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Jonathan Townson

@jontytownson.bsky.social
103 followers 156 following 37 posts

Postdoc doing microscopy and cell biology at the University of Oslo. I study cell dynamics, membrane contact sites and mechenosensing. Previously did my PhD developing optogenetic tools to control Notch signalling in flies at the University of Cambridge.

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Jonathan Townson @jontytownson.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Paid peer review is not science fiction! As part of @prelights.bsky.social, I was joined the #Fast&Fair initiative from @biologyopen.bsky.social. Fast&Fair compensates reviewers who submit a high-quality peer review in a timely manner, so authors get a first decision in seven working days (1/4).
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Shefali @iamshef.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Hey #Drosophila folks - the #flycross #mentee survey is open for #grad students, #postdoc and #pretenure faculty. ~95 mentors from across the world, with diverse expertise. The co-chairs @shyama13.bsky.social and @jocmcdonald.bsky.social have done a phenomenal work in taking the program forward 🎉
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Nicola Rennie @nrennie.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I love overly honest READMEs
Screenshot of GitHub README saying known issues: coding style only a mother could love
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Development @dev-journal.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Preprint highlights in extracellular biology Read these @prelights.bsky.social posts relevant to our special issue #DevSIextracellular by @fadelvalle.bsky.social, Sristilekha Nath, @kanishka03.bsky.social, Zoha Sadaqat and @jontytownson.bsky.social. journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Screenshot of preprint highlights in extracellular biology.
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Joachim Goedhart @joachimgoedhart.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
PRISM: A Plasmid-based Reporter for Intracellular Spectral Microscopy by Jonathon Nixon-Abell and team: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
PRISM enables stable integration and spectrally resolved imaging of five organelles across multiple cell types.
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the Node @the-node.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I don’t belong here: Thoughts of a first-generation academic @sillysciencelady.bsky.social discusses her experiences of belonging and the burdens that first-generation students face in academia, and how she is actively combating these thoughts and feelings. thenode.biologists.com/i-dont-belon...
thenode.biologists.com
I don’t belong here: Thoughts of a first-generation academic - the Node
As a university student working towards my bachelor’s degree, I didn’t even know what it would mean to add “Dr.” to my name. Six months into my postdoc, I
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MwahahahahahadScientist @mads100tist.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Do you work with microscopy images and segment to quantify or track? Do you study cell biology? development? Gather round! Let me tell you about FOCUS-3D, a segmentation algorithm that is fast, accurate and can be used on any model. We used it here to study zebrafish development. 🧪 (thread)
biorxiv.org
FOCUS‑3D: Robust, generalizable volumetric cell segmentation for three‑dimensional fluorescence microscopy
Understanding how cells establish spatial organization within tissues is a fundamental question in life sciences. While modern three-dimensional fluorescence microscopy captures large-volume tissue ar...
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Reese Richardson @reeserichardson.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
A massive update: At least ~15 companies~ are selling scientists antibodies using faked validation data. We've documented 18,000+ manipulated images on 17,000+ products sold by leading laboratory suppliers including Thermo Fisher, Abcam, Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Millipore Sigma and Bio-Techne. 1/🧵
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jp flores (he/him) @jpflores.rbind.io · 19/08/2026
7/7 If we want scientists to stop chasing journal prestige, we have to stop rewarding them for chasing journal prestige. Change the incentives, and the culture can follow. @hannaherf.bsky.social and I make the case in @sciencepolitics.bsky.social: sciencepolitics.org/2026/08/17/s...
sciencepolitics.org
Science Doesn't Need Better Journals. It Needs Better Incentives. - Science Politics
Journal prestige shapes what science gets done, how fast it moves, and whose work gets seen. Pushing institutions to engage in open science can make the system more equitable.
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Matthew Taliaferro @jmtali.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Excited to share our newest work! We asked whether RNA molecules need to be in a specific place in the cell to do their job. We found that a single RNA must reach the midbody, the structure that pinches two dividing cells apart, for cell division to finish efficiently. 🧵⬇️
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Helene Knævelsrud @helene-knavelsrud.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Paper celebration! Learn more about bulk autophagy and p62/SQSTM1 in BHD here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... Great work by Halvor Ullern, Julie Aarmo Johannessen and coauthors! @arcticautophagy.bsky.social @cancelluio.bsky.social
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Cian O'Donnell @cianodonnell.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
reason 47 why government funding for fundamental research is the only stable route to scientific progress
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Richard Sever @richardsever.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Speaker refused to divulge the name of compound X in Q&A after his ASCB talk. Questioner [who will be known to many cell biologists] blew a raspberry into the mic and gave the speaker the finger.
