It is unfortunate that Professor Neil Turner in his review of PloS
Biology states that BioMed Central’s Open Access journals “have not yet
attracted much high-impact science”. All articles published in the Journal
of Biology (http://jbiol.com/articles/) are high-impact, and a tiny sample
of the high-impact articles in other BioMed Central journals is shown
below. We trust that he, and any reader taking a look at these articles,
will conclude that his statement must be the result of a misunderstanding
and that, although not all of the more than 4000 articles published to
date can be considered high impact, there are rather more high-impact
articles published in BioMed Central journals than the impression he gave.
Jan Velterop
Publisher, BioMed Central.
The evolutionary position of nematodes.
Blair JE, Ikeo K, Gojobori T, Hedges SB
BMC Evol Biol 2002 Apr 8 2(1):7 (http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-
2148/2/7)
The methionine salvage pathway in Bacillus subtilis.
Sekowska A, Danchin A
BMC Microbiol 2002 Apr 25 2(1):8 (http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-
2180/2/8)
The relationship of protein conservation and sequence length.
Lipman DJ, Souvorov A, Koonin EV, Panchenko AR, Tatusova TA
BMC Evol Biol 2002 Nov 1 2(1):20 (http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-
2148/2/20)
Reducing hypothalamic AGRP by RNA interference increases metabolic
rate and decreases body weight without influencing food intake.
Makimura H, Mizuno TM, Mastaitis JW, Agami R, Mobbs CV
BMC Neurosci 2002 Nov 7 3(1):18 (http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-
2202/3/18)
New knowledge from old: in silico discovery of novel protein domains
in Streptomyces coelicolor.
Yeats C, Bentley S, Bateman A
BMC Microbiol 2003 Feb 6 3(1):3 (http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-
2180/3/3)
Survival of the fittest before the beginning of life: Selection of
the first oligonucleotide-like polymers by UV light.
Mulkidjanian AY, Cherepanov DA, Galperin MY
BMC Evol Biol 2003 May 28 3(1):12
(http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/3/12)
Evidence from comparative genomics for a complete sexual cycle in the
'asexual' pathogenic yeast Candida glabrata.
Wong S, Fares MA, Zimmermann W, Butler G, Wolfe KH
Genome Biol 2003 4(2):R10 (http://genomebiology.com/2003/4/2/R10)
Comparative genomics of archaea: how much have we learned in six
years, and what's next?
Makarova KS, Koonin EV
Genome Biol 2003 4(8):115 (http://genomebiology.com/2003/4/8/115)
The source of laterally transferred genes in bacterial genomes.
Daubin V, Lerat E, Perrière G
Genome Biol 2003 4(9):R57 (http://genomebiology.com/2003/4/9/R57)
The two faces of Alba: the evolutionary connection between proteins
participating in chromatin structure and RNA metabolism.
Aravind L, Iyer LM, Anantharaman V
Genome Biol 2003 4(10):R64 (http://genomebiology.com/2003/4/10/R64)
Competing interests:
Author is Publisher and Director of BioMed Central
Rapid Response:
High Impact and BioMed Central
It is unfortunate that Professor Neil Turner in his review of PloS
Biology states that BioMed Central’s Open Access journals “have not yet
attracted much high-impact science”. All articles published in the Journal
of Biology (http://jbiol.com/articles/) are high-impact, and a tiny sample
of the high-impact articles in other BioMed Central journals is shown
below. We trust that he, and any reader taking a look at these articles,
will conclude that his statement must be the result of a misunderstanding
and that, although not all of the more than 4000 articles published to
date can be considered high impact, there are rather more high-impact
articles published in BioMed Central journals than the impression he gave.
Jan Velterop
Publisher, BioMed Central.
The evolutionary position of nematodes.
Blair JE, Ikeo K, Gojobori T, Hedges SB
BMC Evol Biol 2002 Apr 8 2(1):7 (http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-
2148/2/7)
The methionine salvage pathway in Bacillus subtilis.
Sekowska A, Danchin A
BMC Microbiol 2002 Apr 25 2(1):8 (http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-
2180/2/8)
The relationship of protein conservation and sequence length.
Lipman DJ, Souvorov A, Koonin EV, Panchenko AR, Tatusova TA
BMC Evol Biol 2002 Nov 1 2(1):20 (http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-
2148/2/20)
Reducing hypothalamic AGRP by RNA interference increases metabolic
rate and decreases body weight without influencing food intake.
Makimura H, Mizuno TM, Mastaitis JW, Agami R, Mobbs CV
BMC Neurosci 2002 Nov 7 3(1):18 (http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-
2202/3/18)
New knowledge from old: in silico discovery of novel protein domains
in Streptomyces coelicolor.
Yeats C, Bentley S, Bateman A
BMC Microbiol 2003 Feb 6 3(1):3 (http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-
2180/3/3)
Survival of the fittest before the beginning of life: Selection of
the first oligonucleotide-like polymers by UV light.
Mulkidjanian AY, Cherepanov DA, Galperin MY
BMC Evol Biol 2003 May 28 3(1):12
(http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/3/12)
Evidence from comparative genomics for a complete sexual cycle in the
'asexual' pathogenic yeast Candida glabrata.
Wong S, Fares MA, Zimmermann W, Butler G, Wolfe KH
Genome Biol 2003 4(2):R10 (http://genomebiology.com/2003/4/2/R10)
Horizontally transferred genes in plant-parasitic nematodes: a high-
throughput genomic approach.
Scholl EH, Thorne JL, McCarter JP, Bird DM
Genome Biol 2003 4(6):R39 (http://genomebiology.com/2003/4/6/R39)
Comparative genomics of archaea: how much have we learned in six
years, and what's next?
Makarova KS, Koonin EV
Genome Biol 2003 4(8):115 (http://genomebiology.com/2003/4/8/115)
The source of laterally transferred genes in bacterial genomes.
Daubin V, Lerat E, Perrière G
Genome Biol 2003 4(9):R57 (http://genomebiology.com/2003/4/9/R57)
The two faces of Alba: the evolutionary connection between proteins
participating in chromatin structure and RNA metabolism.
Aravind L, Iyer LM, Anantharaman V
Genome Biol 2003 4(10):R64 (http://genomebiology.com/2003/4/10/R64)
Competing interests:
Author is Publisher and Director of BioMed Central
Competing interests: No competing interests