Comments on: More info on Blogging Peer-reviewed Research Reporting

By: Mr. Gunn

Mr. Gunn — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 22:27:53 +0000

I'm interested in all this because I'm a scientist who both blogs and publishes in peer-reviewed journals. Clearly, we need a good way to reference peer-reviewed research within a post and we need a good way to reference posts within peer-reviewed research. More than that, though, we need the people who have the experience, good ideas, technical know-how, and the ear of eager users to get together and make something that will not only be widely used, but work well too. Alf and colleagues have worked on this for some years now, so it's not surprising that they've reacted somewhat negatively, but since they're willing to work with you and they've apparently got the metadata discovery issue worked out, why not join forces?

By: Zachary Tong

Zachary Tong — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 20:17:35 +0000

Mr. Gunn,

First, thanks for the critical evaluation. We are striving to stay a community-based project and critical comments like yours and others helps keep the project moving in the right direction.

I just wanted to say one little thing about DOIs. We are currently in the process of getting CrossRef access to DOI metadata. Unfortunately, because we aren’t a library organization, we fall under “Affiliates” and are subject to fees and whatnot. We are currently negotiating with them about this, but as with all things involving corporations, it is going to take a while.

We agree that PMID/DOI references are the way to make this system both powerful and easy to use. Until we can get the license though we are a bit hamstrung. Which is why we rolled out the manual citation generator for now, to keep momentum in the project.

By: Mr. Gunn

Mr. Gunn — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:06:53 +0000

That’s OK, Chris. It’s actually Juan Carlos that I was addressing my comment to. I find it hard to believe that he would suggest that academic dishonesty is extremely widespread, hint that he has data to back that view up, and then not expect someone to ask him to show that data.

I don’t disagree at all with your contention that some PIs would rather believe that their students messed up than accept that it might be their theory that’s wrong. I do disagree that it’s an extremely common occurrence, and I think in his post he was maybe a little guilty of what he’s accusing people of.

By: Chris Muller

Chris Muller — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 09:45:40 +0000

I have been traveling, hence the delayed response to your comment on “Your Cheatin’ Heart” at http://blogs.nature.com/nm/spoonful/2007/09/your_cheatin_heart.html.

Chris Muller