Scott Edmunds

::: {.wp-block-image}
<figure class="aligncenter size-large">
<img
src="http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Update-logo-1.jpg"
class="wp-image-4023" loading="lazy" decoding="async"
srcset="http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Update-logo-1.jpg 750w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Update-logo-1-300x200.jpg 300w"
sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" width="750" height="500"
alt="Update article" />
</figure>
:::

GigaScience Presses new *GigaByte Journal* [was
launched](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/gigabyte-kickstarts-gigascience-press/)
with the goal of speeding up the dissemination of science, *publishing
at the speed of research*. Beyond speeding up the research process by
incentivizing the early release of datasets and software/computational
workflows by focusing on short descriptions of these two article types
(called [Data
Release](https://gigabytejournal.com/data-release-description) and
[Technical
Release](https://gigabytejournal.com/technical-release-description)),
we've also tried to greatly speed up the normally laborious publication
process. Partly through simple measures like using a more streamlined
questionnaire style peer review system, and partly through technological
advances by leveraging the ability of our partner [River Valley
Technologies](https://rivervalleytechnologies.com/) XML-first platform
to near instantaneously produce content on the fly. With the resulting
production process taking hours rather than the weeks of traditional
publishers.

Using this platform we also have the potential to follow a more
iterative, software-centric form of sharing: the CODE, RELEASE, FORK,
UPDATE and REPEAT approach. The sharp eyed among you may have noticed
the FORK concept being alluded to in GigaByte's logo. The [launch
Editorial](https://doi.org/10.46471/gigabyte.1) in the journal announced
the next step in this iterative pathway will be addressed with an
article type we planned to release in the future, namely an [Update
article](https://gigabytejournal.com/update-description). The time for
this is now with the publication of our [first Update
article](https://doi.org/10.46471/gigabyte.24) in the journal. The paper
presenting new benchmarking data for an ongoing study sequencing
Macadamia species on multiple platforms from authors from the University
of Queensland.

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized">
<img
src="http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/gigabyte-infographic-1024x1024.png"
class="wp-image-4021" loading="lazy" decoding="async"
srcset="http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/gigabyte-infographic-1024x1024.png 1024w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/gigabyte-infographic-300x300.png 300w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/gigabyte-infographic-150x150.png 150w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/gigabyte-infographic-768x768.png 768w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/gigabyte-infographic.png 1080w"
sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" width="768" height="768" />
</figure>

This new Update article type does two things. First, allowing
publication of substantive additional data and software versions that
are immediately useful to the community but would typically have a
much-delayed release or indeed might never be released because the
authors need to carry out and add analyses to make these "publishable"
in the current publishing paradigm. Serving as a way to publish new data
or software outputs from a previously published article at a time point
where there is useful information to share but there are little-to-no
new analyses, conceptual findings, or major software upgrades completed.
Second, greatly reduce the time to write and peer-review articles as the
majority of the narrative (e.g. the Introduction and similar sections)
of an [Update](https://gigabytejournal.com/update-description) does not
change in any substantive way and can be cited and linked to instead of
rewritten, allowing (the original) reviewers to focus only on the added
information in assessing the manuscript. Peer review is also easier as
the original peer reviewers and our curators can be quickly consulted
with to see if the additional data is sound and useful, without having
to do a full review of a "fresh" publication.

**Planting the seeds of a new form of scientific communication**  
The [paper in question](https://doi.org/10.46471/gigabyte.24) is a
sequencing benchmarking study using one of the world's rarest tree
species as a reference, *Macadamia jansenii* being a critically
endangered species of macadamia which was only discovered in the 1980's
and described as a new species in 1991. Investigating the latest
long-read sequencing technologies, all the different software and
algorithms that you can use to build a reference, and then applying each
of them to the same sample to find out what worked best. On top of the
insight into genome assembly, this [new work also gives this inedible
Macadamia nut tree the
potential](https://bioengineer.org/critically-endangered-macadamia-species-becomes-a-plant-supermodel/)
of becoming one the best studied species on the planet in terms of its
genetics. Growing in one area near Miriam Vale in Queensland there are
only around 100 known trees in existence, meaning there is the potential
to study the diversity of the whole species. Providing huge amounts of
information on how rare plant species can survive the impact of small
population size and the associated genetic bottleneck.

