Strategic Reading, Ontologies, and the Future of Scientific Publishing

How scientists use new forms of the “literature” and how the ascendance of novel computing technologies will combine to revolutionize the way scientific data is accessed, synthesized, and turned to practical use are reviewed.

Abstract

Strategic Reading Scanning the scientific literature these days is more akin to flicking through TV channels and trying to watch everything at once. Often the outcome of the scan will not have located any specific paper and it is unlikely to have involved any in-depth reading, but it achieves an undefined “assimilation” of knowledge from a melange of titles and abstracts, tables, indexes, databases, and figures. Renear and Palmer (p. 828 ) review how scientists use new forms of the “literature” and how the ascendance of novel computing technologies will combine to revolutionize the way scientific data is accessed, synthesized, and turned to practical use.