Nature Precedings expands scope to take data policy related documents

From an Editorial entitled Cite Site in Nature Genetics (Nature Genetics 42, 729 (2010) doi:10.1038/ng0910-729) comes news that Nature Preceedings is now catering to the types of documents the BioSharing community wishes to promote.

"We now have adapted our preprint archive, Nature Precedings, to host project descriptions, community standards papers and funder policies. Citable project descriptions provide a guide to the resources available and create a mechanism to give data producers citation credit.

The US National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation both now require their grantees to produce a project description document explaining their aims and the resources they hope to generate. We created an archive where these documents (often referred to as 'marker papers') can be publicly deposited and, if necessary, regularly updated. Project descriptions can function as guides to projects that are complex and that deposit disparate resources in several databases. They can also help data users keep track of differing and evolving conditions for data use (if any exist). Because the archive is citable, it can help data users and journal editors handle competing publications more fairly. Citations to project descriptions may also be tracked to ensure effective use of resources and to make recommendations for best research practice."

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The purpose of Nature Precedings:

"Nature Precedings connects thousands of researchers and provides a platform for sharing new and preliminary findings with colleagues on a global scale.

Post pre-print manuscripts, posters and presentations on Nature Precedings to claim priority and receive feedback on your findings prior to formal publication."