::: {.wp-block-image}
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized">
<img
src="http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/macUpdate-1024x683.jpg"
class="wp-image-4025" loading="lazy" decoding="async"
srcset="http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/macUpdate-1024x683.jpg 1024w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/macUpdate-300x200.jpg 300w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/macUpdate-768x512.jpg 768w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/macUpdate-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/macUpdate-2048x1365.jpg 2048w"
sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" width="768" height="512"
alt="Update article thumbnail" />
</figure>
:::

Back in the [original
publication](https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giaa146) in
*GigaScience* the authors stated 'We propose updating this comparison
regularly with reports on significant iterations of the sequencing
technologies.' In this [new Update
article](https://doi.org/10.46471/gigabyte.24) they have done just that,
and watch this space for future updates.

**So you are interested in publishing an update study?**  
This is an example of a *GigaScience* paper being updated in *GigaByte*
Journal, but updating *GigaByte* data and software papers will be even
more straightforward and streamlined as we have the potential to work
from and update the original XML. Updates articles should include only a
summary reminder of the information from the previously published work
and instead focus on presenting and describing the new information. To
make it clear to the reader the relationship between the previous
article and the information here, the fact it is an Update article is
highlighted in the Abstract and Introduction of the paper (see picture
below), and in the margins links to the original version and any
preprint versions are highlighted. Data and methods are also updated in
a similar manner and connected through citations and metadata to the
previous versions of the work. Methods in protocols.io (see [GigaBlog
for
more](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/reproducible-research-resources-researching-parasites/)
on the the protocol sharing platform) can be updated through forking new
versions of any updated protocols, or adding new protocols, and then
linking them into a new protocol collection (see a new protocol from
this first study
[here](https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.buxvnxn6)).

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large">
<img
src="http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Update-example-1016x1024.jpg"
class="wp-image-4024" loading="lazy" decoding="async"
srcset="http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Update-example-1016x1024.jpg 1016w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Update-example-298x300.jpg 298w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Update-example-150x150.jpg 150w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Update-example-768x774.jpg 768w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Update-example.jpg 1119w"
sizes="(max-width: 1016px) 100vw, 1016px" width="1016" height="1024" />
<figcaption>What does an Update article look like? Spot the highlighting
of the original paper.</figcaption>
</figure>

**Further Reading**  
Murigneux V, Rai SK, Furtado A, Bruxner TJC, Tian W, Harliwong I, Wei H,
Yang B, Ye Q, Anderson E, Mao Q, Drmanac R, Wang O, Peters BA, Xu M, Wu
P, Topp B, Coin LJM, Henry RJ. Comparison of long-read methods for
sequencing and assembly of a plant genome. *Gigascience*. 2020 Dec
21;9(12):giaa146. doi:
[10.1093/gigascience/giaa146](https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giaa146).

Sharma P, Al-dossary O, Alsubaie B, Al-mssallem I, Nath O, Mitter N,
Alves Margarido GR, Topp G, Murigneux V, Kharabian Masouleh A, Furtado
A, Henry RJ, Improvements in the sequencing and assembly of plant
genomes, *GigaByte*, 1, 2021 <https://doi.org/10.46471/gigabyte.24>

Edmunds SC, Goodman L, *GigaByte*: Publishing at the Speed of Research,
*GigaByte*, 1, 2020 <https://doi.org/10.46471/gigabyte.1>

See more in the GigaByte guidelines on Update articles:
<https://gigabytejournal.com/update-description>

The post [Update on Updates. GigaByte's new article type to speed up
science](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/update-article-in-gigabyte/){rel="nofollow"}
appeared first on
[GigaBlog](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog){rel="nofollow"}.


