Scientific literature
Scientific literature comprises scholarly publications
that report original empirical and theoretical work in the natural and social
sciences, and within an academic field, often abbreviated as the literature.
Academic publishing is the process of contributing the results of one's
research into the literature, which often requires a peer-review process.
Original scientific research published for the first time in scientific
journals is called the primary literature. Patents and technical reports, for
minor research results and engineering and design work (including computer
software), can also be considered primary literature. Secondary sources include
review articles (which summarize the findings of published studies to highlight
advances and new lines of research) and books (for large projects or broad arguments,
including compilations of articles). Tertiary sources might include
encyclopedias and similar works intended for broad public consumption.
Types of scientific publications
Scientific literature can include the following kinds of
publications:[1]
• scientific
articles published in scientific journals
• patents
specialized for science and technology (for example, biological patents and
chemical patents)
• books
wholly written by one or a small number of co-authors
• edited
volumes, where each chapter is the responsibility of a different author or set
of authors, while the editor is responsible for determining the scope of the
project, keeping the work on schedule, and ensuring consistency of style and
content
• presentations
at academic conferences, especially those organized by learned societies
• government
reports such as a forensic investigation conducted by a government agency such
as the NTSB
• scientific
publications on the World Wide Web
• books,
technical reports, pamphlets, and working papers issued by individual
researchers or research organizations on their own initiative; these are
sometimes organised into a series
Literature may also be published in areas considered to
be "grey", as they are published outside of traditional channels.[1]
This material is traditionally not indexed by major databases and can include
manuals, theses and dissertations, or newsletters and bulletins.[1]
The significance of different types of the scientific publications
can vary between disciplines and change over time.[citation needed] According
to James G. Speight and Russell Foote, peer-reviewed journals are the most
prominent and prestigious form of publication.[2] Generally books published by
university presses are usually considered more prestigious than those published
by commercial presses.[citation needed] The status of working papers and
conference proceedings depends on the discipline; they are typically more
important in the applied sciences. The value of publication as a preprint or
scientific report on the web has in the past been low, but in some subjects,
such as mathematics or high energy physics, it is now an accepted
alternative.[citation needed]
Scientific papers and articles
There are ten different types of scientific papers. Eight
of these carry specific objectives, while the other two can vary depending on
the style and the intended goal.[3]
Papers that carry specific objectives are:[3]
• The
original article provides new information from original research usually
supported by statistics.
• case
reports are unique events that researchers look at to gain information on what
they are researching.
• technical
notes this is a description of a technique or piece of equipment that has been
modified from an existing one to be new and more effective.
• pictorial
essay are a series of images high in quality that's goal is to teach what the
pictures are of.
• review
is a detailed analysis of recent developments on a topic.
• commentary
is a short summary of an author's personal experience.
• editorials
are short reviews or critiques of original articles.
• letters
to the editor, these are comments directed to the editor of an article to ask
questions and provide constructive criticism.
These two have varying types of scientific
classifications and can range from historical articles to speeches:[3]
• other.
Other types of papers not listed under non scientific material or any of the 8
above types of scientific publications are put into this category and vary
depending on the objective and style of the article.
• nonscientific
material. This type of material comes from the result of an article being
published. it does not advance an article scientifically but instead
contributes to its reputation as a scientific article.
Scientific article
For broader class of these articles, see Scholarly
article.
See also: Types of scientific journal articles
Preparation
The actual day-to-day records of scientific information
are kept in research notebooks or logbooks. These are usually kept indefinitely
as the basic evidence of the work, and are often kept in duplicate, signed,
notarized, and archived. The purpose is to preserve the evidence for scientific
priority, and in particular for priority for obtaining patents. They have also
been used in scientific disputes. Since the availability of computers, the
notebooks in some data-intensive fields have been kept as database records, and
appropriate software is commercially available.[4]
The work on a project is typically published as one or
more technical reports, or articles. In some fields both are used, with
preliminary reports, working papers, or preprints followed by a formal article.
Articles are usually prepared at the end of a project, or at the end of components
of a particularly large one. In preparing such an article vigorous rules for
scientific writing have to be followed.
Language
See also: Impact factor and Copy editing
Often, career advancement depends upon publishing in
high-impact journals, which, especially in hard and applied sciences, are
usually published in English.[5] Consequently, scientists with poor English
writing skills are at a disadvantage when trying to publish in these journals,
regardless of the quality of the scientific study itself.[6] Yet many[which?]
international universities require publication in these high-impact journals by
both their students and faculty. One way that some international authors are
beginning to overcome this problem is by contracting with freelance medical copy
editors who are native speakers of English and specialize in ESL (English as a
second language) editing to polish their manuscripts' English to a level that
high-impact journals will accept.[citation needed]
Structure and style
Main article: IMRAD
A scientific article has a standardized structure, which
varies only slightly in different subjects. Although the IMRAD structure
emphasizes the organization of content and in scientific journal articles, each
section (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) has unique conventions
for scientific writing style.[7]
Ultimately, it is not the format that is important, but
what lies behind it--the content. However, several key formatting requirements
need to be met:
1. The
title attracts readers' attention and informs them about the contents of the
article.[8] Titles are distinguished into three main types: declarative titles
(state the main conclusion), descriptive titles (describe a paper's content),
and interrogative titles (challenge readers with a question that is answered in
the text).[9] Some journals indicate, in their instructions to authors, the
type (and length) of permitted titles.
