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After nearly 28 years, The Communication Initiative (The CI) Global is entering a new chapter. Following a period of transition, the global website has been transferred to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, where it will be administered by the Social and Behaviour Change Communication Division. Wits' commitment to social change and justice makes it a trusted steward for The CI's legacy and future.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at cila.comminitcila.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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PLoS Biology Journal - Global

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In October 2003, the Public Library of Science (PLoS) launched an open-source science journal called PLoS Biology. PLoS is a nonprofit organisation of scientists and physicians committed to making scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. The monthly publication is part of an effort to provide unlimited access to the world's latest scientific research - thereby facilitating exploration and use of new ideas, informed medical practice, and education. Organisers explain their motivation as follows: "One could argue whether scientists need more journals, but we believe there is a global need for greater access to scientific and medical information and that open-access journals can meet this need by removing subscription barriers to the written scientific record. As professional editors, each of us entered the publishing world from the research community with the desire to promote the effective communication and dissemination of science."
Communication Strategies
This programme is based on the idea of free and complete access to information on the part of scientists, librarians, publishers, students, the public, and entrepreneurs. All works published in electronic or print versions of PLoS Biology are immediately available without cost to anyone, anywhere - to read, download, redistribute, include in databases, and otherwise use. Those who use the information must properly source the original author, who retains the copyright. In the editorial in the first issue of the journal, the organisers state, "Welcome to PLoS Biology. We would like to introduce you to your journal, one that is run by and for the scientific community in the broadest sense..."

PLoS Biology includes primary research articles in all aspects of biology. Articles are selected for publication after being read by reviewers, as well as by an academic editor and a professional editor who work together throughout the editorial process. Scientists act as partners in making editorial decisions; one key selection criterion is that topics have relevance beyond the scientific community. Research articles have no strict length limits; as organisers put it, "we are keen to provide authors with the opportunity to tell their story in a clear manner and in their own voice". Readers may freely search the full text of all published articles to locate specific ideas, methods, experimental results, and observations. The online journal also offers opportunities for interaction among scientists. Contents include:
  • Feature articles
  • Synopses - summaries of research articles designed to be accessible to researchers in all disciplines as well as a lay readership
  • The Community Page - a forum for organisations and societies to highlight their efforts to enhance the dissemination and value of scientific knowledge
  • Journal Club - a forum for postdoctoral scientists and graduate students to discuss a paper in the context of their own scientific interests
  • Unsolved Mysteries - discussion of a topic of biological importance that is poorly understood
  • Primers - a short introduction to an aspect of biology that is of broad and current interest
  • Essays - pieces that articulate an opinion on a specific topic.
The PLoS Biology site is designed to cohere with the philosophy that scientific literature should be an open resource. Organisers say that they have designed the site to have few barriers and simple navigation. They say that, for researchers, scientists, and students around the world, this ease of access "will make the difference between reading the abstract or reading the entire paper."

As its resources expand, PLoS Biology will be designed to integrate the perspectives and experience of the global scientific community. In the words of organisers, "As more open-access articles become available, we and many others will be working to develop new tools for integrating, interlinking, organizing, searching, and annotating this expanding collection of information. We invite the community to share these tools as they become available on our site, as well as to propose tools, links, and techniques..."
Development Issues
Open-Access Technology, Health.
Sources

Posting to the Copyediting list server dated October 18 2003 (click here for the archives); and "PLoS Biology-We're Open", by Philip Bernstein, Barbara Cohen, Catriona MacCallum, Hemai Parthasarathy, Mark Patterson, and Vivian Siegel, PLoS Biology, October 13 2003; and PLoS Biology site.