OSA Launches Virtual Journal In Biomedical Optics
Washington, DC - Those in the biomedical optics community now have an online repository for the most up-to-date research in the field, thanks to a new virtual journal from the Optical Society of America. OSA has launched The Virtual Journal for Biomedical Optics to help meet the research needs of scientists in the field. This virtual journal is published monthly and creates an online database, bringing together all biomedical papers from peer reviewed journals published by OSA, including Optics Letters, Optics Express, Applied Optics and the Journal of the Optical Society of America A.
"The new virtual journal provides a great service to the biomedical optics research community by giving readers with different research specialties easier access to articles that match their interests," said Gregory Faris, the editor in chief, who will be responsible for categorizing papers into specialized disciplines. "Those of us in the quickly evolving field of biomedical optics are consistently looking for new studies and findings. When developments in a field happen so quickly, it's important to have the most significant research at your fingertips. This virtual journal makes it possible for us to have immediate access to information that is tailored to our specific needs."
The number of biomedical optics papers submitted to OSA journals has grown steadily in the last few years. From 2001 to 2004, OSA journals saw a 40% increase of papers published on the biomedical subject in its various journals.
"The level of research in biomedical optics continues to grow. We're providing a service to the community which will both add efficiency and increase access to current research. The Virtual Journal for Biomedical Optics is a central repository for all OSA peer reviewed biomedical content," said Elizabeth Rogan, OSA's executive director. "For OSA, offering a specialized, searchable journal is an important step in our publications history, and we will continue to examine ways to make optics research more accessible to those in the community."
Currently, the Virtual Journal of Biomedical Optics is organized so that those who have a subscription to an OSA journal have unrestricted access to the papers from that publication. Individuals also are able to purchase specific papers on a pay-per-view basis. In the future, readers will be able to purchase a subscription to the virtual journal itself.
This online resource for the biomedical community may potentially expand to include additional journals and publishers. Papers for The Virtual Journal of Biomedical Optics will be chosen based on their scope, and editors will review possible papers to confirm appropriate subject and content.
SOURCE: The Optical Society of America