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Greetings fromBMC诉讼.

Before we talk about anything else, an introduction is probably in order. My name’s Tom Rowles and, as of October 2016, I’m the Editor ofBMC诉讼. I’ve spent the last few months getting to know the journal and coming up with plans for the future, and I’d like to use this post to update you on some exciting changes which are currently happening.

What isBMC诉讼?

Simply put,BMC诉讼is an academic journal whose sole purpose is to publish conference proceedings, including full-length articles, abstracts and meeting reports. Our aim is to widely disseminate the valuable material that is collected and presented at academic meetings, as well as to try and capture and distil the essence of the conference, and to provide exposure to the valuable meetings and conversations that take place during the conference, though meeting reports.

会议,研究和医疗communities come together, and we want to serve those communities by offering a service whereby conferences can extend their reach beyond the few days upon which the meeting takes place. Proceedings can do this, indefinitely extending the life of a conference, and providing a resource both for attendees, and those unable to make it.

We also feel that, for all of their worth, conferences tend to operate as a closed system. All of the valuable information that is presented at a meeting, however useful and relevant to your own research, is for naught if you are unable to attend. We therefore see our role as making conferences open-access, in the same manner that BioMed Central has done for full research publications, and ensuring that cutting-edge scientific research and debate, as well as the guidelines and consensus reports that are often debated at international meetings, reach the researchers and practitioners that need it, wherever they might be in the world.

New scope

Up until this point,BMC诉讼has, similarly to all other journals in the BMC series, published only articles and proceedings dealing with either the biological or medical sciences. However, from February 14^th2017, bothBMC诉讼andBMC Research Noteswill be considering submissions from all scientific and clinical disciplines. You can find out more about the change of scope inBMC Research Notes, as well as other exciting ongoing developments in that journalhere.

What will this mean in practice? Well, from now onBMC诉讼will consider publishing articles, abstracts and reports from meetings in the following fields:

• Biology and life sciences
• Clinical and medical
• Medical and scientific education
• Physics
• Mathematics
• Bioethics and international health & human rights
• Research methodology
• Engineering
• Geo-sciences and environmental/earth sciences
• Marine biology
• Chemistry
• Materials sciences
• Psychology
• Paleontology

With such an extensive list of subject areas now suitable for consideration, is there anything that we won’t be considering? Well yes; we will still be unable to consider meetings on law (except for when they are directly related to international health & human rights), humanities and arts. However, if you are unsure as to whether your conference would be suitable for consideration as a proceeding then I would encourage you tocontact us, and either myself or one of our supplements team will be able to advise you further.

Over the coming months and years we hope thatBMC诉讼can become a hub for research communities to present and share their conferences. We therefore hope that you can join us and, if you are organising a conference and looking for a means to broaden its impact, then please do get in touch atsupplements@biomedcentral.com.