A scientist's job is to obtain knowledge about the natural world. Sharing that
knowledge is critical for scientific progress, as new information produced by
one scientist can be used by others to make new discoveries and further benefit society.
In 1665 the Royal Society of London created the first scientific
journal called Philosophical Transactions to facilitate the
transmission of new scientific findings. This publishing model is established the
concept of peer review to ensure scientific quality and the defined date
of publication to establish priority of discovery. These principles have laid the
foundation for the nearly 30,000 scientific journals that exists today.
Let's see how the process works.
First, scientists write a manuscript and send it to a journal for consideration.
If the editors are interested in is sent out to a group of anonymous scientists
for their opinion of the quality of the work. The journal receives commentaries
from the reviewers and decides whether to accept or reject the manuscript,
or commonly requests revision they require more experiments, resubmission and
re-review before the journal makes a final decision. This process works but it takes time.
It's not uncommon for study is to be published one year after initial submission.
In addition, excellent work can be rejected on the basis of its
perceived importance. Are there better ways biologists can share information?
Biology may learn a thing or two from the physicists. In 1991 Paul Ginsparg
revolutionized communication among physicists by producing a preprint
server called arXiv that allows for rapid communication among scientists.
arXiv now posts more than 100,000 papers each year. Preprint servers in the
life sciences exist, but they're not yet widely use. A preprint server as simple.
A scientist uploads a manuscript to a server. The papers screened to ensure its
scientific nature. Within a few days the manuscript is posted online and becomes
visible to the entire scientific community before peer review.
Subsequently the manuscript is usually submitted to a traditional journal for
peer review and publication. Most but not all journals will accept work previously
posted on a preprint server. The immediate access of the preprint has
many advantages.
Preprint servers give the authors feedback from a larger group of people
than the anonymous reviewers. Preprints can be an announcement of a discovery,
which helps scientists establish priority of their work. With preprints,
authors can share work in progress or recent accomplishments with funding
agencies, promotion committees, or future employers. Preprints are open access;
anyone in the world with an internet connection can view the manuscript for free.
Preprints accelerate scientific progress by speeding up access to new findings.
The Internet is continuing to redefine how people access information and create
social networks. Using the internet physicist Paul Ginsparg tried the
first truly new experiments in scientific communication since the
creation of the Philosophical Transactions three hundred and fifty
years ago. As our lives go digital, many new ideas and experiments in
scientific communication will facilitate access to data, changing how scientific
work is evaluated and discussed, and pushing scientific innovation at an ever
accelerating rate. Let's see what the next 10 years will bring!
This video was produced by Eureka signs and is brought to you by ASAPbio