Breaking down barriers to global research

A new series of open access journals from Cambridge University Press will address global challenges by bringing together researchers across national and subject boundaries.

Cambridge Prisms will shape solutions to major scientific, technological and medical challenges with cutting-edge research and reviews.

That research will step out of subject silos, with the scope of each journal built around broad, subject neutral topics – Coastal Futures, Precision Medicine, Global Mental Health, Extinction, Plastics, Water – that encourage collaboration between researchers from different disciplines and make it easy for readers to find relevant content.

Some of the greatest challenges that the global mental health community faces is lack of diversity, lack of inclusion, and a lot of global mental health is carried out in low and middle income countries. But when you look at the voices of people in low- and middle-income countries, they are underrepresented - Dr Dixon Chibanda, Editor in Chief, Cambridge Prisms: Global Mental Health

Collaboration will also be fostered by the journal’s editorial boards and by the Press, which will help researchers find co-authors that complement their work and bring new perspectives. 

Jess Jones, the Publisher and Senior Scientific Editor at the Press overseeing the series, said: “As a publisher, we often see papers submitted where we know another author’s work in peer review would have strengthened its reach and impact. We want to break down these barriers and be involved in accelerating the formation of new research networks.

“That means working with our editorial boards to help authors build those networks and find co-authors that bring greater global representation and viewpoints.

“Ultimately, the aim is to unite researchers who are addressing real world challenges and so accelerate discovery.”

The Cambridge Prisms series will also aim for maximum transparency, with editors tracking and openly summarising the diversity and representation of every manuscript. Peer review of manuscripts will also be open. 

The Press has recruited some of the world’s leading scientists and academics to lead the journals in the role of Editor-in-Chief, all of them people who have dedicated their life’s work to addressing major real-world challenges. They include Dame Anna Dominiczak, Editor-in-Chief of Cambridge Prisms: Precision Medicine, and the first female chief scientist for health in Scotland. In an interview for our blog, she details her stellar achievements since moving from Gdansk to Glasgow 40 years ago.

Prior to launch, high-profile and rising star authors with diverse knowledge and expertise have been invited to publish reviews across each journal’s topic map and define the interdisciplinary focus for each world challenge.

Clearly, we have to engage with the climate crisis, but we have to do that in such a way that we don't just think about the physical and biological aspects of the crisis, but also the human aspects and how human beings engage with climate change - Professor Tom Spencer, Editor in Chief, Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures

Mandy Hill, Managing Director of Cambridge University Press, said: “We are launching Prisms as the need to address the world’s biggest challenges grows ever more urgent

“These challenges – climate change, pollution, mental health – are truly global, but all too often research that seeks to address them is not, either because it views those challenges through the lens of a particular discipline or because it provides limited perspectives. Prisms will unite researchers globally across different disciplines, building connections and capturing the wider conversations.”

She added: “It is also vital that research is published open access so that it can have the widest possible reach and impact, with both an authorship and a readership that is as diverse as possible.

“Open research is at the heart of our mission to benefit society through the pursuit of education, learning and research. We are committed to making the majority of our research articles open access by 2025 and the launch of Prisms is another important step in that transition.”

The full list of Prisms launching in 2023:

Coastal Futures
Editor-in-Chief, Professor Tom Spencer, University of Cambridge, UK

Precision Medicine 
Editor-in-Chief, Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak, University of Glasgow, UK

Global Mental Health (relaunching into the series)
Editors-in-Chief, Dr Judy Bass, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, USA and Dr Dixon Chibanda, London School of Hygiene, UK and Topical Medicine and the friendshipbench, Zimbabwe

Extinction 
Editors-in-Chief, Professor Barry Brook University of Tasmania, Australia and Dr John Alroy, Macquarie University, Australia

Plastics 
Editor-in-Chief, Professor Steve Fletcher, University of Portsmouth, UK

Water
Editors-in-Chief, Professor Richard Fenner, University of Cambridge, UK and Professor Dragan Savic, KWR Water Research Institute, Netherlands