What makes for sound science?

Abstract

The inclusive threshold policy for publication in BMC journals including BMC Plant Biology means that editorial decisions are largely based on the soundness of the research presented rather than the novelty or potential impact of the work. Here we discuss what is required to ensure that research meets the requirement of scientific soundness. BMC Plant Biology and the other BCM-series journals ( https://www.biomedcentral.com/p/the-bmc-series-journals ) differ in policy from many other journals as they aim to provide a home for all publishable research. The inclusive threshold policy for publication means that editorial decisions are largely based on the soundness of the research presented rather than the novelty or potential impact of the work. The emphasis on scientific soundness ( http://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2016/12/05/vital-importance-inclusive/ ) rather than novelty or impact is important because it means that manuscripts that may be judged to be of low impact due to the nature of the study as well as those reporting negative results or that largely replicate earlier studies, all of which can be difficult to publish elsewhere, are available to the research community. Here we discuss the importance of the soundness of research and provide some basic guidelines to assist authors to determine whether their research is appropriate for submission to BMC Plant Biology. Prior to a research article being sent out for review, the handling editor will first determine whether the research presented is scientifically valid. To be valid the research must address a question of biological significance using suitable methods and analyses, and must follow community-agreed standards relevant to the research field.