-renown UMBI/COMB marine microbiologist taking the lead in using the latest technologies of electronic communications and open access to disseminate scientific developments in our field to the entire world”.

Authors who wish to publish in the journal may submit articles online through the journal’s website, http://www.salinesystems.org/home. The entire process is handled electronically and the process is both rapid and efficient. Unlike most journals in which the author pays a publication fee, University System of Maryland authors and over 500 other institutions with BioMed Central subscriptions can publish their articles for free. The full text of each article is permanently archived in online repositories separate from the journal, including PubMed Central, the US National Library of Medicine's repository of life science literature. Authors hold copyright for their work, and they may grant anyone the right to reproduce and disseminate the article, provided that it is correctly cited and no errors are introduced.

DasSarma continued, “Online journals are a revolution going on not only in the scientific world, but also in the printing world. Through online journals, articles can now be accessed without subscription fees but by anyone on the internet. It is changing the nature of scientific publishing.”

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Celebrating our 20th anniversary year, UMBI is the first and only biotechnology research institute within the University System of Maryland and was established in 1985. The University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI) consists of five major research and education centers and is dedicated to advancing the frontiers of biotechnology. UMBI’s centers of research include: CARB, the Center for Advanced Research in Biotechnology located in Rockville; CBR, the Center for Biosystems Research located in College Park; and COMB, the Center of Marine Biotechnology, MBC, the Medical Biotechnology Center, and IHV, the Institute of Human Virology, all located in Baltimore. For more information, visit www.umbi.umd.edu