In March 2017, Frontiers will grant its first annual Spotlight Award to the editors of an exceptional Frontiers Research Topic from 2016. The Award, a US$ 100,000 grant, will go towards organizing a conference based on the winning Topic. We are pleased to announce that over 400 cutting-edge open-access Research Topics, completed in 2016, are now officially in competition for the Award. These topics cover the full range of Frontiers’ editorial program, across science, health, engineering, humanities, and social sciences.

The Frontiers Spotlight Award will bring an international community together in Lausanne, Switzerland for a meeting on the theme of the successful Research Topic. The enthusiasm for the Award has been outstanding, and we are proud to announce the continuation of the Program for another year. The second annual Frontiers Spotlight Award, whose winner will be announced in March 2018, is now officially open. All Frontiers Research Topics completed in 2017 will be considered to enter the competition.

“At Frontiers, we support our research communities in many ways – by providing tools via our state-of-the-art publishing platform and returning financial support through waivers, honoraria, and awards.  We are proud of the Frontiers Spotlight Award, which will allow us to collaborate closely with a team of Topic Editors on the organization of a conference based on an exceptional Research Topic. We are also excited to continue with a second round of competition in 2017,” says Fred Fenter, Frontiers’ Executive Editor.

Based on Frontiers’ advanced article-level and author-level impact metrics, and taking into account Altmetric scores, a list of ten exceptional Research Topics from 2017 will be shortlisted. A jury drawn from Frontiers’ Editorial Boards will proceed to choose an exceptional Research Topic from the shortlist, judging on international reach, subject novelty and coverage, interdisciplinary character, and academic excellence. The winning Research Topic will be announced in March 2018.

About the Frontiers Spotlight Award

The Award of US$ 100,000 will allow the winning team of Topic Editors to organize an international scientific conference around their Research Topic in early 2019. The conference aims to provide a forum that will foster collaboration, inspire the community and highlight emerging research in their field. It will be held at a premier location: the SwissTech Convention Center on the campus of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland.

The Award will cover organization of the conference, including costs of the venue; registration, travel, lodging of the Topic Editors and the conference speakers they choose to invite; conference fees for all authors contributing to the Research Topic; and promotion of the conference via the launch of a conference website and through traditional and social media. The conference will be open for registration to all interested researchers. Frontiers’ editorial staff will fully support the winning Topic Editors with the Spotlight Conference organization.

About Frontiers Research Topics

A Frontiers Research Topic empowers leading researchers to manage the publication of a collection of peer-reviewed articles around their own area of research. More than 3,400 Research Topics have been launched since 2009, resulting in 27,700 articles which have received over 165 million article views and 42 million downloads collectively.

Very much like a “mini journal,” the Research Topic provides even the most specialized areas of the academic community with a publishing environment suited to its needs. Operated though the Frontiers’ award-winning platform, each Research Topic becomes a forum that highlights the editorial team and creates a dynamic similar to that of a workshop. The Research Topic showcases your research area, stimulates discussion, catalyzes collaboration and maximizes the impact of the articles published in your topic.

Interested?

Read more about organizing a Research Topic here. And if your Topic is completed in 2017, it will participate in the competition for the second annual Frontiers Spotlight Award.

If you have questions on the Spotlight Award or Research Topics, please contact spotlightaward@frontiersin.org — we will be happy to assist you.