Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics (QRB) has recently published the first papers in the new Open Access ‘Discovery’ section. This new section welcomes high-quality, innovative original research and perspectives papers to complement the authoritative, scholarly review articles the journal has published to date. The first QRB Discovery papers cover a range of topics from leading authors, all invited speakers from the Nobel Workshop and Molecular Frontiers Symposium held in May 2015 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Covering a wide range of topics within the field of biophysics, from structural biology and biochemical mechanisms to applications of organic, physical and computational chemistry, they set the standard for scientific quality and rigour for the new Discovery section of QRB.

As highlighted by the articles published to date, the Editors of QRB Discovery are looking for papers reporting a significant observation on a distinct, focused topic, in contrast to (for example) an exhaustive, systematic study. QRB Discovery papers may report results that are somewhat serendipitous, with observations that are unexpected or counterintuitive but where further work needs to be done to determine if it is a true discovery.

To help communicate to readers the potential broader significance of articles published in QRB Discovery, we are encouraging authors to include a box at the end of their manuscript titled ‘Speculation’, where they should briefly describe the potential future implications of the work presented in their manuscript. This section should not go beyond reasonable and testable hypotheses, but the Editors encourage authors to make brief, rational conjectures about the consequences of their research.

The Discovery section will accept two article types: Reports and Perspectives. Reports should be focused, original research papers up to a maximum of 6000 words, whilst Perspectives are intended to be shorter, essay-style articles that develop a strong, testable idea.

For those researching biological structure, function and dynamics, why consider submitting to QRB Discovery?

Impact: QRB is indexed by major repositories including MEDLINE and Scopus, and has an Impact Factor of 7.81 (2014 Journal Citation Reports®, ranked 4/73 in Biophysics). Authors can track the impact of their individual articles through services such as Altmetric, Kudos and article-level usage statistics.

Prestige: The review process is overseen by a high calibre Editorial Board of researchers and academics, not professional editors. They will guide the external peer review process, and their feedback will validate and improve the final article.

Visibility: All Discovery content will be published under an Open Access model, with a choice of Creative Commons licenses available for authors. Articles will be freely accessible to anyone around the world immediately on publication, and will be promoted through email alerts and other marketing activity.

Speed: Submissions to QRB Discovery will follow an efficient peer review and production process to reduce the time between submission and publication.

Flexibility: We want authors to focus on a single important message in their manuscripts, and allow authors to include supplementary material including figures, tables, data sets and multimedia files. This means that there is room for authors to develop their case and present a rounded argument without having to cut papers down substantially.

The Editors are excited to formally introduce this new section and look forward to expanding Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics with the latest original research.