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Stephen Royle @steveroyle.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
A post about how to make microscopy images as accessible as possible. quantixed.org/2026/07/21/c...
quantixed.org
Colorblind II: Microscopy images and colour blindness – quantixed
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MwahahahahahadScientist @mads100tist.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Don't use slop. Someone's trying to make money out of you and your colleagues and your friends. Do yourself a favor and read 100% human-crated content in @prelights.bsky.social Upload preprints. Read preprints. Cite preprints. Fuck AI 🧪
prelights.biologists.com
Homepage - preLights
Welcome to preLights, the preprint highlights service run by the biological community and supported by The Company of Biologists. Here, a team of scientists regularly review, highlight and comment on ...
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Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
And in general, if you ARE going to use IF, at least also consider it alongside our Impact Inflation (ImpInf) metric from the Strain on scientific publishing. Golf rules: low ImpInf is good. Society and non-profit journals consistently have lower ImpInf. That tells you it's earned.
direct.mit.edu
The strain on scientific publishing
Abstract. Scientists are increasingly overwhelmed by the volume of articles being published. The total number of articles indexed in Scopus and Web of Science has grown exponentially in recent years; ...
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Christophe 🔬 Leterrier @christlet.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
This is the kind of things PhD student Louis can do with @ekatrukha.bsky.social's CurveMorph: following protein movement whithin growing axons in his stunning 80-hour movies
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Journal of Cell Biology @jcb.org · 29/05/2026
Wu and Hegde annotate and analyze the topology of 4,863 human endoplasmic reticulum–inserted membrane proteins and their 20,546 transmembrane domains, showing that transmembrane domains inserted by different pathways can tolerate different biophysical properties. rupress.org/jcb/article/...
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Elphege Nora Lab at UCSF @elphegenoralab.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Why can't we explain enhancer action despite 2 decades of chromosome conformation technologies? 😬 Our new study spearheaded by Leonid Mirny's group points to a flaw in our assumptions, and to a solution from physical principles By @timothyfoldes.bsky.social 💻& @karissalhansen.bsky.social 🧪 🧵👇
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Richard Sever @richardsever.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
This is an important point and I'd argue there's further complexity. A paper is a narrative that essentially says "We have a scientific claim/idea about the world and here is a series of connected data to support our claim". The data =/ the paper. The paper > the data. The data > the paper. 1/n
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MichaelMcMurray lab @mcmurraylab.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Doing the periodic cleaning of used plasmid miniprep columns and realized in honor of Earth Day it may be worth reminding you molecular biologists: Plasmid miniprep columns can be cleaned and reused essentially indefinitely! Just add 1 M HCl, soak overnight and wash 3x w/ water. Save $ and plastic
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Jonathan Townson @jontytownson.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
The #spotLight episode for this #preLight is out. Recorded with the @prelights.bsky.social I chatted with @kawillis.bsky.social about the #preprints covered in the preLight. The spotLight episode is available to listen to here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-X3... (1/2)
youtube.com
spotLights Ep 19: preLights in conversation with Kristine Willis
YouTube video by The Company of Biologists
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Oliver Rocks @oliverrocks.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Check out our new release on BioRxiv co-lead by @pm-mueller.bsky.social 👉 rb.gy/lnrizk special🙏 to Severine Kunz #MDC @leventallab.bsky.social @andimicroscopy.bsky.social @ewerslab.bsky.social and Kedar Narayan @NCI CCR VolumeEM Are the days of discovering new cellular structures over?? /1
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Jonathan Townson @jontytownson.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Really cool to see this beautiful work from @storerlab.bsky.social is now published! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Hyaluronic acid and tissue mechanics orchestrate mammalian digit tip regeneration
Tissue regeneration is rare in mammals, but the digit tip can regrow after amputation, whereas injuries beyond the nail do not. How the microenvironment drives divergent outcomes remains unclear. In t...
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Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
“Hallucinated references are an interaction design failure, there will be a fix soon.” The fact that this is about integrity, responsibility, trust – decidedly non-technical values – gets ignored. Moral questions are reframed as technical problems.' dorotheabaur.ch/en/texts-and...
dorotheabaur.ch
Hallucinated References: Five Excuses for Academic Misconduct
When I proposed rejecting papers with hallucinated references, the support was overwhelming. But the critical voices revealed five argument patterns: from AI hype through TINA rhetoric to nihilism.
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Ariel K. Frame @arielframe.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Very cool! Useful tool for #Drosophila folks. Would be great adopted by whole labs / institutions. Considering it's newness, add features? Tinkering & I don't yet see: 1) Retrospective dating / bulk stock flipping 2) Stock acquisition date 3) Column sort by chromosome 4) Reference usage citation
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preLights @prelights.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Mirror mirror on the wall, what is the fairest funding call? @jontytownson.bsky.social covers two #preprints (@kristine-willis.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy & team) using data & social science to analyse how significant biological discoveries are made #preLight⬇️ prelights.biologists.com/highlights/t...
prelights.biologists.com
A thirty-year trend of increasing clinical orientation at the National Institutes of Health; Prediction of transformative breakthroughs in biomedical research - preLights
Mirror mirror on the wall, what is the fairest funding call?
