P
fizer has added another string to its bow as pharmaceutical companies vie to raise the transparency threshold in clinical research.
The US-based multinational has reached two agreements with BioMed Central that support the online publisher’s commitment to open-access publication of research findings.
Under a membership arrangement, Pfizer will centrally cover the publication fees of any researcher employed or funded by the company when they submit a research article to one of BioMed Central’s 190-plus peer reviewed open-access journals.
“By funding open-access publication fees in this way, Pfizer aims to make it as straightforward as possible for its researchers to make their research results universally acceptable,” BioMed Central commented.
The second agreement involves the launch of an open-access waiver fund that will support automatic waivers of publication fees for authors from low-income countries. Dr Jack Watters, vice-president, Pfizer External Medical Affairs, said the arrangement would “promote much-needed recognition of research conducted in developing countries”.
