Briefings in Bioinformatics, 2015, 367 doi: 10.1093/bib/bbv014 Advance Access Publication Date: 10 March 2015 Letter from the Editorial Board

LETTER FROM THE EDITORIAL BOARD

Aims of Briefings in Bioinformatics further defined 10 February 2015

i. The ‘Scope’ defined in the Aims as published for the guidance of potential authors. ii. The ‘Types’ of articles allowed. Late last year, the Board was considering these matters to determine whether the present published instructions are suitable and explicit enough for author guidance. In November, one Board Member, Anne-Laure Boulesteix, submitted a Letter to the Editor presenting her detailed views entitled ‘On reviews and papers on new methods’.

The stated aim of the Journal has always been ‘Essential criteria for the publication of papers are that they provide practical guidance to the users of bioinformatics software and databases and do not contain original research results except for illustrative purposes’. The main point of the Boulesteix Letter is that some authors have managed to publish new methods disguised as reviews despite the stated policy that Editors and Reviewers are well aware of. In response, the entire Editorial Board has been involved in two rounds of revision of the Scope and Types of articles that the Journal wishes to publish. Some members were indeed in favour of allowing papers on new methods that should be labelled as such. This was not the majority view and we conclude that the model of a ‘reviews-only’ journal enhances the appeal of Briefings in Bioinformatics and clearly distinguished it from other publications in the field. We are publishing the revised ‘Instructions to Authors’ simultaneously with these two Letters.

C The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: [email protected] V

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In May 2014, the Editorial Office commenced a survey of the opinions of Editorial Board Members about the progress of the Journal and the future directions that should be pursued. Many helpful suggestions were received over the following months and as a result a number of new Reviews were commissioned. In defining the nature of the Journal, there are two crucial considerations:

Letter from the Editorial Board: Aims of Briefings in Bioinformatics further defined.

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