F1000 and Beihang University to launch world’s first open research publishing platform dedicated to ‘Digital Twin’ technologies

Today, Beihang University has signed a contract with F1000, Taylor & Francis Group’s open research arm, to develop the first open access publication platform that is dedicated to ‘Digital Twin’ technologies.

Digital twin refers to a complex virtual model that constitutes the exact counterpart (or twin) of a physical thing. In principle, the ‘thing’ could be instantiated as any object in the physical world such as a car, a tunnel, a bridge, or even a jet engine. Data obtained from the physical ‘thing’ by means of advanced sensors can be fed back to the virtual model. Through immersive cyber-physical integration, digital twin makes visible the crucial information about the states, behaviors, and health of the physical ‘thing’ in the real world.

Since digital twin encompasses many disciplines across STM, Beihang University is collaborating with F1000 to create a global hub to accommodate new research outputs on digital twin, which will hopefully become the go-to international publication venue for work in this field.

The platform, known as ‘Digital Twin’ will enable all research outputs to be published open access, as well as combining the benefits of pre-printing (providing rapid publication with no editorial bias) with mechanisms to assure quality and transparency (invited and open peer review, archiving and indexing).

The platform which is due to launch for submissions in July 2021, will also offer researchers an open and transparent peer review process and have a mandatory FAIR data policy to provide full and easy access to the source data underlying the results. It will cover digital twin research spanning the STM fields and in all forms, from traditional research articles to study protocols, registered reports, data notes, case studies and much more.

Fei Tao, Professor and Vice-Dean of Institute of Science and Technology at Beihang University, commented: “It is a privilege to partner with Taylor & Francis Group and F1000 to create the Digital Twin, the world’s first academic publication platform dedicated to digital twin research and applications. Since 2016, the subject matter of digital twin has been investigated by researchers and practitioners from more than 50 countries with academic publications in various fields, including smart manufacturing, aerospace, smart city, healthcare, robotics, shipbuilding, marine engineering, agriculture, energy, environment, etc. The new platform is designed to facilitate researchers and engineers to exchange ideas and share research findings, to accelerate the innovations of digital twin, and put DT in the hands of those who will reshape the future.”

Rebecca Lawrence, Managing Director, F1000 said: “We are absolutely delighted to partner with Beihang University to create the world’s first open research publishing platform dedicated to digital twin research. Digital twin technology epitomizes innovation. By opening up all aspects of the research from the article, to the data, to the peer review, this publishing platform will create the best environment for research and innovation to flourish”.

This publishing model is also used on the customized platforms that F1000 provides to major global funders such as the European Commission, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome, and many others.

View more information about the upcoming Digital Twin platform here.