A generic approach to the electronic access of scientific journals: The decomate project

The DECOMATE project (DElivery of COpyright MATerial to End users) is a joint project of three European partners (Tilburg University, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, and the London School of Economics). The main objectives are (1) to develop a generic system that offers end users a new electronic service in the field of document delivery of scientific journals, (2) to find publishers who can provide the copyrighted material in electronic form, and (3) to start a study to examine the user's behavior related to the new service. This paper will provide an introduction to the project and a glimpse, at an abstract level, of the systems' environment and architecture, including the hardware and software that is used. This article addresses mainly the generic character of DECOMATE and the strengths and weaknesses of this type of system. It ends with an overview of general problems in this field that have yet to be solved.     

生物医学期刊中常见的P值使用错误

在生物医学期刊的编辑工作中,时常可以发现稿件中P值的误用。文章分析稿件中P值的意义、报告、描述和解释的误用情况及其对文章科学性的影响,提出相应的解决方法,并指出置信区间对P值局限性的补充作用。认为生物医学期刊编辑应当增强统计学观念,在处理稿件时严把统计学质量关,以达到提高期刊学术质量的目的。     

电子期刊简介

章论述了电子期刊的含义、类型、特点及如何在因特网上获取电子期刊信息．并介绍国内外电子期刊的发展状况。     

Retraction policies of high-impact biomedical journals

Purpose: The purpose is to review the issue of retraction in the scientific literature and to examine the policies on retraction of major biomedical journals.Method: The historical background of this issue was investigated through a literature search. The Instructions to Authors of 122 major biomedical journals were reviewed for evidence of a policy on the retraction of articles. Editors of those journals with no mention of retraction in their Instructions to Authors were contacted by email and/or postal mail.Results: Sixty-two percent of the journals investigated did not post or report having a policy on issuing retractions. Only twenty-one (18%) did. The remainder did not post any policy and did not respond to inquiries.Discussion: Including policies in Instructions to Authors relating to the principled conduct of research and publication will improve the ethical environment in which the scientific community works.     

准确把握学术期刊的价值目标与价值标尺——"核心期刊效应"引发的思考

"核心期刊效应"所产生的负面影响主要是学术评价标准的单一化与绝对化倾向,其所导致的一个不容忽视的问题是价值目标的偏离.学术期刊编辑群体要从价值理性上牢牢把握学术期刊的价值目标,最大限度地消减种种负面效应,从实践操作的层面上牢牢把握学术性、科学性、创新性这个价值标尺,以保证学术期刊按照既定的价值目标健康发展.     

进化中的网络学术期刊

概述关于网络学术期刊的历来认识并阐述其概念和定义,分析我国学术期刊目前的网络化途径;对比以往对不同系统例如中国科协系统的期刊建立网站的调查资料,给出了笔者课题组最近对全国学术期刊总体的网站建设情况抽样调查结果;分析现有自主性网站的8项功能,给出了网站对于期刊的传播效率和影响力提高有明显促进作用的调查数据。在此基础上,认为网络学术期刊是进化的必然,期刊网站是进化的必由之路,纸质期刊应该尽快创办自己的网络期刊,才能赢得未来。     

Shortcomings of peer review in biomedical journals

Peer review is well established across most academic disciplines, and publishers, editors, and researchers devote considerable resources to it. This paper uses examples from biomedical journals to examine its shortcomings. Although mainly anecdotal, the evidence suggests that peer review is sometimes ineffective at identifying important research and even less effective at detecting fraud. Most reviewers identify only the minority of a paper's defects and they may be biased. Peer review plus other editorial processes are associated with improvements in papers between submission and publication, but published papers remain hard to read and a significant proportion contain errors or omissions. While it is hard to quantify the costs, peer review does not seem an efficient use of resources. Research into the outcomes of peer review, the establishment of sound methods for measuring the quality of the process and its outcomes, and comparisons with alternative methods are needed.     

