At the Seven Stones blog (http://tinyurl.com/5apjbw), Thomas Lemberger, an editor on Molecular Systems Biology, discusses work by James Evans of the University of Chicago in Illinois (Science 321, 395–399; 2008) that shows how electronic publication has shifted citation patterns. Scientists now cite fewer papers overall, and tend to largely limit their citations to recently published work. This concentration on a smaller number of articles is hastening scientific consensus, with the implication that, as Evans writes, “Findings and ideas that do not become consensus quickly will be forgotten quickly.”
Lemberger notes that Evans's study highlights two complementary strategies in information retrieval: finding relevant papers by targeted Internet searches versus staying informed on a broad range of topics by systematic browsing. He asks whether scientists are overlooking the importance of “good, old-fashioned table-of-content-skimming to stimulate cross-disciplinary thinking”. The increasing efficiency of search engines, RSS feeds and aggregators is useful, but so is continuous exposure to diversity.
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From the blogosphere. Nature 454, x (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/7206xc
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/7206xc