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Springer Nature response to novel coronavirus, 2019-nCoV

31st January 2020

Springer Nature is committed to supporting the global response to emerging outbreaks by enabling fast and direct access to the latest available research, evidence, and data.

We are a signatory on the consensus statement, Sharing research data and findings relevant to the novel coronavirus (nCoV) outbreak. Here is the full text of the statement:

“The outbreak of the novel coronavirus in China (2019-nCoV) represents a significant and urgent threat to global health.

We call on researchers, journals and funders to ensure that research findings and data relevant to this outbreak are shared rapidly and openly to inform the public health response and help save lives.

We affirm the commitment to the principles set out in the 2016 Statement on data sharing in public health emergencies, and will seek to ensure that the World Health Organization has rapid access to emerging findings that could aid the global response.

Specifically, we commit to work together to help ensure:

  • all peer-reviewed research publications relevant to the outbreak are made immediately open access, or freely available at least for the duration of the outbreak
  • research findings relevant to the outbreak are shared immediately with the WHO upon journal submission, by the journal and with author knowledge
  • research findings are made available via preprint servers before journal publication, or via platforms that make papers openly accessible before peer review, with clear statements regarding the availability of underlying data
  • researchers share interim and final research data relating to the outbreak, together with protocols and standards used to collect the data, as rapidly and widely as possible - including with public health and research communities and the WHO
  • authors are clear that data or preprints shared ahead of submission will not pre-empt its publication in these journals

We intend to apply the principles of this statement to similar outbreaks in the future where there is a significant public health benefit to ensuring data is shared widely and rapidly."

If your organisation is committed to supporting these principles, please contact d.carr@wellcome.ac.uk, and they will add your organisation to the list of signatories.


*This statement originally appeared on Wellcome's website - please refer back to this page for updates on signatories and additional details *


Springer Nature - Coronavirus resource page

Springer Nature has also collated research articles from our journals that we have identified as the most recent and relevant to coronavirus research, as well as additional commentary on this topic and relevant books, on this page. The page will be continually updated and all content listed therein is free to access.