2. The
names and affiliations of all authors are given. In the wake of some scientific
misconduct cases, publishers often require that all co-authors know and agree
on the content of the article.[10]
3. An
abstract summarizes the work (in a single paragraph or in several short
paragraphs) and is intended to represent the article in bibliographic databases
and to furnish subject metadata for indexing services.
4. The
context of previous scientific investigations should be presented, by citation
relevant documents in the existing literature, usually in a section called an
"Introduction".
5. Empirical
techniques, laid out in a section usually called "Materials and
Methods", should be described in such a way that a subsequent scientist,
with appropriate knowledge of and experience in the relevant field, should be
able to repeat the observations and know whether he or she has obtained the
same result. This naturally varies between subjects, and does not apply to
mathematics and related subjects.
6. Similarly,
the results of the investigation, in a section usually called
"Results", data should be presented in tabular or graphic form
(image, chart, schematic, diagram or drawing). These display elements should be
accompanied by a caption and discussed in the text of the article.
7. Interpretation
of the meaning of the results is usually addressed in a "Discussion"
or "Conclusions" section. The conclusions drawn should be based on
the new empirical results while taking established knowledge into
consideration, in such a way that any reader with knowledge of the field can
follow the argument and confirm that the conclusions are sound. That is,
acceptance of the conclusions must not depend on personal authority, rhetorical
skill, or faith.
8. Finally,
a "References" or "Literature Cited" section lists the
sources cited by the authors.
Peer review
Main article: Scholarly peer review
Though peer review and the learned journal format are not
themselves an essential part of scientific literature, they are both convenient
ways of ensuring that the above fundamental criteria are met. They are
essentially a means of quality control, a term which also encompasses other
means towards the same goal.
The "quality" being referred to here is the
scientific one, which consists of transparency and repeatability of the
research for independent verification, the validity of the conclusions and
interpretations drawn from the reported data, overall importance for advance
within a given field of knowledge, novelty, and in certain fields applicability
as well. The lack of peer review is what makes most technical reports and World
Wide Web publications unacceptable as contributions to the literature. The
relatively weak peer review often applied to books and chapters in edited books
means that their status is also second-tier, unless an author's personal
standing is so high that prior achievement and a continued stake in one's
reputation within the scientific community signals a clear expectation of
quality.
The emergence of institutional digital repositories where
scholars can post their work as it is submitted to a print-based journal has
taken formal peer review into a state of flux. Though publicizing a preprint
online does not prevent it from being peer reviewed, it does allow an
unreviewed copy to be widely circulated. On the positive side this change has
led to faster dissemination of novel work within the scientific community; on
the negative it has made it more difficult to discern a valid scientific
contribution from the unmeritorious.
Increasing reliance on abstracting services, especially
on those available electronically, means that the effective criterion for
whether a publication format forms part of the established, trusted literature
is whether it is covered by these services; in particular, by the specialised
service for the discipline concerned such as Chemical Abstracts Service, and by
the major interdisciplinary services such as those marketed by the Institute
for Scientific Information.
Ethics
The transfer of copyright from author to publisher, used
by some journals, can be controversial because many authors want to propagate
their ideas more widely and re-use their material elsewhere without the need
for permission. Usually an author or authors circumvent that problem by
rewriting an article and using other pictures. Some publishers may also want
publicity for their journal so will approve facsimile reproduction
unconditionally; other publishers are more resistant.[citation needed]
In terms of research publications, a number of key issues
include and are not restricted to:[11]
• Honesty.
Honesty and integrity is a duty of each author and person, expert-reviewer and
member of journal editorial boards.
• Review
process. The peer-review process contributes to the quality control and it is
an essential step to ascertain the standing and originality of the
research.[12]
o Redundant
Publications. Publications that contain copyrighted and new unpublished
material. [13]
o Data
Fabrications. Is the process of purposefully changing data to make the
information more in the favor of the author.[13]
• Ethical
standards. Recent journal editorials presented some experience of unscrupulous
activities.[14][15]
o Human
Welfare Concerns. The guidelines for human experimentation started during WWII
with the Nuremberg Code. It has evolved into three main principles from The
Belmont Report. The subject must be able to make their own choices to protect
themselves, benefits must outweigh the risks, and subjects must be evaluated
for their selection and benefits must go to all of society.[13]
o Animal
Welfare Concerns. Is the ethical care of animals in scientific experiments. The
APS has set strict guidelines and regulations to stop animals from being
unnecessarily harmed in experiments. These are being updated regularly by the
APS and is a federal law in the United States enforced by DHHS.[13]
• Authorship.
Who may claim a right to authorship?[11] In which order should the authors be
listed?
o Conflicts
of Interests. This is referring to the biased assumption due to private
interest. It can be done knowingly or not. This is unethical because it makes
data inaccurate.[13]
o Authors
Disputes. The authorship of an article is simply the author of the article. The
ethical issue with this is when there are two people that believe to be the
author, but there is only one true author. There are guidelines to help pick
which get authorship of the writing. The one that does not get authorship is
put in the acknowledgments. The guidelines come from NIH and The Council of
Science Editors.
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