Overlay Journals: A New Frontier in Open Access Academic Publishing

Overlay journals represent a significant advancement in open access academic publishing. By leveraging the infrastructure of preprint servers, these journals offer researchers an efficient, accessible, and open route to peer-reviewed publication. Examples like JMIRx, with its focus on author collaboration and PubMed indexing, underscore the transformative potential of overlay journals in reshaping the landscape of scholarly communication.

An Open Access Path Forward

For experienced researchers seeking a streamlined and impactful publication experience, overlay journals deserve careful consideration. As this model continues to evolve, it holds the promise of redefining the way research is shared, accessed, and utilized, contributing to a more open and collaborative scholarly ecosystem.

A streamlined workflow and reduced emphasis on multiple rounds of peer review, overlay journals offer significant potential for researcher time savings. By eliminating the need for extensive manuscript reformatting and resubmissions to different journals, researchers can potentially save weeks or even months in the publication process! This time saved can be invested in conducting further research, writing new papers, or engaging in other scholarly activities.

Key Features and Benefits of Overlay Journals vs Traditional Publishers

• Accelerated Publication: Overlay journals capitalize on the preprint server's existing infrastructure, expediting the publication process. By eliminating the traditional steps of manuscript reformatting and resubmission, the time from submission to acceptance is significantly reduced.
• Reduced Author Burden: Researchers can focus on their core work without being encumbered by the laborious process of adapting manuscripts to various journal styles. Overlay journals minimize the administrative overhead traditionally associated with submission and publication.
• Open Access: The majority of overlay journals embrace an open access model, making research freely available to readers worldwide. This approach promotes broader knowledge dissemination and facilitates greater impact.
• Innovation and Experimentation: The overlay journal model encourages innovation in scholarly communication. It allows publishers to experiment with new community based peer-review models, article formats, and engagement tools, driving the evolution of research dissemination.

A noteworthy example are JMIR Publications own JMIRx Series. 

JMIRx: Launched in collaboration with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's bioRxiv preprint server, JMIRx stands as the first PubMed-indexed overlay journal. This distinction grants authors significant visibility and recognition within the biomedical research community.

JMIRxMed: This innovative overlay journal focuses on health sciences, providing a platform for rapid dissemination of research while ensuring rigorous peer review, enhancing visibility for authors in the medical research community. JMIRx Med covers all medical subject areas that are currently covered in medRxiv.

JMIRxBio: This overlay journal collaborates with bioRxiv to highlight cutting-edge research in the life sciences. JMIRxBio aims to accelerate the publication process and increase accessibility to groundbreaking findings in biology and biotechnology.

Overlay journals compatible with Plan P are transforming the academic publishing landscape by offering a streamlined, efficient, and open access model for researchers. With their reduced administrative burden, faster publication times, and innovative community based approaches to peer review, overlay journals like JMIRx are paving the way for a more collaborative and accessible future of scholarly communication. By embracing this model, researchers can focus on producing high-quality work and sharing their findings with a wider audience, ultimately advancing knowledge and driving innovation.