Wei Zhang

Professor, University of Texas M D Anderson Cancer Center

Wei Zhang is the Director of the Cancer Genomics Core Lab at the M D Anderson Cancer Center. His current research activities include identifying key molecular events involved in cancer invasion and metastasis by functional genomic approaches; designing drugs using functional pharmacogenomic methods; generating tissue-specific animal models; and applying mathematical modelling to genomics and systems biology.
For more information, please visit his website

What prompted you to submit a manuscript to one of BioMed Central's open access journals?

BioMed Central's open access journals were initiated with noble ideas and concepts that information should be freely exchanged for the good of science. I believe that noble ideas should always be supported although good ideas on their own are often not enough. Other important factors for successful journals include the quality of papers that are published and the quality of journal management. It has become clear that BioMed Central is managed by able editors who maintain a high standard for published papers. This should boost the confidence of any scientist and encourage them to submit their good work to BioMed Central journals for publication, where they can have their studies read by a broad range of readers for free.

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

Based on my experience, the electronic submission and peer review process are very efficient. I am impressed with the turnaround time of the review process.

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

One of the most gratifying factors of publishing in an open access journal is knowing that anyone in the world can access your paper free of charge.