Scientific impact
Deeper Impact
07/09/12 13:15 Filed in: GenomeWeb Daily Scan
Victor Henning and William Gunn in the Guardian's Higher Education Network blog questioned the usefulness of the impact factor as a measure of an academic publication's influence. They suggest newer tools for calculating the value of a publication including the "Total-Impact" aggregator, as well as Henning and Gunn's own company, Mendeley, which rely on growing openness and "interoperability" in scientific and academic publishing that reviews papers on rigour and technical merit, rather than perceived significance. S. Pelech points out that while the impact factor of a journal might reflect some general measure of quality and significance, this is does not necessarily equally apply to the degree of rigour of performance, peer-review and importance of individual scientific reports within the same journal. He proposes that the best indication of the impact of a scientific manuscript is how highly it becomes cited by others over time, and foresees an increase in self-publication of scientific work. Read More...
Quantification Quandary
02/12/10 16:04 Filed in: GenomeWeb Daily Scan
Blogger Michael Nielsen noted that it is "very, very difficult for even the best scientists to accurately assess the value of scientific discoveries," but as a practical matter we are forced to make such evaluations in hiring scientists and judging grant applications on committees. S. Pelech points out several of the difficulties associated with measurement of scientific impact, and argues that it is time to overhaul the grant funding system to support a larger percentage of the biomedical researchers with, if need be, small grants. Read More...
Has Anyone Seen the Superglue?
12/09/11 16:39 Filed in: GenomeWeb Daily Scan
Blogger Morgan Giddings at the Naturally Selected blog is concerned that with the emphasis at many universities these days on fast "translation," it seems that the whole endeavor has lost sight of the fact that all innovation and science takes time. She noted that there are several problems that make universities poorly equipped to reach the goal of fast translation — problems like bureaucracy, science by committee, and the "mixed mission" of a university that requires it to play a large array of roles. S. Pelech acknowledges that government organizations and the general public expect academic university-based researchers to improve the translation of their research into economically useful outcomes, but the current grant-funding system does not really facilitate innovative research, and government laboratories and universities often actively discourage their faculty from starting or working with commercial enterprises. Read More...