Title: Science Communication

Title: Science Communication

ISO Abbreviated Title: Sci. Commun.

JCR Abbreviated Title: Sci Commun

ISSN: 1075-5470

Issues/Year: 4

Journal Country United States

Language: English

Publisher: Sage Publications Inc

Publisher Address: 2455 Teller Rd, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320

Subject Categories:

Communication: Impact Factor 0.476, / (2002) SSCI

? Evans, W. (2001), Mapping mainstream and fringe medicine on the Internet. Science Communication, 22 (3), 292-299.

Full Text: 2001\Sci Com22, 292.pdf

Abstract: This report describes a system that monitors Internet discussion groups and Web sires for evidence that public interest bt herbal remedies is outpacing the available scientific evidence regarding herbal remedies. Using content analysis and bibliometric techniques, this system can identify emerging unorthodox practices and beliefs related to health and medicine. In addition. this System can map the diffusion of health-related claims across Internet communities.

Keywords: Information

Title: Science and Engineering Ethics

ISO Abbrev. Title: Sci. Eng. Ethics

JCR Abbrev. Title: Sci Eng Ethics

ISSN: 1353-3452

Issues/Year: 4

Language: English

Journal Country/Territory: Netherlands

Publisher: Springer

Publisher Address: Van Godewijckstraat 30, 3311 GZ Dordrecht, Netherlands

Subject Categories:

Engineering, Multidisciplinary: Impact Factor 0.563, 41/68 (2008), Impact Factor 0.913, 35/79 (2009)

History & Philosophy of Science: Impact Factor 0.563, 14/41 (2008), Impact Factor 0.913, 8/45 (2009)

Multidisciplinary Sciences: Impact Factor 0.563, 25/42 (2008), Impact Factor 0.913, 20/50 (2009)

? Thomsen, M. and Resnik, D. (1995), The effectiveness of the erratum in avoiding error propagation in physics. Science and Engineering Ethics, 1 (3), 231-240.

Full Text: 1995\Sci Eng Eth1, 231.pdf

Abstract: The propagation of errors in physics research is studied, with particular attention being paid to the effectiveness of the erratum in avoiding error propagation. We study the citation history of 17 physics papers which have significant errata associated with them. It would appear that the existence of an erratum does not significantly decrease the frequency with which a paper is cited and in most cases the erratum is not cited along with the original paper. The authors comment on implications for the responsibilities of authors.

Krimsky, S. and Rothenberg, L.S. (2001), Conflict of interest policies in science and medical journals: Editorial practices and author disclosures. Science and Engineering Ethics, 7 (2), 205-218.

Full Text: 2001\Sci Eng Eth7, 205.pdf

Abstract: This study examines the extent to which scientific and biomedical journals have adopted conflict of interest (COI) policies for authors, and whether the adoption and content of such policies leads to the publishing of authors’ financial interest disclosure statements by such journals. In particular, it reports the results of a survey of journal editors about their practices regarding COI disclosures. About 16 percent of 1396 highly ranked scientific and biomedical journals had COI policies in effect during 1997. Less than 1 percent of the articles published during that year in the journals with COI policies contained any disclosures of author personal financial interests while nearly 66 percent of the journals had zero disclosures of author personal financial interests. Nearly three fourths of journal editors surveyed usually publish author disclosure statements suggesting that low rates of personal financial disclosures are either a result of low rates of author financial interest in the subject matter of their publications or poor compliance by authors to the journals’ COI policies.

Keywords: Conflict of Interests, Financial Disclosure, Scientists, Scientific Literature, Editors

? Bird, S.J. (2002), Self-plagiarism and dual and redundant publications: What is the problem? Commentary on ‘seven ways to plagiarize: Handling real allegations of research misconduct’. Science and Engineering Ethics, 8 (4), 543-544.

Full Text: 2002\Sci Eng Eth8, 543.pdf

Keywords: Dual Publication, Publications, Research, Self-Plagiarism

? Marušić, M., Božikov, J., Katavić, V., Hren, D., Kljaković-Gašpić, M. and Marušić, A. (2004), Authorship in a small medical journal: A study of contributorship statements by corresponding authors. Science and Engineering Ethics, 10 (3), 493-502.

