Scienceblogs.com

Scienceblogs.com is a weblog from Seed magazine. It's the intersection of a number of popular science weblogs and a good place to start if you're interested in blogs and newsfeeds.

Institute of Mathematical Statistics journals online

News from our e-journals librarian:

We now have access to current issues of the following IMS titles via the e-journal A-Z pages:

Annals of Applied Probability from vol.6(1) 1996
(also available on JSTOR from 1991-2001)

Annals of Probability from vol.24(1) 1996
(also available on JSTOR from 1973-2001)

Annals of Statistics from vol.23(6) 1995
(also available on JSTOR from 1973-2001)

Statistical Science from vol.11(1) 1996
(also available on JSTOR from 1986-2001)

TheScientificWorldJournal

Yes, apparently it is all one word.. We have a trial of TheScientificWorldJournal until the end of March 2006. It's available under 'T' in the A-Z list of Electronic journals on the library website.

TheScientificWorldJournal is an open-access journal. Blurb from the website says: "At the heart of TheScientificWorld's publishing program is TSWJ, a forum for publication of peer-reviewed, original research articles and reviews. A 'Journal of many Journals', TSWJ is organized as a matrix of overlapping sections or Domains, enhancing navigation to papers within the biomedical, life and environmental sciences."

Please let me know if you think the library should establish a subscription to TSWJ, or any other feedback.

New this week in the Library

New this week in the Library:

Designing Interfaces. Tidwell, J. 518.82 TID
Object-orientated software construction. Meyer, B. 518.5 MEY
Physical chemistry for the life sciences. Atkins, P.W. 541:574 ATK
Live cell imaging. Goldman, R. & Spector, D. 576.3 GOL
Using antibodies – a laboratory manual. Harlow, E. & Lane, D. 612.017.4 HAR
Reviews of Physiology, Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Vol. 55. Amara, S. G. PER 59
Advances in Insect Physiology. Vol. 32, 2005. Simpson, S. PER 59
Introduction to probability and statistics for engineers and scientists. Ross, S.M. 512.760.5 ROS
New constructions in cellular automata. Griffeath, D. 530.1 GRI

Methods in enzymology.
New series volumes, shelved at PER 57:
Vol. 405, Mass spectrometry : modified proteins and glycoconjugates. Burlingame, A. L.
Vol. 404, GTPases regulating membrane dynamics. Balch, William E.
Vol. 403, GTPases regulating membrane targeting and fusion. Balch, William E.
Vol. 402, Biological mass spectrometry. Burlingame, A. L.
Vol. 401, Gluthione transferases and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidases. Sies, Helmut.
Vol. 400, Phase II conjugation enzymes and transport systems. Sies, Helmut.

Blackwell Publishing releases first online open articles

Open access has hit the big time. Blackwells have announced their online open service whereby authors can pay for their journal articles to be freely available to readers.
These aren't obscure backyard journals either, these are 79 well-received Blackwells journals, many of which the library takes in print and online like Cellular Microbiology, Journal of Applied Microbiology, Journal of Evolutionary Biology and more (full list on the press release).
While the paradigm of authors paying to publish is a significant change, Blackwells claim that in fields such as genetics, open access "not only provides rapid communication of scientific data, but also allows scientists throughout the world, particularly researchers with more limited libraries, to participate on the cutting edge of their field.” This is a Wellcome Trust approved system, and as such authors are eligible to receive funding from the Trust.

http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/press/pressitem.asp?ref=589&site=1

Online Open is on trial as an author-pays service through to the end of 2006. During the trial period, the Online Open fee is fixed at US$2500, €1850 or £1250 (plus VAT where applicable).

"All Online Open articles are treated in the same way as any other article. They go through the journal’s standard peer-review process and will be accepted or rejected based on their own merit. The accepted articles are prepared for publication in the usual manner and are posted online on Blackwell Synergy with the full range of features associated with that journal. The articles are archived for perpetuity and are registered at relevant Abstracting and Indexing Services and at CrossRef. Blackwell Publishing will also deposit the final text of the article on publication with PubMed Central (PMC) on behalf of the author."