GigaScience Presses new
<em>
 GigaByte Journal
</em>
was launched with the goal of speeding up the dissemination of science,
<em>
 publishing at the speed of research
</em>
. Beyond speeding up the research process by incentivizing the early release of datasets and software/computational workflows by focusing on short descriptions of these two article types (called Data Release and Technical Release), we’ve also tried to greatly speed up the normally

Update on Updates. GigaByte’s new article type to speed up science

Hans Zauner

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized">
<img
src="http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Pandemicmas-1024x1024.jpg"
class="wp-image-3689" loading="lazy" decoding="async"
srcset="http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Pandemicmas-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Pandemicmas-300x300.jpg 300w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Pandemicmas-150x150.jpg 150w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Pandemicmas-768x768.jpg 768w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Pandemicmas-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Pandemicmas-2048x2048.jpg 2048w"
sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" width="700" height="700" />
</figure>

#### **Looking back at this unusual COVID-dominated year, we are happy to report that *GigaScience* not only kept going under difficult circumstances, publishing outstanding examples of Big Data science and introducing innovations in the review process. We also opened a new chapter with the launch of a sister journal, *[GigaByte](https://gigabytejournal.com/)*.** {#looking-back-at-this-unusual-covid-dominated-year-we-are-happy-to-report-that-gigascience-not-only-kept-going-under-difficult-circumstances-publishing-outstanding-examples-of-big-data-science-and-introducing-innovations-in-the-review-process.-we-also-opened-a-new-chapter-with-the-launch-of-a-sister-journal-gigabyte. .wp-block-heading}

2020 was a year like no other and our end-of-the-year wrap up starts
with the one topic that had the world -- including the world of science
publishing -- in its grip: the Coronavirus pandemic. At [ICG
15](https://icg.bio/ICG15) (the International Conference on Genomics),
we recently honored an early hero of this crisis, Prof Zhang Yongzhen,
the winner of the [2020 ICG-15 GigaScience Prize for Outstanding Data
Sharing during the COVID-19
Pandemic](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/covid-19-hero-wins-gigascience-prize/).
Dr. Zhang shared the first whole genome sequence of the deadly SarsCoV-2
virus on January 5th, 2020. *GigaScience* Prize Judge Professor Lachlan
Coin (University of Melbourne) explains why this was such an important
thing to do:

*"Early availability of the genome sequence enabled researchers to start
developing vaccines and antiviral therapies even before the virus could
be grown in sufficient quantities in cell culture for it to be studied
directly."*

Now, as the year comes to an end, first doses of vaccine are routinely
administered and a massive roll-out is on the way. Early sharing of data
was a crucial step to achieve this milestone. The pandemic is proof that
it's crucial to openly and rapidly share and review research, and
*GigaScience* therefore joined an initiative of a number of journals
(the ["Rapid Review
Initiative"](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/gigascience-joins-c19rapidreview/))
to streamline and speed up the review process of COVID papers.

::: {.wp-block-image}
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized">
<img
src="http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IMG_6330-1024x683.jpeg"
class="wp-image-3616" loading="lazy" decoding="async"
srcset="http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IMG_6330-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IMG_6330-300x200.jpeg 300w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IMG_6330-768x512.jpeg 768w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IMG_6330.jpeg 1080w"
sizes="(max-width: 677px) 100vw, 677px" width="677" height="452"
alt="ICG-15 COVID Prize hero" />
<figcaption><em>Prof Zhang receiving the GigaScience ICG-15 prize from
GigaScience Assistant Editor Hongling Zhao and BGI co-founder Prof
Huanming Yang.</em></figcaption>
</figure>
:::

**Data-centric COVID research**  
While we are not a specialized infectious disease journal, we also
published some data-centric research related to SarsCoV-2. Notably, a
[scientometric study](https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giaa085)
showing that, in hindsight, research into coronaviruses and other
emerging diseases did not get the sustained attention it deserved,
compared to other topics such as HIV (read our blog post
[here](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/scientometric-trends-for-coronaviruses/)).
Researching potentially pandemic viruses is a marathon, not a sprint,
and the paper served as a warning that scientists and funders need to
stay committed to investigating the threat of emerging pathogens.  

