New addition to Article-Level Metrics - blog posts from ResearchBlogging.org

(By Liz Allen, Thu 2009-12-17 12:19 | in syndication with PLoS Blog)

 

Throughout the course of 2009, PLoS has been adding a range of Metrics to each and every article that it has published. In addition to the many metrics already displayed (article pageviews and downloads, citations, social bookmarks, notes, comments and ratings), we are pleased to now add data relating to the blog coverage of any article, as measured by ResearchBlogging.org. You can find out more about the Article Level Metrics program here.

Every interested author and user can now see how many times an article has been downloaded (split into HTML Pageviews, PDF and XML downloads and displayed in a month-by-month format); how often an article has been cited (as measured by PubMed Central, Scopus and CrossRef); how many times it has been 'socially bookmarked' (at CiteULike and Connotea); how many times users have Commented, or left Notes, or provided Ratings; and how many blog articles have been written about it (as measured by the blog aggragators Postgenomic, Blog Lines, Nature Blogs and, from today, ResearchBlogging.org).

We've created a 2.4 minute screen shot video (with audio commentary) that you can watch to familiarize yourself with the blog aggregation functionality from ResearchBlogging.org so you can see for yourself the benefits of this part of the Article-Level Metrics program. 

On launching this new functionality, Pete Binfield, Publisher of PLoS ONE and the Community Journals said:

"We're delighted to add data from ResearchBlogging.org to the Article Level Metrics program because the blogs that they index are mainly written by practicing scientists, who are well versed at providing readable summaries of the research that we publish".

Bloggers who regularly write about scientific research are able to register with ResearchBlogging.org and (provided they qualify) they are then entitled to indicate that their blog entries refer to peer reviewed scientific research by adding an icon to their posts. As a result, the ResarchBlogging.org service represents a high quality source of highly relevant articles, typically written by practicing scientists, on the topic of peer reviewed research. Since all PLoS content is peer reviewed and free to read, PLoS articles tend to be regularly covered by their bloggers. You can find the current list of qualified ResearchBlogging.org bloggers here.

Dave Munger, the co-founder of ResearchBlogging.org, said:

"We're pleased to be working with PLoS to assess the impact of its articles. PLoS journals do a great job publishing and making research accessible to everyone, and we think coverage in thoughtful blog posts is an important component of the impact of a peer-reviewed journal article". You can read more in this blog post.

PLoS ONE and ResearchBlogging.org also collaborate on a monthly "Blog Pick of the Month" competition that we feature on everyONE, the PLoS ONE community blog. Every month, Bora Zivkovic, the Online Discussion Expert for PLoS, chooses the best blog about a PLoS ONE article that has appeared in ResearchBlogging.org and we feature it on our blog. The winning blogger and all the authors of the original PLoS ONE research article all win t-shirts. To enter, you simply need to be a ResearchBlogging.org blogger and start writing about PLoS ONE articles.

We welcome feedback and questions on any aspect of this program to alm@plos.org.

Open Access Workshop at the University of Hyderabad

One day Open Access Workshop was organized on November 18, 2009 at the University of Hyderabad at the initiative of the Indira Gandhi Memorial Library of the University. Professor Seyed E Hasnain, Vice-Chancellor, inaugurated the workshop and delivered his keynote speech. He stressed for the need to make the scientific literature open and free of cost. The university is planning to usher into green open access very soon.

Designer probiotics: the future or too much to stomach?

Although the benefits of probiotics have been postulated for more than 100 years, there has been an increasing interest in the effects of probiotics on ill health and general well being over recent years.
Studies have shown positive outcomes of probiotics in the treatment and prevention of gastrointestinal infections and disease. But are generic probiotics enough? In the review "Probiotics and gastrointestinal disease: successes, problems and future prospects" published in Gut Pathogens, Eamonn Culligan et al. review the treatment of various GI disorders with specific probiotic strains. They also discuss whether the future lies with designer probiotics, which are engineered to specifically target a particular toxin or pathogen, but raise concerns of a negative public reaction to the development of this possible course of treatment.
Will designer probiotics be the future treatment of GI disorders? Or will public resistance for genetically modified organisms hinder its progress? (Source: Biomed Central Blog)