Full Text: 2004\Sci Eng Eth10, 493.pdf

Abstract: The authorship criteria of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) are widely accepted in biomedical journals, but many studies in large and prestigious journals show that a considerable proportion of authors do not fulfill these criteria. We investigated authorship. contributions in a small medical journal outside the scientific mainstream, to see if poor adherence to authorship criteria is common in biomedical journals. We analyzed statements on research contribution, as checked by the corresponding author, for individual authors of 114 research articles, representing 475 authors, submitted to the Croatian Medical Journal (CMJ) from 1999 to 2000. Only 40% of authors fulfilled the ICMJE authorship criteria. The authors listed first on the by-line were more likely to fulfill the authorship criteria than all other authors on the by-line. The percentage of authors fulfilling the ICMJE criteria of authorship decreased with the increase in the number of authors listed on the by-line. These results indicate that poor adherence to ICMJE authorship criteria is poor across biomedical journals, regardless of the size of the scientific community. Authorship and contributorship in biomedical journals, as well as editorial ethical responsibilities towards authorship criteria need critical redefinition and education of both editors and authors.

Keywords: Author, Authorship, Contribution, Credit, Criteria, Ethics, Journals, Order, Publications, Research, Research Articles, Researcher Contributions, Science

? Sheskin, T.J. (2006), An analytic hierarchy process model to apportion co-author responsibility. Science and Engineering Ethics, 12 (3), 555-565.

Full Text: 2006\Sci Eng Eth12, 555.pdf

Abstract: The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) can be used to determine coauthor responsibility for a scientific paper describing collaborative research. The objective is to deter scientific fraud by holding co-authors accountable for their individual contributions. A hiearchical model of the research presented in a paper can be created by dividing it into primary and secondary elements. The co-authors then determine the contributions of the primary and secondary elements to the work as a whole as well as their own individual contributions. They can use the results to determine authorship order.

Keywords: Analytic, Authorship, Co-Author, Fraud, Hierarchy, Model, Primary, Process, Research, Responsibility

? Neale, A.V., Northrup, J., Dailey, R., Marks, E. and Abrams, J. (2007), Correction and use of biomedical literature affected by scientific misconduct. Science and Engineering Ethics, 13 (1), 5-24.

Full Text: 2007\Sci Eng Eth13, 5.pdf

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to identify and describe published research articles that were named in official findings of scientific misconduct and to investigate compliance with the administrative actions contained in these reports for corrections and retractions, as represented in PubMed. Between 1993 and 2001, 102 articles were named in either the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts (“Findings of Scientific Misconduct”) or the U. S. Office of Research Integrity annual reports as needing retraction or correction. In 2002, 98 of the 102 articles were indexed in PubMed. Eighty-five of these 98 articles had indexed corrections: 47 were retracted, 26 had an erratum, 12 had a correction described in the “comment” field. Thirteen had no correction, but 10 were linked to the NIH Guide “Findings of Scientific Misconduct”, leaving only 3 articles with no indication of any sort of problem. As of May 2005, there were 5,393 citations to the 102 articles, with a median of 26 citations per article (range 0-592). Researchers should be alert to “Comments” linked to the NIHGuide as these are open access, and the “Findings of Scientific Misconduct” reports are often more informative than the statements about the retraction or correction found in the journals.

Keywords: Access, Acute Myeloid-Leukemia, Bibliometric Analysis, Biomedical, Biomedical Publishing, Citations, Field, Hamster Gustatory Cortex, Indication, Journals, Literature, Migration-Inhibitory Factor, Myosin Heavy-Chain, Open Access, Protein Kinase-C, Publication Ethics, Pubmed, Rat Optic-Nerve, Research, Retracted Article. See, Retraction of Publication, Scientific Misconduct, Sodium-Channels, Status Group Members, Suppressor T-Cells

? Golubic, R., Rudes, M., Kovacic, N., Marusic, M. and Marusic, A. (2008), Calculating impact factor: How bibliographical classification of journal items affects the impact factor of large and small journals. Science and Engineering Ethics, 14 (1), 41-49.

Full Text: 2008\Sci Eng Eth14, 41.pdf

Abstract: As bibliographical classification of published journal items affects the denominator in this equation, we investigated how the numerator and denominator of the impact factor (IF) equation were generated for representative journals in two categories of the Journal Citation Reports (JCR). We performed a full text search of the 1st-ranked journal in 2004 JCR category “Medicine, General and Internal” (New England Journal of Medicine, NEJM, IF = 38.570) and 61st-ranked journal (Croatian Medical Journal, CMJ, IF = 0.690), 1st-ranked journal in category “Multidisciplinary Sciences” (Nature, IF = 32.182) and journal with a relative rank of CMJ (Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciencias, AABC, IF = 0.435). Large journals published more items categorized by Web of Science (WoS) as non-research items (editorial material, letters, news, book reviews, bibliographical items, or corrections): 63% out of total 5,193 items in Nature and 81% out of 3,540 items in NEJM, compared with 31% out of 283 items in CMJ and only 2 (2%) out of 126 items in AABC. Some items classified by WoS as non-original contained original research data (9.5% in Nature, 7.2% in NEJM, 13.7% in CMJ and none in AABC). These items received a significant number of citations: 6.9% of total citations in Nature, 14.7% in NEJM and 18.5% in CMJ. IF decreased for all journals when only items presenting original research and citations to them were used for IF calculation. Regardless of the journal’s size or discipline, publication of non-original research and its classification by the bibliographical database have an effect on both numerator and denominator of the IF equation.

