Abstract: With an exponentially growing number of articles being published every year, scientists can use some help in determining which journal is most appropriate for publishing their results, and which other scientists can be called upon to review their work.
Jane (Journal/Author Name Estimator) is a freely available web-based application that, on the basis of a sample text (e.g., the title and abstract of a manuscript), can suggest journals and experts who have published similar articles.
Comment. This is a nifty tool with far-reaching potential. It will help readers find new literature on a given topic, help authors find appropriate journals for new work, and help editors find referees for new submissions. The last function should reduce the cost of facilitating peer review, by at least a little, and thereby reduce the costs of journal publishing. That will help both OA and TA journals. But since, on average, OA journals operate on tighter budgets than TA journals, it will give OA journals a relatively larger bump in viability. Currently, the Jane author/title index is limited to Medline, and therefore to biomedicine. But over time the concept could be extended to cover all disciplines.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 1/30/2008 09:48:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
