F1000 Research is not a conventional journal publisher - it is an open research platform that flips the traditional workflow. Instead of review-then-publish, F1000Research publishes your article first (after editorial and plagiarism checks, usually within one to two weeks) and runs peer review afterwards, in the open, with signed reviewer reports posted alongside the article. Every article is Gold open access under a CC BY licence, and the platform enforced the industry's first mandatory open-data policy when it launched in 2013.

The company grew out of Faculty of 1000, founded by Vitek Tracz in the early 2000s, and has been part of Taylor & Francis (Informa) since January 2020. Beyond the flagship F1000Research platform, F1000 operates funder-branded gateways - Wellcome Open Research (2016), Gates Open Research (2017), HRB Open Research (2018), and Open Research Europe (2021, for the European Commission) - plus VeriXiv, a verified preprint platform launched in 2024. This guide covers how the publish-first model works, what it costs, and how to submit.

F1000Research accepts "all valid research" - editorial decisions are based on soundness, not novelty or perceived impact. That explicitly includes negative results, confirmatory studies, and incremental findings. Supported article types include:

• Research articles - full studies across natural sciences, medicine, social sciences, humanities, and engineering.
• Data notes - concise descriptions of openly deposited datasets.
• Software tool articles - descriptions of research software with source access.
• Study protocols, methods articles, reviews, opinion articles, policy briefs, and case reports.
• Posters and slides - hosted without peer review, with citable DOIs.

All underlying data must be openly deposited in an approved repository - the mandatory open-data policy is a condition of publication, not a recommendation.

Everything on F1000Research is Gold open access under CC BY - there is no subscription or hybrid route. Article processing charges are tiered by article length/type rather than flat. Figures below reflect 2026 records (USD, before tax); confirm on the live APC page before submitting.

Waivers are available for authors without APC funding - request one before submission. There are no submission fees.

Peer review on F1000Research is post-publication, invited, and fully open:

1. Pre-publication checks - in-house editors screen for scope, ethics, plagiarism, and data availability; there is no editorial rejection for lack of novelty.
2. Publication - the article goes live with a DOI, marked "awaiting peer review", usually within one to two weeks.
3. Open review - invited experts post signed reports (Approved / Approved with Reservations / Not Approved) alongside the article, visible to everyone; readers can also comment.
4. Revision - authors publish new versions responding to reviews; every version remains citable.
5. Indexing - once an article passes peer review (typically two Approved, or equivalent), it is indexed in PubMed, Scopus, and other databases.

1. Check scope and gateway eligibility. If your funder runs a gateway, submit there - the fee is usually covered.
2. Prepare your manuscript. Use the F1000Research template on SciSpace; the house citation style is F1000 author-year.
3. Deposit your data. Choose an approved repository and include the DOI/accession in a Data Availability statement.
4. Submit via the F1000 platform. F1000 uses its own proprietary submission system - no Editorial Manager or ScholarOne.
5. Suggest reviewers and respond openly. Authors help identify qualified reviewers; responses to reports are public.

F1000 is a member of COPE, OASPA, and STM, and follows COPE guidance on corrections and retractions. Because reviewer reports are signed and public, the review record is fully auditable. The open-data mandate, versioned articles, and transparent review history are the platform's core integrity mechanisms - articles that never pass review remain visibly flagged rather than quietly disappearing.