Research Blogging

Probably the only blogs portal which makes sense for Scientists, mainly because it promotes combination of blogs and peer-reviewed journals

http://researchblogging.org

A new search engine for retrieving biomedical images

Despite a very limited content, the concept of this engine is really promising:

http://krauthammerlab.med.yale.edu/imagefinder/Home.html
 

Further info on the Yale project:

http://bioinformatics.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/24/17/1968

100 world’s (mostly american indeed) top blogs on Health and Medicine

Among this list, I would recommend:

- In the pipeline

- ScienceRol

http://www.edrugsearch.com/edsblog/healthcare100/

The Information “explosion”

“Scientists now read 25 per cent more articles from almost twice as many journals than they did six years ago“…

It is an ongoing challenge for them to keep up-to-date on research developments in their field, and identify relevant research to support their own studies without spending too much time gathering irrelevant information.  One solution to this is a combination of accurate information sourcing and sharing, resulting in ‘collective intelligence’..

 The full-article, mentioning the social bookmarking service 2collab, from Elsevier:

http://www.researchinformation.info/features/feature.php?feature_id=179

 

3 Social bookmarking solutions for research Collaboration compared

A social bookmarking fan compared recently 3 of the great free tools: Zotero, Connotea (Nature) and 2Collab (Elsevier). 

2Collab ”is in many ways the best of the three“.
“The emphasis on collaboration makes 2collab more than just a place to store, categorize and manage your scholarly bookmarks. It is also easy to discover new research material, share and identify quality information and mine the collective wisdom of experts. You can also form discussions in private groups or openly with the wider scientific community.
You can add references easily by using a bookmarklet in your browser or importing them from your browser, another social bookmarking or bibliographical site (Scopus).
You can export references in different format. In addition, your library can be shared online with groups of colleagues.

http://www.pandia.com/sew/967-social-bookmarking-for-research-collaboration.html

SI: a definition

Althought scientific computing oriented, this article gave a good definition of what the concept of SI could be: “let’s coin a new phrase – science intelligence (SI). SI is close to a mirror image of business intelligence (BI). (…)The objective of SI is to conduct “smart” science that efficiently uses information resources to understand specific science domains and progress toward useful applications based on that understanding.”

Richard Hackathorn.  Science Intelligence. Can a Business Intelligence Approach Enable “Smart” Science?. Information Management Magazine, August 1, 2005. Online:

http://www.information-management.com/issues/20050801/1032139-1.html

Scopus: a smart choice

Scopus is rated SMART CHOICE by Information World Review NetUser:

USABILITY: 4/5

SITE DESIGN: 4/5

INFORMATON DEPTH: 5/5

Scopus is an immensely useful resource that draws on a vast range of publications. Its search functionality is, for the main part, easy to use and requires no prior knowledge on the part of the user. While the Advanced Search option is a little trickier, it doesn’t take long to get used to, and the level of refinement it offers is worth making the effort. The ability to save searches and to receive updates are excellent time-saving features. All in all, Scopus is an invaluable tool for the serious researcher.

http://www.iwr.co.uk/pronetuser/scientific/scopus-refines-scientific-searching

2 RSS feeds aggregators for Science

FeedNavigator is a free swedish service.

 It downloads medical feeds published by web sites and aggregates their content into a single feed, latest news first. You can customize this feed by selecting your favorite medical publications and search keywords.4076 medical sources are updated continuously.

http://www.terkko.helsinki.fi/feednavigator/

 

SciFeeds delivers to you the most recent life science literature as it is published direct from RSS feeds. Articles appear here 4-5 days before they appear in Medline.

 Possibility to display latest articles by subject area (Drug discovery, Biotechnology, Clinical medicine, etc.)

 
http://www.scifeeds.com/

Scientific Blogs and Trust

Because “it is true that few quality-control or vetting mechanisms exist to help readers evaluate a blog“, This article “propose a roadmap for turning blogs into institutional educational tools and present examples of successful collaborations that can serve as a model for such efforts. (Authors) offer suggestions for improving upon the traditionally used blog platform to make it more palatable to institutional hosts and more trustworthy to readers“

 

Batts SA, Anthis NJ, Smith TC (2008) Advancing Science through Conversations: Bridging the Gap between Blogs and the Academy. PLoS Biol 6(9): e240 doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060240

Impact of Librarians on R&D Process

AMONG RESEARCHERS WHO WORK WITH LIBRARIANS: 90% BELIEVE LIBRARIANS MAKE SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS TO THEIR R&D EFFORTS

 

Engineers and Scientists indicated that Librarians affect the R&D process in a variety of meaningful ways:

• Locate specialized information researchers have difficulty finding (59%)
• Organize a firm’s internal documents for use by researchers (53%)
• Connect researchers with the correct/most applicable resources (45%)
• Suggest print resources not available electronically (42%)
• Save significant search time for researchers, making them more productive (42%)
• Are knowledge managers, helping researchers take advantage of resources (40%)
• Save time & aid in research, contributing to cost savings & revenue( 38%)
• Determine authoritativeness/relevancy of resources (38%)
• Help researchers work faster, accelerating the research process (37%)
• Direct researchers beyond the obvious resources (36%)           

   Akel, Martin & Associates. FREE Web search Vs. PAID search tools: a comparison of productivity in the Research Process, 2007. White paper. Online: www.elsevierforindustry.com

  Survey details: among 30,000 U.S. researchers in the corporate (industrial) market, from all types of corporate markets, including process manufacturing, discrete manufacturing, and private research firms, including Abbott, Merck, BMS, BASF, Pfizer, etc. Population: Research/laboratory management and staff researchers (scientists, chemists, engineers, etc.). 613 usable returns.

   

  MY OPINION: Several Independent (but sponsored by Elsevier) research studies tend to demonstrate that information tools and InfoPros presence drive successful research efforts and help companies stay competitive. Globally, Librarians image is excellent: they are considered as Key-actors in the successful Research workflow.  Sourcing (locate and arrange access) of relevant info sources appears as the first task assigned to Librarians. Cost-effectiveness (save time of researchers, ROI, cost savings), the second.