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Jonathan Townson @jontytownson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Happy to have written a piece with @prelights.bsky.social covering two preprints looking at funding and publications! A data science approach to analysing #funding decisions and #publications in #biosciences. (1/3) prelights.biologists.com/highlights/t...
prelights.biologists.com
A thirty-year trend of increasing clinical orientation at the National Institutes of Health; Prediction of transformative breakthroughs in biomedical research - preLights
Mirror mirror on the wall, what is the fairest funding call?
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Jonathan Townson @jontytownson.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Today I gave a short talk at the @embo.org workshop on Intracellular and organelle mechanobiology. I’m grateful to have been able to share my postdoc project and for the questions/comments! (1/3)
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Navin B. Ramakrishna @navinbr.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
Excited to share our Review on human PGC development covering the latest in vivo observations & in vitro developments, esp. in the last 5 years. Have a read! journals.biologists.com/dev/article/... From: @astar-gis.bsky.social @ki.se Warwick University, @gurdoninstitute.bsky.social
journals.biologists.com
Emerging principles and models of human primordial germ cell development
Summary: This Review examines recent insights into early human germ cell development and how these regulatory principles guide stem cell-derived models aiming to reconstitute human gametogenesis in vi...
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preLights @prelights.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
🚨 New call for preLighters!🚨 Help us highlight the most exciting biological #preprints. Share your insights, build your profile, and be part of a supportive community! 🌍 Interested? Apply today & help shape the future of science publishing! 📢 More info: prelights.biologists.com/news/join-th...
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preLights @prelights.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
Something SPARC’d between us and left me Breathless: Haemolymph cells turn on repair in the Drosophila tracheal system An exciting #preLight by @jontytownson.bsky.social talks about the work of Nourhene Ammar, Hadi Boukhatmi and the team.
prelights.biologists.com
Immune–tracheal intercellular signalling coordinates the muscle injury response in Drosophila - preLights
Something SPARC’d between us and left me Breathless: Haemolymph cells turn on repair in the Drosophila tracheal system
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Hadi Boukhatmi @muscleflylab.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
Our preprint has been highlighted by @prelights.bsky.social and @jontytownson.bsky.social ! 🙏 Huge thanks for helping us share our work with this wonderful community
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Jonathan Townson @jontytownson.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
I have written another #preLight post, featuring the first work from the Boukhatmi lab. Always fun to read a #fly paper, especially with #microscopy too! Check it out if you like injury repair and tissue/ECM remodeling. prelights.biologists.com/highlights/i... #Repair #ImmuneCells #preprint #ECM
prelights.biologists.com
Immune–tracheal intercellular signalling coordinates the muscle injury response in Drosophila - preLights
Something SPARC’d between us and left me Breathless: Haemolymph cells turn on repair in the Drosophila tracheal system
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Journal of Cell Biology @jcb.org · 25/08/2025
FOMO no more: NOMO and Calmin extend #mechanobiology to the ER. Julie Heffler and Jan Lammerding @LammerdingLab.bsky.social discuss recent studies from the @schliekerlab.bsky.social (doi.org/10.1083/jcb....) & @hennelab.bsky.social (doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...), in Spotlight: rupress.org/jcb/article/...
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FocalPlane @focalplane.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
#FocalPlaneFeatures meets @prelights.bsky.social @fadelvalle.bsky.social & Vibha Singh have picked 2 fantastic #cellbio preprints & will be presenting their preLights alongside research talks from @probablycarmen.bsky.social & Eva Mejia-Ramirez. Register: focalplane.biologists.com/2025/08/20/f...
FocalPlane features... meets preLights
Thursday 4 September 2025, 14:00 BST (UTC+1) FocalPlane logo
Picture of Carmen Rodilla-Ramírez 
T cell protrusions enable fast, localised initiation of CAR signalling
Carmen Rodilla-Ramírez (Freie Universität Berlin)
Picture of Eva Mejia-Ramirez
Targeting RhoA activity rejuvenates aged hematopoietic stem cells
Eva Mejia-Ramirez (The Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research) 
preLights logo 
Hosted by preLighters Felipe Del Valle Batalla and Vibha Singh
@focalplane.bsky.social @prelights.bsky.social
#FocalPlaneFeatures #preprints
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FocalPlane @focalplane.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
📢Call for speakers We are looking for ECRs to speak in our mini-symposium run together with the popular membrane trafficking webinar series organised by ‪@franbottanelli.bsky.social @felixmendu.bsky.social & @ishier.bsky.social. focalplane.biologists.com/2025/07/14/f... Apply by 24 August
focalplane.biologists.com
FocalPlane features... membrane trafficking - apply to give a talk - FocalPlane
FocalPlane features... membrane trafficking - apply to give a talk - News
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Jonathan Townson @jontytownson.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
Better late than never, I am sharing the last #spotlight interviews I did with @prelights.bsky.social at #biologists100 in Liverpool. It was fantastic to get different perspectives on preprints and the publishing world, as well as to hear a bit about the cutting-edge research being presented. (1/5)
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FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
We currently have a call for support that has gone out to European labs, to support FlyBase-UK. We are asking our colleagues from labs in the US and other countries to wait for a similar call to them that will go out in the near future, to support the US sites. We thank you for your patience.
