Shahzad Gull Raja

Specialist Registrar in cardiothoracic surgery, Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool, UK

Shahzad Gull Raja is a Specialist Registrar in cardiothoracic surgery working at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool. His research team are presently finishing their research on the dose-dependent effects of Sildenafil on haemodynamics and gas exchange in children with pulmonary hypertension.

What prompted you to submit a paper to a BioMed Central journal?

Open access is an important movement that will improve access to scientific information all over the world. The idea of promoting free access to scientific information and the fact that open access enables the most effective distribution of research results encouraged me to choose BioMed Central for publication of my article.

What was your assessment of the electronic submission and peer review process?

The electronic submission process is not only simple but it reduces the cost of submission by avoiding repeated submissions through the post. Furthermore, the time from submission to acceptance of articles for publication is reduced considerably. BioMed Central's peer review process is very rigorous, yet the majority of reviewers give an unbiased opinion about the manuscript. Their suggestions and criticism are constructive and aimed at the production of research that has a long-lasting impact.

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

Distribution of our research to a broader audience, with the knowledge that it can be accessed freely anytime and anywhere in the world.