Another important [COVID-related
publication](https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giaa111) was a
Technical Note, reporting on an open source, cloud-based tool called
[IDseq](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/idseq-infectious-disease-detectives/)
. The platform helps to rapidly detect, identify, and track emerging
pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2. *"IDseq can be thought of as an early
warning radar for emerging or novel infectious agents,"* said Joe
DeRisi, Co-President of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub whose research lab at
the University of California, San Francisco initiated the IDseq
platform. Scientists in Cambodia used the tool to confirm and sequence
the whole genome of the country's first case of COVID.

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized">
<img
src="http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/wordcloud_C19-1024x768.png"
class="wp-image-3450" loading="lazy" decoding="async"
srcset="http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/wordcloud_C19.png 1024w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/wordcloud_C19-300x225.png 300w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/wordcloud_C19-768x576.png 768w"
sizes="(max-width: 641px) 100vw, 641px" width="641" height="481"
alt="Coronavirus trends" />
</figure>

**New beginnings**  
Thankfully however, 2020 was not all about disease, lockdowns and
cancelled travel plans. On a much more positive note, 2020 was also the
year we [launched our newest baby, *GigaScience*'s sister journal
*GigaByte*](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/gigabyte-kickstarts-gigascience-press/).
The [new journal](https://gigabytejournal.com/) is a home for short,
focused, data-driven articles. *GigaByte* is of course an open-access,
open data journal and enables rapid publication using new custom-built,
end-to-end publishing technology.  
  
"End-to-end" here means that the entire process from submission, review,
data curation and production is handled through one streamlined
pipeline, making it possible to [publish at the speed of
research](https://gigabytejournal.com/articles/1). To make this happen,
we worked with our partner [River Valley
Technologies](https://rivervalleytechnologies.com/) to deploy a
completely new submission and publication platform, also integrating
data curation steps. This allows nearly immediate online publication on
acceptance, as well as functionality to update published articles.

In the process of launching the new journal, we also changed our
organizational structure, giving birth to **[GigaScience
Press](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/gigabyte-kickstarts-gigascience-press/)**
as a fully-fledged publisher.

**GigaByte waives APCs for the next three months**  
Like *GigaScience*, our new journal will be a platform to innovate and
bring in new features -- watch this space for updates! We are happy that
the new journal already got a good number of submissions and [started
publishing now](https://gigabytejournal.com/articles?search=). Among its
first articles is [genomic work on
*Antechinu*](https://doi.org/10.46471/gigabyte.7)*s*, a genus of small,
mouse-like marsupials -- see also the
[Q&A](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/qa-parice-brandies-antechinus-genome)
and video [abstract with the
author](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T-lwGEGlGs)).

::: {.wp-block-image}
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized">
<img
src="http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/marsupial-1024x617.jpg"
class="wp-image-3631" loading="lazy" decoding="async"
srcset="http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/marsupial-1024x617.jpg 1024w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/marsupial-300x181.jpg 300w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/marsupial-768x462.jpg 768w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/marsupial-1536x925.jpg 1536w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/marsupial.jpg 1950w"
sizes="(max-width: 667px) 100vw, 667px" width="667" height="402"
alt="antechinus genome" />
<figcaption>Male <em>Antechinus stuartii </em>individual used for the
genome held by author Carolyn Hogg.</figcaption>
</figure>
:::

If you want to become a *GigaByte* author, there's good news: For the
next three months we are waiving article processing charges for all new
*GigaByte* submissions.

**A digital birthday party and looking back at our first eight year**  
At the end of the year we usually also love to recollect our travels to
conferences and fondly recall face-to-face meetings with editorial board
members, reviewers and authors. Well, not much travel was possible this
year, but we still reached out to various communities thanks to the
blessings of virtual conferences.

