Jesse Berlin, Sc.D., Johnson & Johnson’s Vice President and Global Head of Epidemiology, knows the importance of open access publishing. He and his team study how and why diseases occur in different groups of people and measure disease outcomes in people at risk. In this role, they frequently publish and encourage broad dissemination of their scholarly work. They also serve as volunteer reviewers and experts for peer-reviewed publications in support of open access publishing.
Here Jesse explains why open access in medical publishing is important and how Johnson & Johnson supports it.
Q:
We hear a lot about the phrase “open access” when it comes to pharmaceutical research. Can you tell us what this term means?
A:
Broadly, open access means we provide research articles online to anyone for their free and immediate use. When we talk about open access in publishing, we are specifically talking about making published research—research that appears in peer-reviewed journals—available to anyone without copyright restrictions. This often involves Johnson & Johnson paying an extra fee to the journal publisher so that anyone can have that access.
Q:
How does open access work in medical research publishing?
A:
Open access ensures the public and research community have unrestricted access via the internet to scholarly papers including use of the research methods and findings. When done responsibly and fairly, it gives researchers, physicians, patients and the public an equal opportunity to obtain knowledge generated from the medical research we conduct. It’s not limited only to those who subscribe to these publications.
Q:
How does Johnson & Johnson support open access in this area?
A:
We believe that we have an obligation to patients, including the patients who participate in the clinical trials we conduct, to make those published results, in the form of scientific papers, available and accessible to other scientists as well as the general public.
As industry leaders, Johnson & Johnson colleagues participate as advisers to public and private entities working to develop recommendations and guidelines on responsible and open access in scientific publishing. Recently, I was invited to serve as a statistical reviewer for JAMA Network Open, a new online-only open access journal for high-quality clinical papers. And members of our epidemiology team have participated in various consortia tasked with identifying best practices for open data sharing through publication that fosters scientific innovation.
Q:
How does open access to scientific publications impact innovation?
A:
Unrestricted online access to our published research allows other researchers to reproduce Johnson & Johnson’s findings in other data sets for additional validation, or to conduct studies to test different hypotheses. Another researcher or collaborator may also be interested in using our methodology to uncover new or different ways of looking at problems that drive novel and improved solutions. Data can help inform another study. Sharing, strengthening and reusing methodologies can help accomplish that. In the end, it’s about maximizing and building on the knowledge created in the initial study, and that can help drive innovation.
Q:
Why does open access in publishing matter to Johnson & Johnson?
A:
Scientific exchange and collaboration are vital to discovery, encouraging innovation and allowing research to reach its full potential to help clinicians and patients make better-informed health decisions based on high-quality and current information. Widespread access to scholarly research advances science and medicine, and fully transparent reporting helps build trust in science and scientists.
Johnson & Johnson puts patients’ interests first, and we’re dedicated to the rigor of the science. By fostering a culture whereby published research is responsibly and broadly made available, we can help people make the best healthcare decisions and achieve optimal health outcomes.