Web 2.0 and Semantic Web: The Impact on Scientific Publishing

There is a definition of web2.0 and the semantic web as it is relevant to each industry. To the scientific and academic fields, it means open access to content, a collaborative web and the perpetual beta. As notions of the semantic web mature, it means that readers of content are not only humans but computers as well. This means that information has to be as meaningful as possible including defining standard ways to express information. This is particularly relevant to scientific publishing.

Open access is a very important factor to the development of the semantic web as it applies to scientific information. In particular, this means that information will be available by institution and subject matter via standard channels.

New methods and trends such as user-generated content, tagging, linking/citing help classify and qualify information. Time has shown that a perfectly created ontology will not get us too far and is virtually impossible – tagging can make systems more useful. Following that, the system learns from user generated content and user classification and this sytem further defines a context for the information. On top of this, giving access and overlaying data provides further acces to interoperability and repurposing the content.

For publishing, this means new business models but for research funders, it means maximizing dissemenation of information. In fact, many research funders now mandate submission to an open access repository. Some of the new business models include an article submission fee covered by the research funding. Sponsorship will also be an important revenue source.

For performance, metrics, impact is also changing form the traditional method of tracking citations through central sources. Whats more is that impact now has to incorporate user generated content and links on the internet. For example, Google will factor in citations in determining the page rank or importance of an article cited. Other new factors include social bookmarking, blogs, blog comments, and social forums. Despite a reluctance of the more traditional governing bodies to recognize these alternative publishing channels, there is a trend to acceptance.

Showcase:

• Conotea tag cloud (delicious style reference management for science community)
• sciencecommons.org

Speakers:

• Moderator: John Wilbanks Exec Dir of Science Commons, Creative Commons
• John Wilbanks Exec Dir of Science Commons, Creative Commons
• Matthew Cockerill Publisher, BioMed Central Ltd
• Melissa Hagemann Program Mgr, Open Society Institute
• Timo Hannay Dir of Web Pub, Nature Publishing Group
• Amit Kapoor Managing Dir, Topaz