Even our traditional birthday party had to go digital -- in the form of
a video (below) and [\#gigascienceat8 social media
lookback](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23gigascienceat8%20&src=typed_query)
over our first 8 years.

<figure
class="wp-block-embed-youtube aligncenter wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio">
<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="iframe">
<div id="player">

</div>
<div class="player-unavailable">
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aufgetreten.</h1>
<div class="submessage">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9Qve3ZCTrw"
target="_blank">Sieh dir dieses Video auf www.youtube.com an</a> oder
aktiviere JavaScript, falls es in deinem Browser deaktiviert sein
sollte.
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</figure>

Also virtually, our data scientist Chris Armit attended the [Human Cell
Atlas COVID-19 Virtual
Symposium](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/human-cell-atlas-covid-19-symposium/),
learning about the mechanisms of COVID-19 disease.

Keeping us updated on the latest developments in the genomics field, and
hearing some of our editorial board members speak, we attended at
[Biodiversity Genomics
2020](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/biodiversity-genomics-2020/)
(also presenting there on *GigaByte)* and (back in the mists of time
when you could attend in-person meetings) the straightforwardly-named
[Plant and Animal Genome
Conference](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/plant-and-animal-genome/)  

**Code: checked**  
While a lot of our attention with respect to the mechanics of peer
review was devoted to launching *GigaByte*, we also introduced some
innovations for its established sister *GigaScience*. Notably, we
started to work with the [CODECHECK
initiative](https://codecheck.org.uk/) to publish software-heavy
articles with [certified
reproducibility](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/codecheck-certificate/).
In short, here's how it works: After the "code checker" assesses a piece
of software, independently time-stamped runs are awarded a "certificate
of reproducible computation", which we display alongside the published
article. Our first example was a Technical Note on a machine learning
tool called
[ShinyLearne](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/shinylearner-codecheck/)r".
You can check out the paper
[here](https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giaa026) and the CODECHECK
certificate [here](http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3674056).  
  
Another innovative first for us-- rather technical in nature, but still
important -- was the way we handled the assessment of controlled access
data during the review of an article by [Matthieu Foll et
al.](http://10.1093/gigascience/giaa112.) . As a journal focused on
reproducibility of research, *GigaScience* has a strict open-science
policy. Peer reviewers need access to the data and software supporting
our papers. Can this work if sensitive human data is not publicly
available to everyone, for ethical and consent reasons ? The answer is
yes -- because a [Data Access Committee (DAC) allowed qualified peer
reviewers' access to inspect the
data](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/controlled-access-data/).  

**2020's featured animals: Esperanza, TJ Tabasco and the giant squid**  
No end-of-the year post can be complete without highlighting at least
some of the amazing research and data we published in 2020. We started
the year big -- rather, gigantic -- with a report on the [genome of the
giant squid *Architeuthis
dux*](https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giz152). A ten-armed
invertebrate that is believed to grow up to 13 meters and weigh over 900
kg -- no wonder the media loved this, with [coverage all over the
globe](https://oxfordjournals.altmetric.com/details/74081198/news).  

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized">
<img
src="http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Squid-tissue.jpg"
class="wp-image-3209" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="638"
height="481" />
<figcaption>Squid tentacles</figcaption>
</figure>

For DNA day 2020 we
[blogged](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/dna-day-2020-cattle-reference-genome/)
about two special cattle papers
([here](https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giaa021) and
[here](https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giaa029)): Rice et al. showed
that "trio binning" -- that is, using genetic data of a "trio" of two
genetically diverse parents and their F1 offspring -- can massively
improve the assembly process. The authors used a hybrid between cattle
and yak (a Yakow? a Yattle?), with the genetic difference between them
helping in a clever assembly strategy. Along similar lines, we also
published a [new cattle reference
genome](https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giaa021), going back to the
genetic material of a famous cow called "Esperanza", which was also used
to produce the first cattle genome back in 2009.

