# PLOS/Author Guide

PLOS Topic Pages PLOS Computational Biology • PLOS Genetics • PLOS ONE

### Scope

Scientific scope: Topics should be within the scope of PLOS Computational Biology (e.g. algorithms, methods, processes), PLOS Genetics (e.g. concepts, phenomena, fields), or PLOS ONE (other topics in science and medicine)
Wikipedia scope: Topics should be absent from (English-language) Wikipedia, or be rated “Stub-Class” or “Start-Class” on Wikipedia’s quality scale (how to find an article's quality rating).

### Format

PLOS Topic Pages are a format of broad review articles in PLOS Computational Biology, PLOS Genetics, and PLOS ONE. They are are dual-published both in the journal as a copy of record, and into Wikipedia to seed a new Wikipedia page which acts as a living document.
Published in PLOS Computational Biology, PLOS Genetics, or PLOS ONE Published as Wikipedia page

## Background

PLOS Topic Pages were started in 2012 by PLOS Computational Biology (see introductory editorial and blog post as well as a more recent case study and PLOS Computational Biology's Topic Pages collection). In 2017, PLOS Genetics joined the initiative, as detailed in a blog post. The scope was further expanded by the participation of PLOS ONE in 2018.

## Submission

1) Presubmission inquiry Ideally, submit a presubmission inquiry including a prospective Wikipedia-style abstract, expected section headings and some example Wikipedia pages that should link to the article you plan to write: Comp Biol Genetics ONE
2) Account creation Sign up for a Wikimedia account: Create account
3) Draft creation
4) Complete submission When the draft is ready for peer review, submit to the relevant PLOS journal via editorialmanager: Comp Biol Genetics ONE

## Process

   Topic Pages Wiki draft & public peer review → PLOS publication if accepted → Author copies to Wikipedia
Topic Pages are created, peer reviewed, and edited on the Topic Pages Wiki authoring tool (compbiolwiki.plos.org) in the style of a Wikipedia page: it is very important to be aware of the fundamental principles by which Wikipedia operates (Five pillars) before the page is drafted. First-time users will need to create a Topic Pages Wiki account (via “Log in/create account”) and confirm their email before editing. When preparing your Topic Page on Topic Pages Wiki, please adhere to PLOS’ formatting requirements as far as possible. Formatting requirements are broadly similar between PLOS and Wikipedia, but there may be some differences. Authors not familiar with writing for the English Wikipedia are strongly encouraged to go through at least one of the Topic Pages that have already been published (see PLOS Topic Pages) in detail, taking note of the writing style and linking patterns in particular. Some appropriate guidelines are referenced below.
Once the on-wiki draft is ready for editorial consideration, authors should email the PLOS journal office at ploscompbiol@plos.org, plosgenetics@plos.org, or onecalls@plos.org. Please include within your message suggestions for at least three reviewers, along with their contact details and your reasons for suggesting each person. Please note that editors many not use your suggestions, but your help is appreciated and may speed up the selection of appropriate reviewers. Peer reviews are posted publicly to the 'discussion' page of the submitted article.
After peer review, if the article is accepted, authors must email their source files to the journal office staff for PLOS Computational Biology at ploscompbiol@plos.org, the staff for PLOS Genetics at plosgenetics@plos.org, or the staff for PLOS ONE at onecalls@plos.org, who will ready them for production in the journal. Please be prepared to provide an article file and separate figure files. Please state in the email if you have any competing interests or funding to declare, and indicate or confirm who should be listed as the corresponding author. At the point of publication in the PLOS journals, the journal office will notify the authors; the authors are then required to upload the text to Wikipedia at their earliest opportunity. It is the authors’ responsibility to ensure that Wikipedia’s conventions are followed when adding or editing the page on Wikipedia. Please contact the journals if you have any questions about the article or its formatting. The publication in the PLOS journals will be accompanied by the reviews (always) and reviewer identities (when revealed). This information will not be uploaded to the corresponding Wikipedia page but to its talk page instead.

## Basic Article Organization

Topic Pages articles have slightly different organisation in Wiki, PLOS, and Wikipedia.
Instructions/items with a globe apply to the PLOS submission (and Topic Pages Wiki drafting process) but should not be followed/included in the version uploaded to Wikipedia. W shows that information refers only to the later submission to Wikipedia.

### Authors and Affiliations

Provide the first names or initials (if used), middle names or initials (if used), surnames, and affiliations—department, university or organization, city, state/province (if applicable), and country—for all authors. One of the authors should be designated as the corresponding author, with an email address. It is the corresponding author's responsibility to ensure that the author list is accurate and complete.
Please provide an ORCID for each author, so that the Wikidata item about your PLOS article can be properly set up.

### Title (150 characters or less)

The title should be very concise and limited to a description of the topic being discussed. If the title of the PLoS article is intended to be different from the final Wikipedia page please indicate this and keep in mind the style of article titles in Wikipedia.

### Article Organization

Your article should begin with an introductory abstract that provides a definition of the article's topic and links it to related topics. It does not contain section headings. The remainder should be divided into sections; each with a section heading that can be nested in a hierarchy of a maximum of three heading levels (Sections in Wikipedia)

### Hyperlinks

When using a specialist term for the first time, add a wikilink to the corresponding Wikipedia entry. Hyperlinks other than to Wikipedia may be included in the text. They should be archived by way of the Internet Archive.
W [[w:page|words to display]] produces: words to display