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Jonathan Townson @jontytownson.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
It was great talking to @giuliapaci.bsky.social about her work and #preprints at #biologists100 earlier this year. And exciting that she is again talking (more science and less preprints) today for the Development presents… seminar thenode.biologists.com/development-...
thenode.biologists.com
Development presents... BSDB postdoc poster prize winners - the Node
Talks from the winners of the BSDB postdoc poster prize.
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Bassem Hassan @bassemh.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
While I applaud Europe taking a step to fund bringing scientific excellence to Europe, the ERC’s current success rates at 10% for Europe based scientists is statistically at lottery levels. The total ERC budget should double across the board aiming at doubling funding rates.
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Chenxin Li, PhD @chenxinli2.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Human, C. elegans, and fruit flies shared a common ancestor pre-Cambrian, which was at the very least 500-600 million years ago (mya), whereas angiosperms shared a common ancestor in late Jurassic (~160 mya), meaning Arabidopsis is more closely related to most crops than worms or flies are to human.
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FocalPlane @focalplane.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
ICYMI, our FocalPlane reporter Margarida Araújo shares her Biologists @ 100 conference report. As well giving an overall of the event, Margarida picks out some of her highlights including talks on #climatechange and #imaging. focalplane.biologists.com/2025/05/08/b... #NoNeedForFOMO
focalplane.biologists.com
Biologists @ 100 conference report - FocalPlane
Biologists @ 100 conference report - News
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Jonathan Townson @jontytownson.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
At the @biologists.bsky.social‬ #biologists100 conference, I worked with @prelights.bsky.social‬ to interview some of the researchers presenting their #preprint. The first two have been published. (1/3)
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Jonathan Townson @jontytownson.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
It was great to meet @richardsever.bsky.social‬ at #biologists100 in Liverpool. As part of a conference #spotLights series with @prelights.bsky.social‬, he very kindly agreed to answer a few questions on #preprints, and their past and future impact. Check it out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5O2...
youtube.com
spotLights Ep 8: preLights in conversation with Richard Sever
YouTube video by The Company of Biologists
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Richard Sever @richardsever.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
What does openRxiv mean for bioRxiv/medRxiv? How did biologists embrace preprints? And what's the future of the scientific article? Fun talking with @jontytownson.bsky.social at #biologists100 www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5O2...
youtube.com
spotLights Ep 8: preLights in conversation with Richard Sever
YouTube video by The Company of Biologists
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Jonathan Townson @jontytownson.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
Reflecting on #biologists100 last week, I greatly enjoyed meeting past colleagues and getting to know the work of @biologists.bsky.social better. The experience reinforced for me the importance of society own journals and their work (1/3).
A person standing in St Georges Hall at the Gala dinner of the Biologists @ 100 conference.
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Jonathan Townson @jontytownson.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
The preList for the @biologists.bsky.social conference #biologists100 is out! With @prelights.bsky.social we compiled the cutting-edge research and exciting preprints that were presented last week Check it out here: prelights.biologists.com/prelists/bio... (1/2).
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Reinier Prosee @reinierprosee.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Had lots of fun representing @prelights.bsky.social together with @jontytownson.bsky.social at #biologists100 @biologists.bsky.social Keep an eye out for our conference #preList + the #spotLights episodes that will appear on preLights over the next few weeks! 👀
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Daniel Gorelick @danielgorelick.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Built a peer review system that doesn’t take forever. Spoiler: scientists love it. Huge thanks to the amazing team at The Company of Biologists for making Fast & Fair happen. Read the preprint: bit.ly/4iZ30st #biologists100 @biologists.bsky.social @biologyopen.bsky.social
bit.ly
Fast & Fair peer review: a pilot study demonstrating feasibility of rapid, high-quality peer review in a biology journal
Traditional peer review is slow, often delayed by the time-consuming process of identifying reviewers and lengthy review turnaround times. This study tests the feasibility of the Fast & Fair peer revi...
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