Keywords: Journal, Impact Factor, Bibliographical Database, Indexing, Science, Quality

? Foo, J.Y.A. (2009), A study on journal self-citations and intra-citing within the subject category of multidisciplinary sciences. Science and Engineering Ethics, 15 (4), 491-501.

Full Text: 2009\Sci Eng Eth15, 491.pdf

Abstract: For academic research outcomes, there is an increasing emphasis on the bibliometric scorings like the journal impact factor and citations when the assessment of the scientific merits of research or researchers is required. Currently, no known study has been conducted to explore the bibliographical trends of the subject category of multidisciplinary sciences as indexed by the annual Journal Citation Reports of the Thomson Scientific. The effect of journal self-citations and intra-citing within a discipline to the bibliometric data computation can be confounding. In this study, six journals were selected from the multidisciplinary sciences subject category where the trend of self-citations and intra-citing were analysed. These journals were chosen as they published more than 450 citable articles in the year 2007 and had available bibliometric data for a 10-year period. The results showed that self-citations rose as much as +23.98% while intra-citing declined up to -5.80% over the observed period. The retrospective impacts and influences of these observations were also discussed in this study.

Keywords: Assessment, Bibliographical Database, Bibliometric Data, Citations, Classification, Impact, Impact-Factor, Indexing, Journal Impact Factor, Multidisciplinary, Publication, Research, Science Metrics, Self-Citations, Thomson Scientific

? Neale, A.V., Dailey, R.K. and Abrams, J. (2009), Analysis of citations to biomedical articles affected by scientific misconduct. Science and Engineering Ethics, 16 (2), 251-261.

Full Text: 2010\Sci Eng Eth16, 251.pdf

Abstract: We describe the ongoing citations to biomedical articles affected by scientific misconduct, and characterize the papers that cite these affected articles. The citations to 102 articles named in official findings of scientific misconduct during the period of 1993 and 2001 were identified through the Institute for Scientific Information Web of Science database. Using a stratified random sampling strategy, we performed a content analysis of 603 of the 5,393 citing papers to identify indications of awareness that the cited articles affected by scientific misconduct had validity issues, and to examine how the citing papers referred to the affected articles. Fewer than 5% of citing papers indicated any awareness that the cited article was retracted or named in a finding of misconduct. We also tested the hypothesis that affected articles would have fewer citations than a comparison sample, this was not supported. Most articles affected by misconduct were published in basic science journals, and we found little cause for concern that such articles may have affected clinical equipoise or clinical care.

Keywords: Bibliometric Analysis, Journalology, Journal Citations, Quantitative Content Analysis, Retraction, Scientific Misconduct, Retraction, Mistakes, Medicine, Impact

? Foo, J.Y.A. (2011), Impact of excessive journal self-citations: A case study on the Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica journal. Science and Engineering Ethics, 17 (1), 65-73.

Full Text: 2011\Sci Eng Eth17, 65.pdf

Abstract: There is an increasing trend towards assessing the scientific performance of researchers and institutions of higher learning in the form of journal publications and the associated citations. Currently, the journal impact factor (JIF) value is the most widely used measure for any academic contents. However, there are growing concerns for the unethical practices adopted by journal editors to manipulate the JIF computations. Recently, a Swiss journal, Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica which has a JIF value of 0.655 in the year 2006 registers a remarkable JIF increment (of 119%) to 1.439 in the year 2007. It is believed that the journal can achieve such a prominent JIF improvement by publishing a single editorial article that self-cited 66 of its own articles published either in the year 2005 or 2006. The journal has been revoked of any JIF value in the following year of 2008. Thus, it is interesting to review the possible alternative bibliographical trend for the journal should the self-cite event has been avoided, the circumstances leading to the decision by the editor to publish such an article and the possible ethical implications or lessons that can be derived from this incident.

Keywords: Alternative, Assessing, Association, Authors, Bias, Bibliographical Database, Bibliometric Data, Citations, Decision, Editors, Ethical, Impact, Impact Factor, Improvement, Indexing, Institutions, Journal, Journal Editors, Journal Impact, Journal Impact Factor, Learning, Mar, Measure, Peer-Reviewed Journals, Performance, Practices, Publication, Publications, Publishing, Quality, Retrospective Analysis, Review, Science, Scientific Performance, Trend, Trends, Value