Elsevier announces first Surgical Specialties Innovation Challenge

Challenge encourages development of novel and innovative ideas for publishing research in the field of surgery; deadline for proposals October 31, 2015

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, has announced its first Surgical Specialties Innovation Challenge. As the number of surgical procedures increases annually, the need to look afresh at how this research is published becomes more acute.

The Challenge has been launched to encourage development of novel and innovative ideas for publishing research in the field of surgery. We welcome ideas from researchers and clinicians. A committee of judges from the community and Elsevier will review ideas, looking at article discoverability, use of multimedia, presentation and/or integration of databases, new content types, or any other innovative publishing idea.

More specifically the committee will judge ideas based on the following three criteria:

• Level of innovation
• Reliability and scalability
• Practical applicability

The winner will be announced in mid-November and will be awarded $5,000.

"Elsevier is thrilled to launch this competition to encourage new means of presenting research. We look to the surgical communities to help us jump-start a new surgery publishing paradigm, one in which articles deliver more value to our readers, in service of better patient care," said Andrew Berin, Publishing Director at Elsevier responsible for a portfolio of journals in the surgical specialties.

"Surgeons are rapidly adopting new approaches to learning, disseminating, and discussing new information. The Surgical Specialties Innovation Challenge is an exciting opportunity for surgeons and surgical scientists to help shape the future of communicating research findings. I can't wait to see their ideas come through." said Dr. Scott LeMaire, Professor of Surgery and of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, the Vice Chair for Research in the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery, and the Director of Research in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. LeMaire is also the current co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Surgical Research.

The Challenge is now open and the deadline for proposals is October 31, 2015.