PLOS announced today that after an extensive search, Dr. Joerg Heber has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of PLOS ONE. Heber will be responsible for setting the editorial course of the journal and continue its mission of improving scholarly communication. His appointment is effective November 21, 2016.
“Joerg’s deep understanding of scholarly publishing and his passion for Open Access will be tremendous assets to me and our editorial staff, and most importantly to PLOS ONE’s 6,000 Academic Editors and our authors,” said Veronique Kiermer, Executive Editor of PLOS. “PLOS ONE has been a driver of changes in scientific communication since its launch ten years ago. It is an enormous responsibility and I am entirely confident in Joerg’s ability to lead the journal through its next phase, to further develop its mission and meet the needs of the scientific community.”
“I am delighted to be joining PLOS” said Heber. “PLOS’ commitment to Open Access and to innovation has been transformative, and PLOS ONE is ideally placed to support Open Access and open science with continued advancements in scholarly communication. I’m excited to work with the PLOS ONE team to serve science as a whole.”
Prior to joining PLOS, Heber was Executive Editor of Nature Communications. In this role Heber had responsibility for the journal’s overall editorial strategy. He was instrumental in Nature Communicationstransparent peer review initiative, implementing its Data Availability Statements and contributed to the journal’s move to full Open Access publishing. Heber also worked as a Senior Editor for Nature Materials and his previous experience includes a visiting professorship at the University of Tokyo and lecturer at Philipps-University Marburg, Germany.
Heber obtained his PhD in semiconductor physics at Imperial College London, UK, and did post-doctoral work at Bell Labs, New Jersey.
