Taylor & Francis buys F1000 Research

Taylor & Francis has acquired open research publisher F1000 Research from its founder Vitek Tracz. The acquisition sum was not disclosed.

Tracz will remain owner of F1000Prime and F1000Workspace, which are not included in the sale.

F1000 Research launched the world’s first open research publishing platform in 2013; it also provides open research publishing services directly to research funders and institutions including Wellcome, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Emerald Publishing. The venture currently employs 40 staff; it is planned for it to remain in London, where it will continue to operate independently, while also becoming a key component of T&F’s range of open research services and Plan S-compliant platforms.

T&F chief executive Annie Callanan said: “The addition of F1000 Research significantly strengthens and extends our capabilities in open research and broader publishing services. It also brings with it a strong culture of innovation and challenging the status quo. This will be invaluable as we evolve to meet the research needs of the 21st century; offering options to create the impact needed to convert research into solutions quickly”.

The publisher said it would “provide investment, expertise and ongoing support to enable F1000 Research to continue to develop its range of publishing services, supporting continued innovation in scholarly communication and accelerating impact across the whole research ecosystem".

F1000 Research provides Emerald with its Emerald Open Research offer. Leon Heward Mills, m.d. of Researcher Services at T&F, told The Bookseller: "The ambition is to enable other publishers to do so too. F1000 Research will continue to exist as a separate business unit and will work with current and future clients to establish the degree to which sensitive information will be firewalled from the wider Taylor & Francis Group."

Rebecca Lawrence, F1000 Research m.d., said: “Having the expertise and support of a large, historic and established publisher will strengthen our ability to innovate in scholarly communications, bringing benefits to the whole research ecosystem. We will be supercharged with the resources not only to maintain our philosophy and collaborative partnership approach, but to grow, flourish and continue to innovate in support of our shared commitments to customers on speed, transparency, quality and impact.”

Tracz added: “The default way for researchers to share their findings, the Research Journal, is evolving. F1000 Research proposed an efficient, transparent mechanism to respond to the rapidly growing range of needs and opportunities in the way information is shared. The task now needs input and support from a more established partner and I am happy that in the leadership of Taylor & Francis and Informa, we have found a team that understands and is committed to continuing this evolution.”