The pilot issue of the Biomedical Data Journal is online

The pilot issue of the Biomedical Data Journal (BMDJ) is now available online. Edited by Prof. Constantinos Pantos, the pilot issue presents the rationale for launching a data journal in the biomedical field and the foundations of our editorial policy, the policy of the European Commis­sion on open-access to scientific publications and research data in Horizon 2020, and the use of datasets as a basis for computational modelling of diseases, with focus on cancer. The second group of papers analyse the need for open access, structured data of assured quality in the fields of clinical brain research, endocrine research, cardiology research, and drug discovery. The final section looks at two specific aspects: the legal challenges of publishing open-ac­cess biomedical data and the information infrastructure, supporting the formulation of the journal policy, the publication process, and impact assessment.