中文医学期刊应重视英文摘要的撰写

为了使中文生物医学期刊更好地实现国际学术交流,在列举医学期刊英文摘要审读中发现的7类典型问题的基础上,提出了保证英文摘要高质量的4条建议：提高编辑对英文摘要的重视程度,提高编辑的专业英文水平,加强对作者的指导,重视英文摘要的审校。     

Studying E-Journal User Behavior Using Log Files: The Experience of SuperJournal

Understanding user behavior with electronic services is now a major concern of journal publishers, librarians, and others. Various electronic journal log files are offering researchers and practitioners a rich data resource for user studies. This article reports the experience of using the log file data to understand user behavior in the SuperJournal project, addressing methodological and analytical issues that may have wider relevance. The purpose of this article is to provide guidance for log file processing and analysis focusing on users, and to begin the process of standardizing analysis procedures to facilitate the comparison of user behavior observed in different projects.     

The impact of electronic access to government information: what users and documents specialists think

This article discusses the results of a survey designed to assess the current state of electronic access to government information from both the specialist and the user viewpoint. The first survey, designed to determine the government documents staffs' level of commitment to and opinions of electronic access to government information, was distributed in electronic format to subscribers of GOVDOC-L, a listserv for specialists dealing with government documents. The second survey, designed to provide insight into the user's point of view, was conducted at the University of Illinois Documents Library. This article synthesizes earlier studies and articles on the topic to show that while the consensus is that electronic access represents a positive, beneficial move toward providing access to government information to a wider audience, there is also an acknowledgment that there are many inherent problems that have not been addressed adequately.     

Preserving perpetual access to electronic journals: A Korean consortial approach

This study describes the key findings of the Korean Electronic Site License Initiative (KESLI), established by the National Digital Science Library to develop a digital archive of electronic journals in Korea. Research and relevant activities included developing a system architecture, suggesting journal selection criteria and publisher selection criteria, choosing a set of metadata elements, and addressing stakeholders' concerns. Recommendations for further tasks have been made in order to have the system fully operating by December 2007.     

试论网络型电子期刊

文章对我国网络型电子期刊的概况作了简要介绍，分析了我国目前网络型电子期刊的现状，提出了一种新的网络型电子期刊的分类方法，让人们对网络模型期刊有一个比较直观的了解，并对期刊上网到网络版期刊的特点进行了讨论。     

Preference for electronic format of scientific journals—A case study of the Science Library users at the Hebrew University

The article reports the results of a survey on the use of printed and electronic journals in a science library. In May 2003, when the survey was conducted, users had already been exposed to electronic journals for a number of years, most of the scientific journals were accessible in electronic format while the print format was still available. The major findings are that more than 80% of the respondents frequently use and prefer an electronic format, irrespective of their rank or age. Most previous studies found an inverse relationship between e-journal usage and age, but these results indicate that by now users of all ages switched to the electronic format not only in terms of usage but of preference as well.     

The ethical issues in instructions for authors of Chinese biomedical journals

229 Chinese‐language biomedical journals from A Guide to The Core Journals of China were investigated for their guidance on 14 ethical issues. The issues of authorship, duplicate submission, privacy and confidentiality, and integrity of the data were mentioned in more than 50% of the journals. Except for the issues of authorship and protection of animals in research, significant differences were found between Chinese Medical Association Publishing House (CMAPH) journals (n = 67) and non‐CMAPH journals (n = 162) (P < 0.05). 66 of the 229 journals did not update their instructions for authors regularly. 196 journal instructions listed authorship criteria, while the other 33 did not. Clinical trial registration policy was required by 26 (11.3%) journals, among which the CONSORT statement for randomized trials was required by 23, and only one journal guided the authors to work in line with the EQUATOR Network. The study concludes that the situation of publishing ethics in the instructions for authors of Chinese biomedical journals is not favorable, and that Chinese biomedical editors should learn more about publishing ethics in order to reduce opportunities for publication problems.     

国外生物医学期刊:审稿人选择的研究及启示

学术论文的发表极其依赖于高质量的同行评议,尽管同行评议不尽善尽美,但能帮助作者提高论文的写作水平以及编辑人员的编辑水平。研究发现,对审稿质量做出最佳贡献的预测因素包括是否为大学附属医院工作的审稿人或研究生毕业10年内的年轻人。目前进一步改善审稿方法的效果很有限,因此有专家建议对审稿人进行正规培训。期刊及其编辑在选择审稿人时,要考虑他们具备何种知识和技能,是否有丰富的审稿经验。这有助于期刊编辑出版单位选择到合适的审稿人,并提高审稿质量。     

论网上免费电子期刊的获取

论文探讨了网上免费电子期刊的获取方式。