eLife funders extend financial support

eLife has announced that its four funders, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Max Planck Society and Wellcome, are extending their support for the non-profit organisation.

The new investment will boost eLife’s efforts to openly review and curate research published as preprints.

The organisation aims to transform research communication to create a future with a diverse, global community of scientists producing trusted and open results for the benefit of all. The open-access eLife journal was the first step in this initiative. Now, in response to the increasing popularity of preprints, the organisation has moved to a new ‘publish, then review’ model of scientific publishing that emphasises preprints and public reviews.

'We’re delighted that our funders have agreed to invest further in eLife and the 'publish, then review' model of science,' said Toby Coppel, chair of eLife’s board of directors and partner at Mosaic Ventures in London. 'Everything that eLife is doing to improve publishing, technology and research culture reflects the strong change agenda of these and other research funders, and we look forward to continuing our work with their support. We cannot express enough gratitude for their ongoing support of an open future for scientific publishing.'

The new funding will allow eLife to advance its vision for a system of curation around preprints that replaces journal titles as the primary trust indicator of a paper’s perceived quality and impact. As part of this vision, a dedicated team within eLife is developing the Sciety platform that brings preprint evaluation and curation together in one place, helping people navigate the growing preprint landscape.