PLOS iGEM Collection

Dear iGEMers,

For the second year running, iGEM have teamed up with PLOS to publish the outputs of your 2016 projects. This year we’ll be trying something different; after submitting your papers, we will be holding a live online peer review “Jamboree” to encourage engagement between teams to help improve each other’s iGEM Reports. During this event, you will have the opportunity to peer review each others papers and experience the full cycle of academic publishing.

After the online peer review event, teams will have the option to submit full research articles to PLOS ONE, or to post them on the PLOS Collections blog. We recommend teams look at examples from the 2015 Collection when writing up their projects. Information on how to log in and submit your iGEM report will be announced at the 2016 Jamboree, but the guidelines for how to format and present your work are available below.

The deadline for submissions is 20th January 2017!

The online peer review “Jamboree” will be held on Saturday 28th January 2017 at 11am EST.

Teams will then have 4 weeks to revise their papers in line with the peer review comments and must resubmit revised versions to PLOS by 24th February 2017. Teams who decide to submit a full research article to PLOS ONE will then undergo a second round of peer review overseen by the PLOS ONE Editorial Board, which is comprised of over 6000 practising academics and researchers. Teams who decide to submit a shorter iGEM Report will have their work posted immediately to PLOS Collections.

All submissions will be included in the PLOS iGEM 2016 Collection.

Submission Guidelines

The PLOS iGEM Collection welcomes submissions for all project outputs. We recognize that the scope of the projects will differ and, to accommodate this, we will consider submissions in two categories:

• “Research Articles”, intended for publication in PLOS ONE,
• “iGEM Reports”, intended for project outputs by jamboree participants which might not meet PLOS ONE’s scope or requirements for publication.

Both categories of submissions will be peer reviewed and upon publication, will be featured together in the PLOS iGEM Collection.

Detailed submission instructions

All submissions should be written clearly and concisely, and any underlying data should be made available in line with the PLOS Data Policy. Data and methods that are adequately described in the team’s iGEM wiki can be linked to directly in the paper. We also encourage the deposit of data to figshare or Dryad, and the description of protocols at protocols.io/, as the team from Northwestern did last year.

We encourage groups to use the CRediT taxonomy for authorship and contributions and to include all members of the team as authors, with each individual’s contribution clearly stated as per CRediT guidelines#. Writing the paper is not the only requirement for authorship.

All submissions should include statements on competing interests and the sources of funding, as well as a data availability statement, which should provide details about where data can be accessed. Data and methods that are adequately described in the team’s iGEM wiki can be linked to directly in the paper. We also encourage the deposit of data to figshare or Dryad, and the description of protocols at protocols.io, as the team from Northwestern have done. As reference, the PLOS ONE editorial and publishing policies are available online. Any questions about submissions can be sent to collections@plos.org.

As reference, the PLOS ONE editorial and publishing policies are available online. Any questions about submissions can be sent to collections [AT] plos [DOT] org.

A good example of a research article is this PLOS ONE paper.

Reviewers of Research Articles will be asked the following questions:

1. Does the study present the results of primary scientific research?
2. Are the manuscript and analysis technically sound?
3. Are the conclusions supported by the data?
4. Does the manuscript adhere to the PLOS Data Policy?
5. Is the manuscript presented correctly and well written?

Full submission guidelines can be found on the PLOS ONE site.

iGEM Reports

iGEM Reports should detail projects carried out for iGEM 2016, clearly presenting the methodology and results. The format and structure of iGEM Reports is more flexible, and could consist of as little as a single figure or data set with a description of the project methodology. iGEM Reports must adhere to the PLOS Data Policy.

Reviewers of iGEM Reports will be asked the following questions:

1. Does the submission accurately and clearly report the experiment carried out?
2. Does the report adhere to the PLOS Data Policy?
3. Is the report presented correctly and well written?

iGEM reports could use the following structure:

• Abstract (300 words)
• Introduction (c. 500 words)
• Methods/Protocols
• Data
• Interpretation

We recommend teams look at examples from the 2015 Collection when writing up their projects. Example Figures from the PLOS iGEM 2015 Collection:

Figure 1. Diagram of (A) Sensor plasmid (B) RFP reporter plasmid and (C) Gaussia luciferase reporter plasmid. Development and Characterization of Fluorescent and Luminescent Biosensors for Estrogenic Activity. Asthana et al

Figure 2. TEM and SEM observation and DLS of CNC bacteria carrier. Termite Terminator: Genetically modified toxin protein expression systems with cellulose nano-crystal delivery carriers for trapping termites based on trophallaxis. Gao et al.

Getting Started

PLOS has set up a 2016 PLOS iGEM Room with information about steps to take whether you are submitting a paper or interested in being a reviewer.

• The Welcome dashboard includes a welcome letter and instructions on how to get started.
• The How to Submit dashboard includes submission guidelines and a submission template.
• The Review Instructions dashboard will contain information relevant to reviewers.
• The Submissions dashboard will display submissions as they are completed by teams.