http://www.biomedcentral.com/researchawards2006
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To encourage submissions of high quality research to all BioMed Central's journals, we are pleased to announce the launch of the BioMed Central 2006 Research Awards, which recognize ground-breaking open access research. Awards will be made to the author(s) of the most outstanding research articles published in BioMed Central's journals during 2006. One award will be made for biology and one for medicine. A panel of expert scientists and clinicians will choose the winners from a shortlist of nominated articles in January 2007.

The BioMed Central Research Awards recognize excellence in research that has been made universally accessible by open access publication in one of BioMed Central's journals.

Any physician or scientist who publishes original research of major significance in 2006 in one of BioMed Central's 150+ journals will be eligible to be considered for the award.

Two awards of US $5000 will be made - one for biological research, and one for medical research.

Who will receive the award?
Each award will go to the first author of the article concerned, or in the event of joint first authors who contributed equally, will be split between the two. In the case of collectively authored papers, the award will be made to the organization concerned.

Can I nominate my own paper?
No, but you are free to ask a colleague who is not a co-author on your paper to nominate it.

How soon do I need to submit an article in order for it to be considered for the 2006 award?
Time from submission to publication vary, but are typically between 2 and 4 months. The sooner you submit an article, the more chance you have of it being published in time to qualify for the award.

Are there any restrictions on the use of the award?
The winner is free to use the award as they see fit - there are no strings attached (although use of the award for scientific purposes is encouraged).

How will the winners of the awards be chosen?
The winners will be chosen by a panel of experts including BioMed Central external advisers and editors.

When will the winners of the awards be announced?
The winners will be announced, and the awards made, in early 2007.

How do I nominate an article for an award?
Send details of the article you wish to nominate, including a short justification of why you believe it deserves to be considered, to: researchawards@biomedcentral.com.

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Background information:

Study provides evidence that open access articles have more impact than non-open access publications

Open access articles are more immediately recognised and cited than non-open access publications. A study of citations to 1,500 open access and non-open access articles adds to the evidence that open access speeds up the dissemination and uptake of scientific findings.

The study compared citations compiled by Thomson Scientific to open access and non-open access articles published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), between June and December 2004. PNAS introduced its open access option for authors on the 8th June 2004.

The results show that articles originally published in the journal as open access articles were twice as likely to be cited 4-10 months after publication than non-open access articles. In addition, articles first published as open access had more impact and were more frequently cited than articles that were self-archived in open archives later on.

Research articles in all the journals published by BioMed Central are open access and permanently available online, for all to read and use free of charge. To enjoy the benefits of publishing in an open access journal published by BioMed Central, submit your next manuscript using our online submission system.