eLife is an initiative and open-access journal created by funders and led by researchers to transform research communication through improvements to science publishing, technology and research culture. eLife is a unique collaboration between funders and practitioners of research to communicate influential discoveries in the life and biomedical sciences in the most effective way. Along with a growing number of public and private research funders worldwide, these three organisations recognise that the communication of research results is as fundamental a component of the research process as are the experiments themselves. Disseminating new findings as widely and effectively as possible maximises the value of research investments. The first step in the initiative is to establish a new, top-tier open-access journal covering basic biological research through to applied, translational and clinical studies. The eLife journal will be a platform for extending the reach and influence of new discoveries and to showcase new approaches to the presentation, use, and assessment of research. That’s just the beginning.
