The Coronavirus Is Already Changing the Way We Think About Scientific Cooperation
Viruses ‘cooperate.’ To keep up, scientists are, too.
Viruses are constantly evolving through interactions inside “clouds.” Inside these swarms, they pick up traits from their neighbors, forming novel strains that more efficiently hijack cells or are harder for the immune system to neutralize. Essentially, they cooperate.
To fight the novel coronavirus sweeping the globe, scientists are also cooperating, and on an unprecedented level.
Ditching the normal publication process for research — which moves slowly and oftentimes offers access only to those who pay — more than 50 journals and publishers signed a statement in January pledging to share findings rapidly and openly and to make all of their publications related to Covid-19 and the coronavirus “immediately accessible” and licensable “in ways that facilitate reuse.”
Michael A. Johansson, a biologist with the CDC, and Daniela Saderi, co-founder of PREreview, an open source preprint platform for collaborative writing, meanwhile launched Outbreak Science Rapid Prereview, an open source platform for rapid review of preprints related to emerging outbreaks. Scientists have uploaded more than 750 coronavirus-related preprints onto medRxiv and bioRxiv…
