Fascinating Life Sciences

1 Scientific Scholarly Communication: Moving Forward Through Open Discussion1.1 Introduction1.2 Open and Unrestricted Access to Scientific Information 1.2.1 Concerns with Openly Sharing Sensitive Scientific Information 1.3 Sharing Scientific Data1.3.1 Privacy and Genetic Data Sharing1.4 Intellectual Property Rights and Scientific Scholarly Communication1.4.1 Impact of IPR on Sharing Data1.5 Measuring the Impact of Scientific Research1.6 Concluding Remarks1.7 References 2 Access to Scientific Knowledge: A Historical Perspective2.1 Introduction2.2 Scientific Scholarly Information Sharing: 1600 -19002.3 Scholarly Communication Developments in the 20th and the 21st Centuries2.4 Journal Subscription Debates2.5 Concluding Remarks2.6 References 3 On the Road to Unrestricted Access to Scientific Information: The Open Access Movement3.1 Introduction3.2 Open Access to Scholarly Publications: Legislative and Other Supporting Initiatives3.3 Initiatives by Scholars, Research Funders, and Other 'Movers'3.4 Measuring the Impact of OA Journals3.5 OA Influence in the Developing World3.6 OA Publishing Models 3.6.1 Green OA Model3.6.2 Gold OA Model3.6.3 Other OA Models3.7 Maintaining the Quality and Integrity of OA Journals3.8 Concluding Remarks3.9 References 4 Sharing Scientific Data: Moving Towards "Open Data?"4.1 Introduction4.2 Policy Initiatives Supporting Data Sharing4.3 Involvement of Funding Organizations and Journal Publishers4.4 Data Sharing Habits of Scientists4.5 Data Sharing in Different Scientific Disciplines4.5.1 Sharing Ecological Data4.5.2 Sharing Genomic Data4.6 Data Publication and Data Citation4.7 Moving Towards "Open Data"4.8 Concluding Remarks4.9 References 5 Free Flow of Scientific Information vs. Intellectual Property Rights5.1 Introduction5.2 University-Industry Collaborations or Commercialization of Academic Research?5.2.1 Patenting and Licensing Academic Scientific Discoveries - Government Legislations5.2.2 IPR and Academic Research - The Debate5.2.3 Negative Effects of Patenting Scientific Research5.2.4 Patent Documents as Source of Scientific Information5.2.5 Delay in Disclosure of Research Findings5.3 IPR in Life Sciences5.3.1 IPR and Biomedical Research5.3.2 IPR and Biotechnological Advances in Agriculture5.4 Concluding Remarks5.5 References 6 Preserving the Quality of Scientific Research: Peer Review of Research Articles6.1 Introduction6.2 History of Peer Review6.3 Criticism of the Peer Review6.4 Bias in Peer Review6.4.1 Prestige or Association Bias6.4.2 Gender Bias6.4.3 Confirmation Bias6.4.4 Conservatism6.4.5 Bias against Interdisciplinary Research6.4.6 Publication Bias6.5 Peer Review and Conflict of Interest6.6 Different Models of Peer Review6.6.1 Closed Peer Review: Single- vs. Double-Blind6.6.2 Open Peer Review6.6.3 "Non-Selective" Review6.6.4 Immediate Publication With No Formal Review6.7 Manipulation of the Peer Review Process6.8 Should the Current System of Peer Review Be Continued?6.9 The Peer Review System is Under Stress6.10 Burden on Peer Reviewers6.11 Ways to Improve the Peer Review System6.11.1 Training Peer Reviewers6.11.2 Ethical Standards for Authors, Reviewers and Editors6.12 Concluding Remarks6.13 References 7 Measuring the Impact of Scientific Research7.1 Introduction7.2 Citation Data as a Tool to Measure the Impact of Scientific Scholarly Articles7.3 Impact Factor to Measure Quality of Journals7.3.1 Strengths of Impact Factor in Measuring Journal Quality7.3.2 Limitations of Impact Factor in Measuring Journal Quality7.3.3 Ability to Manipulate Journal Impact Factor7.3.4 Issues with Discipline-Specific Journal Impact Factor Variations7.4 Need for Other Indicators to Measure the Journal Quality7.4.1 Eigenfactor Score7.4.2 SCImago Journal Rank7.4.3 Comparison of Eigenfactor Score, SCImago Journal Rank, and Journal Impact Factor7.5 Measuring the Impact of Individual Scientists or Groups of Scientists7.5.1 Hirsch Index (h-Index) and its Variants7.6 Concluding Remarks7.7 Reference 8 Assessing the Societal Impact of Scientific Research 8.1 Introduction8.2 Challenges in Defining Societal Benefits8.3 Research Assessment Strategies of Government Agencies in Different Countries 8.4 Societal Impact Assessment Indicators8.4.1 Alternative Metrics to Measure Societal Impact8.4.2 Strengths and Limitations of Altmetrics as Scientific Research Assessment Tools8.4.3 Altmetrics as Discovery Tools8.4.4 Improving Standards and Credibility of Altmetrics8.4.5 Association between Altmetrics and Traditional Citation Metrics8.4.7 Science Blogging, Microblogging, and Citation Counts8.5 Conclusion Remarks8.6 References 9 Final Thoughts: Scientific Scholarly Communication - The March Forward