Mass Spectrometry Blog

An excellent weblog for those interested in weighty issues..
Mass Spectrometry Blog :: A Web Log of Mass Spectromery Web Sites and Other Links and Items of Interest
http://msblog.kermitmurray.com/

Promotion of new library resources

I know there's never the perfect time to catch everyone to promote new resources, so I've chosen revision week in the hope that it's a better time than most. I will be in 'a seminar room near you!' next week demonstrating the new databases we have access to - details below:

Biology & Biochemistry

Next week I will be in the seminar room in 4South 0.78 on Tuesday 10th January at 1.15 demonstrating and discussing new resources like SCOPUS and JSTOR for staff, postgrads and interested students. Please feel free to bring your lunch and ask questions about these new resources. I'm particularly interested in feedback from B&B on SCOPUS, which is in direct competition to Web of Science. We have SCOPUS free on trial until 2008, after which there may be some serious decision-making based on the relative merits of these two databases.

Mathematics and Computing

Also next week I will be in the seminar room in 1West demonstrating new resources like SCOPUS and JSTOR for staff, postgrads and interested students. Please feel free to drop in, bring your lunch and ask questions about these new resources.
Wednesday 11 January 2006, 12.15 - 1.15, 1W 3.24
Friday 13 January 2006, 12.15 - 1.15, 1W 3.24

Nature article on Scientists and blogging

Nature news has an article on why scientists do or don't blog:
http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/438548a

Web of Science v. Scopus v. Google Scholar

I attended a seminar last November presented by the JIBS user group entitled 'The Battle of the Giants: a comparison of Web of Knowledge, Scopus and Google Scholar'. It was exceptionally interesting and I thought I'd add the link to the powerpoint demonstrations here and in the links section over to the right.

The really important issue here is the comparison between Thomson Scientific's 'Web of Knowledge' and Elsevier's new product 'Scopus'. Those of you interested in Google Scholar as a competitor to either of these products should go straight to the powerpoint by Roger Mills and Louise Clarke of Oxford University as they sum up the pros and cons of Scholar very objectively and succinctly.

Whilst most researchers in the sciences will be familiar with Web of Knowledge and more specifically the Web of Science database, Scopus is a new entry in the field from Elsevier, one of the biggest publishers of scientific material. Linda Humphreys, Science Faculty Librarian here at the University of Bath conducted an excellent comparison between these two databases based on their content, currency, and author, title and citation searching capacities. Why go to all the trouble to compare the two? Because it looks as though Scopus is a worthwhile product, and after 2008 when Scopus finishes it's free trial, there will be some serious budget implications in terms of which product best suits the needs of our University. Analysing which database has the least gaps in coverage, returns the most accurate results on an author seach because there has been consistant indexing of author names, and so on will help inform that decision when the time comes.

Apart from comparing the two, it's interesting to see the directions both databases are heading in. Both Web of Science and Scopus are moving towards including material from open access sources and institutional repositories, and from selected sources on the open web.

The link given above to the powerpoint presentations includes demonstrations from Thomson Scientific and Elsevier. It will be interesting to see how these giants evolve. As usual, if there are any questions or comments, please let me know.

Science magazine online

Some brilliant news to start off the new year - we now have access to the full text of Science magazine online. This gives you access to the most current issue on the Science website, and all the way back to 1880 via JSTOR. In fact, you can even access pre-prints of articles are available electronically in advance of print on the Science site.

To access Science, do the following:
On campus: from the library website, click on Electronic Journals, then 'S', and scroll to find Science. Click either the Highwire press access for 1996 to the current issue, or JSTOR for volumes between 1880 and 1999.
Off campus: follow the instructions as above, but you will be asked to enter your BUCS username and password as authentication.

Please let me know if you have any comments or difficulties accessing Science online.