Other species that got new, higher quality versions of established
reference genomes include
[pig](https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giaa051) (featuring TJ
Tabasco, which was the first pig to have its genome sequenced) and the
[German Shepherd dog](https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giaa027).  
  
Mexican caves are at the origin of another research highlight of 2020: A
group of Mexican scientists [sequenced and assembled the genome of an
adult male Lesser Long-nosed
Bat](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/bat-genomics/) (*Leptonycteris
yerbabuenae*) at high quality. They then got sequence data for four more
bat species with different feeding habits and detected gene family
expansions and contractions that have functions related to different
types of diet.

  
If you wish to learn more about the importance of bat genomics, don't
miss the TED talk of our new Editorial board member Emma Teeling
(University College Dublin).

<figure
class="wp-block-embed-youtube aligncenter wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio">
<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="iframe">
<div id="player">

</div>
<div class="player-unavailable">
<h1 id="ein-fehler-ist-aufgetreten." class="message">Ein Fehler ist
aufgetreten.</h1>
<div class="submessage">
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target="_blank">Sieh dir dieses Video auf www.youtube.com an</a> oder
aktiviere JavaScript, falls es in deinem Browser deaktiviert sein
sollte.
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</figure>

  
**It's Christmas Jim ... but not as we know it.**  
With the new year around the corner, what the future will bring?
Star-Trek-style tricorders maybe. Ok, the kind of handheld universal
diagnostic tool used by Dr McCoy may still be science fiction for a long
time. But who would have thought that it will be possible in 2020 to
sequence entire genomes in a device that's hardly bigger than a USB
stick? And now you can even analyse the results on the go in your
smartphone, by using the [iGenomics
application](https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giaa138) developed by
Aspyn Palatnick, who started to work on the project as a high school
student with guidance from our editorial board member Mike Schatz (see
our [blog
post](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/iphone-genomics-beaming-us-up-to-the-tricorder-era/)
and the authors' video below).

<figure
class="wp-block-embed-youtube aligncenter wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio">
<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="iframe">
<div id="player">

</div>
<div class="player-unavailable">
<h1 id="ein-fehler-ist-aufgetreten." class="message">Ein Fehler ist
aufgetreten.</h1>
<div class="submessage">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kpymh2-JXzw"
target="_blank">Sieh dir dieses Video auf www.youtube.com an</a> oder
aktiviere JavaScript, falls es in deinem Browser deaktiviert sein
sollte.
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</figure>

2020 was a difficult year for most of us, not least for scientists whose
projects were held up by lockdowns and other virus-related disruptions.
This year, we are especially thankful for all our amazing supporters --
first of all our reviewers and members of our editorial board -- who
contributed their expertise and advice in these difficult times.

**Thank you: To our readers, our authors, our reviewers and the members
of our editorial board. We wish you all a happy and healthy 2021.**

::: {.wp-block-image}
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized">
<img
src="http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/portable_sequencing_smaller-1-1024x575.jpg"
class="wp-image-3640" loading="lazy" decoding="async"
srcset="http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/portable_sequencing_smaller-1-1024x575.jpg 1024w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/portable_sequencing_smaller-1-300x168.jpg 300w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/portable_sequencing_smaller-1-768x431.jpg 768w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/portable_sequencing_smaller-1-1536x863.jpg 1536w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/portable_sequencing_smaller-1.jpg 1820w"
sizes="(max-width: 684px) 100vw, 684px" width="684" height="383"
alt="covid year tricorder" />
</figure>
:::

The post [New beginnings during a pandemic -- the COVID year in
review](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/the-pandemic-covid-year-in-gigascience/){rel="nofollow"}
appeared first on
[GigaBlog](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog){rel="nofollow"}.


