Collaborative writing and publishing

Science is changing. The widespread reach and accessibility of the internet means that more people have access to more knowledge than ever before. This is helping science at each end of the spectrum, from young scientists learning about the latest developments from CERN or on-board the International Space Station, through to the international, multi-disciplinary collaborations which make these projects possible and use the results to discover new breakthroughs and inspire new ideas. When we first developed writeLaTeX in 2011 it was to solve a very specific problem we had – the lack of a sensible and efficient way to collaborate when we were writing our scientific papers and presentations. This solution is now helping over 100,000 authors from over 1,000 universities and institutions across the world to write and collaborate more effectively. What’s clear is that online collaboration shouldn’t stop at authors but should extend to the whole range of people involved in science and publishing – editors, reviewers, and readers too. Cloud-based tools and services can help make science faster, more open and more transparent by bringing the whole scientific process online, from idea to writing to review to publication. With 1.8 million scientific papers published every year, and with most of the world’s technical and medical innovations beginning with a scientific paper, there is an ever growing demand for efficient and effective ways to create and collaborate on scientific papers. This coming year looks set to be a transformational period for academic publishing – and for the science behind it.