The Nature Podcast has successfully completed its pilot phase with a record number of downloads and a sponsorship agreement with Bio-Rad Laboratories, reports Nature Publishing
This signals its graduation from an innovative experiment to a fully-fledged service for the scientific community.
The Nature Podcast was launched in October 2005, making it one of the first scientific podcasts to be released by a journal.
It quickly climbed into the iTunes Top 50 in the USA, the UK and other countries, and since then has continued to enjoy rapid week-on-week increases in popularity.
The number of weekly downloads is now well over 30,000 and continues to grow.
This marks the end of the pilot phase for the Nature Podcast, which NPG now intends to provide as a regular service, while continuing to evolve the content and format in response to audience feedback.
A listener survey is currently underway.
This week's show also marks the beginning of sponsorship by Bio-Rad Laboratories.
Timo Hannay, NPG's director of web publishing, said: "We are delighted that Bio-Rad shares our vision for this exciting new medium.
"We have already received a hugely positive response from listeners.
"Bio-Rad's support will allow us to continue making the show even better".
Bio-Rad Laboratories is a multinational manufacturer and distributor of life science research products and clinical diagnostics.
It is based in Hercules, California, and serves more than 70,000 research and industry customers worldwide through a network of more than 30 wholly owned subsidiary offices.
Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a division of Macmillan Publishers , dedicated to serving the academic, professional scientific and medical communities.
NPG's flagship title, Nature, is the world's most highly-cited weekly multidisciplinary journal and was first published in 1869.
Other publications and services include Nature research journals, Nature Reviews, Nature Clinical Practice, a range of prestigious academic journals, including society-owned publications, news content, and scientific career information from Naturejobs.