<strong>
 Looking back at this unusual COVID-dominated year, we are happy to report that
 <em>
  GigaScience
 </em>
 not only kept going under difficult circumstances, publishing outstanding examples of Big Data science and introducing innovations in the review process.
</strong>

New beginnings during a pandemic – the COVID year in review

*![GigaScience Press
launches](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/page-1-300x251.jpeg){.alignright
.wp-image-3473 loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="196" height="164"
srcset="http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/page-1-300x251.jpeg 300w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/page-1-768x644.jpeg 768w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/page-1.jpeg 940w"
sizes="(max-width: 196px) 100vw, 196px"}GigaScience has spawned a new
smaller and more agile sibling: GigaByte, and is the first journal to
come from our new [GigaScience Press](http://gigasciencepress.com/). 
This bigger and better GigaScience family has lead to some changes in
GigaScience, and we are pleased to make some important announcements
about the team.*

Coming shortly [after our 8th
birthday](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/conferences-go-viral/),
[GigaScience Press](http://gigasciencepress.com/) and [River Valley
Technologies](https://rivervalleytechnologies.com/) are proud to
announce the launch of our new journal
*[GigaByte](https://gigabytejournal.com/):* an online open-access, open
data journal that allows rapid publication using new custom-built,
end-to-end publishing technology. This shake-up of our tech platform
enables accepted manuscripts to be converted to an online and PDF-ready
article within a day. The editorial side also adds speed by focusing on
publishing short-format data and software centric articles, which
greatly reduces researcher writing time, and a questionnaire-style
review process to speed peer review.  The published articles go beyond
providing only a stagnant PDF: the online articles incorporate dynamic
features that allow readers to directly interact with the research being
presented--- turning it into a [living
document](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltlZ4HdJ1qY).

Taken together, *GigaByte* is designed specifically for publishing work
done in rapidly changing research that is well-served by available
embedded content. *GigaByte* provides exactly what is needed to release
findings, data, and methods crucial to tackle urgent challenges. A
perfect example for this is research on the COVID-19 crisis, where
constant updates of the latest data and methodological approaches are
urgently needed, while providing a balance with peer review and
transparency to combat the "infodemic" (see our recent
[post](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/scientometric-trends-for-coronaviruses/)
and [paper](https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giaa085) on the skewed
research trends of coronavirus research that lowering the friction of
communication and sharing should help improve).

The editorial office is now actively seeking submission of original
research for the first two article types: [*Data
Release*](https://gigabytejournal.com/data-release-description) and
[*Technical
Release*](https://gigabytejournal.com/technical-release-description)
articles, which focus, respectively on datasets and
software/computational workflow papers. Assessment will focus on whether
the data and tools are of general use in broad or specialist
communities, that the work is scientifically sound, and that all
associated Research Objects (raw and analysed data, software, source
code, etc.) are open, accessible, and follow our usual best (FAIR)
practices for sharing.

The launch of the *GigaByte* website
([gigabytejournal.com](https://gigabytejournal.com/)) includes an
[editorial](https://gigabytejournal.com/articles/1) and two examples of
articles presenting the type of work the journal looks to publish. The
[first article](https://gigabytejournal.com/articles/2) is the genome
sequence of the banjo frog, and you can see a [video
abstract](https://youtu.be/WB_8NHkrKXQ) from the first author Qiye Li.

This work is part of the [Genome10K community of
scientists](https://genome10k.soe.ucsc.edu/), which have been working to
sequence and release the genomes of 10,000 species across the vertebrate
tree of life. This type of paper is perfect for the research groups that
work on individual projects within large consortia as they rarely
receive the appropriate credit for the work they've done. This is due to
the desire by the consortium to write an extensive complex paper that
has a focus on the overall findings, rather than the many individual
contributions.  For the community at large, this also means that the
data from each individual dataset and sub-project is held back until a
main paper is published and is not presented in the detail needed when
describing complicated endeavours.

