How is science shared? How does research make its way from one lab to another? From there, how is it communicated with the public? And how is it evaluated along the way? These questions are crucial—perhaps now more than ever. And as Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Press leaders point out, the answers are rapidly changing.
CSHL stands at the nexus of this global conversation. The Laboratory is not just a haven for science research and education. It also operates CSHL Press, which publishes peer-reviewed scientific journals as well as books on science. On top of that, CSHL runs two of the world’s preeminent preprint servers—bioRxiv and medRxiv. These online depositories empower scientists to publish their research before it undergoes traditional journal-style evaluation.
Between the rise of streaming video and artificial intelligence, the world’s information ecosystem finds itself at an inflection point. What does this mean for scientific publishing? And what does that mean, in turn, for the public’s understanding of science? To find out, we sat down with CSHL Press Executive Director John Inglis and Assistant Director Richard Sever, on the heels of bioRxiv’s 10th birthday celebration. Press play to step inside their world and check out Sever’s recent article in PLOS Biology for a deep dive into the evolution of scientific publishing.