• Not Applicable

BMJ Open Respiratory Research is now entering its second year as an open access journal. Our aim when the journal was launched was to facilitate the rapid publication of high-quality research from all areas of respiratory medicine including respiratory science and critical care.1 As an open access periodical, we have the opportunity to limit publication bias by publishing studies that other journals may not favour due to a perceived lack of importance or impact. Our aspiration has been to focus on well-conducted studies that acknowledge and discuss potential limitations when they exist. Unfortunately, too many small-scale, preliminary, negative, repeat or observational studies, which could usefully contribute to the research landscape, fail to reach publication. Quality would be maintained by combining rigorous peer review with open access. We …