Dr. Guojie Zhang, the lead PI, of the Banjo Frog genome article says,
"*For the genomic research field, most journals value more on the
ultimate output of the assembled genomes and only consider reference
genomes that meet certain quality metrics. I think the new journal opens
the opportunity for data at various quality metrics, as they will still
be useful for different applications. GigaByte provides a platform for
consortiums to share the data timely and acknowledge the data generation
group.*"

The [second article](https://gigabytejournal.com/articles/3) showcased
in the launch of the *GigaByte* website presents digitised and enlarged
museum specimens that were 3D printed for interactive exhibits at the
National Museum in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

In describing the data and re-use potential, the digitised versions of
these interactive museum exhibits are equally interactive for *GigaByte*
readers. The articles include an embedded sketchfab window (see [our
first efforts with
these](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/sketchfab-3d-fossil-seabed/))
that allow the reader to inspect the model and interact with it through
their browser. There are also links that allow readers to download and
3D print their own versions.

Lead author Anton du Plessis says of the publishing concept: "*The main
hurdle to sharing this data is the sheer size. I publish many papers but
seldom can share the CT data with it. With GigaByte we will be able to
share much more.*"

**(Dawning of a) New Era**  
![GigaByte
Launch](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GigaEditorial-1-232x300.jpg){.alignright
.size-medium .wp-image-3468 loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="232"
height="300"
srcset="http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GigaEditorial-1-232x300.jpg 232w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GigaEditorial-1.jpg 674w"
sizes="(max-width: 232px) 100vw, 232px"}The launch of GigaScience Press
has led to a shake up in how the GigaScience team is structured, with
our Editor in Chief Laurie Goodman taking up the reins as our new
Publishing Director. Our Executive Editor running the journal since
launch, Scott Edmunds takes over as Editor in Chief of *GigaScience* and
Chief Editor of GigaByte. With Nicole Nogoy becoming Executive Editor,
Hans Zauner Editor, and Hongling Zhou Assistant Editor. We welcome some
new additions to the GigaScience Press Technical Team, with Ken Cho
joining us as Systems Programmer Analyst, and Rija Ménagé becoming a
full time Senior Software Engineer, all under the supervision of Head of
IT [Peter Li](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/author/peter/).

We've recruited an all new [Editorial and Advisory
Board](https://gigabytejournal.com/editorial-board) for the journal,
spanning a broad scope as well as geography. We'd like to welcome them
to the GigaScience family and thank them and our first authors for their
confidence in us. We'd also like to thank [River Valley
Technologies](https://rivervalleytechnologies.com/) for building such a
game changing platform that finally allows us to do things we've been
wanting to do since this project started nearly a decade ago.

The GigaByte Editors encourage potential authors to contact them at
<editorial@gigabytejournal.com> to discuss specific needs in your
research communities for promoting large-data access, sharing, use,
reuse, and reader interaction that *GigaByte* can provide. Submit now to
take advantage of free Article Processing Charges until early-2021.

Manuscripts can be submitted at <https://gigabytejournal.com>

![GigaScience Press
Launches](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/page-1-1-1024x585.jpeg){.aligncenter
.wp-image-3474 loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="571" height="327"
srcset="http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/page-1-1-1024x585.jpeg 1024w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/page-1-1-300x171.jpeg 300w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/page-1-1-768x439.jpeg 768w, http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/page-1-1.jpeg 1984w"
sizes="(max-width: 571px) 100vw, 571px"}

The post [Giga Gets Bigger: GigaByte kickstarts GigaScience
Press](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog/gigabyte-kickstarts-gigascience-press/){rel="nofollow"}
appeared first on
[GigaBlog](http://gigasciencejournal.com/blog){rel="nofollow"}.


<em>
 GigaScience has spawned a new smaller and more agile sibling: GigaByte, and is the first journal to come from our new GigaScience Press.
</em>

Publicaciones de Rogue Scholar

Update on Updates. GigaByte’s new article type to speed up science

New beginnings during a pandemic – the COVID year in review

Giga Gets Bigger: GigaByte kickstarts GigaScience Press