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We’re setting the record straight on open research and open peer review by debunking the myths surrounding them. Putting you at ease about publishing your work on this platform created to benefit you the researcher.

Read through our five myth busters to set aside your fears and find out the truths about open access and open peer review.

‘HRB Open Research doesn’t have an impact factor – publishing here will be bad for my career.’

We don’t have an impact factor, but our open research model is designed to benefit you, allowing you to share all your findings to increase the value of your work & reduce research waste.

It is the intrinsic value of research that is important, shifting the focus in scientific publishing to practices that incentivise, recognise and reward good research.

‘I can’t publish in HRB Open Research as I can’t make my data available.’

Our editorial team are here to advise you & will help you to prepare a suitable data availability statement for you to include in your published article. Making your data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) allows you and others to get the most out of your data. F1000’s ‘Be FAIR, be Open‘ handy go-to data guides are there to help get you started on your open data journey.

As research data should be permanently, publicly, and freely available for re-use, experts from Science Europe’s Member Organisations have developed this useful guide.

‘It would be better for me to publish in a specific journal rather than HRB Open Research.’

We are indexed in Google Scholar & publish a wide range of research from academic & clinical disciplines so that it can be read by a broad audience & encourage collaboration.

Publishing on HRB Open Research also increases the value of research while reducing research waste. This research article by Sara Burke, Centre for Health Policy and Management at Trinity College Dublin Sara and colleagues, had been previously relegated to a desk drawer, having not found a home in a journal. The research article has now been published and is fully citable, becoming a part of the scientific literature.

‘Open access journals such as HRB Open Research lack editorial standards.’

There is no conflict between being open & delivering excellence. Our editorial team carry out quality checks on all submissions before publication. Find out more with our policies page.

‘Open peer review like at HRB Open Research means reviewers aren’t as critical.’

Making reviews visible to all encourages open scientific discussion & debate, while preventing unfair criticism to help achieve the best possible output. We believe this transparent process minimises bias and allows authors and reviewers to engage in an open dialogue to help improve the paper.