Grahame Hardie

Professor of Cellular Signalling, Division of Molecular Physiology, University of Dundee

Grahame Hardie is the Professor of Cellular Signalling at the University of Dundee. His group is currently looking at whether the disease - associated protein kinases LKB1 acts upstream of any of the several poorly characterized protein kinases that are related to AMP-activated protein kinase. This possibility was mentioned in the Discussion of Professor Hardie's Journal of Biology paper.

What prompted you to submit a manuscript to Journal of Biology?

I liked the idea of open access, which was explained to me during a visit to Dundee by one of the Journal of Biology staff. The most important factor in getting your work widely read, after being in a high impact journal, is that it can be easily accessed by everyone.

What was your assessment of the editorial service (including electronic submission, peer review process, copy-editing)?

The paper was reviewed in a very thorough and rigorous manner, and of course we had to do a few extra experiments to satisfy the reviewers! However, the editors at Journal of Biology appreciated that ours was a "hot" paper, and the service from them was excellent throughout. Once the paper had been accepted the final edited, proofed version came out online within a few days.

How well has your paper been received?

I've had quite a few congratulatory e-mails, and several people who are not in my own field have seen it and asked me why I published in Journal of Biology and how I liked it.

What do you think you gained from publishing in an open access journal?

Everyone can download the article, including people in institutions that have limited resources, and even journalists and members of the general public! On the day it came out I was able to download the paper at home via my domestic Internet service provider.