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The internationalization of academic production has changed the publishing culture in all corners of the world with increasing participation of scholars from semi-peripheral countries in international journals (Belcher, 2007). While there has been growing interest in how multilingual scholars see this internationalization process, little is known about Brazil. To address this gap, a survey was distributed to scholars (N = 290) from different research fields in this country. The analysis of the data revealed important disciplinary differences, suggesting the existence of a peripheral group of scholars inside this semi-peripheral country. The scholars from the exact and biological sciences reported that they publish in English much more frequently than Portuguese, and few reported language-related issues. They contested the existence of a nativeness bias, although some perceived prejudice against Latin-American research. Scholars from the humanities and the social sciences publish substantially less in international journals, reporting challenges particularly with language. Overall, the data suggest that international publication has become part of the disciplinary culture in Brazil in the hard sciences while the humanities and the social sciences seem to remain in a peripheral position. This appears to be particularly true for disciplines such as education and language and literature. • The publishing culture of Brazil, a semi-peripheral country, is investigated. • Humanities and social sciences can be seen as a periphery within the semi-periphery. • Hard sciences publish more in English than in Portuguese. • The Brazilian academy has yet to bridge linguistic and economic gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine how the premature death of eminent life scientists alters the vitality of their fields. While the flow of articles by collaborators into affected fields decreases after the death of a star scientist, the flow of articles by non- collaborators increases markedly. This surge in contributions from outsiders draws upon a different scientific corpus and is disproportionately likely to be highly cited. While outsiders appear reluctant to challenge leadership within a field when the star is alive, the loss of a luminary provides an opportunity for fields to evolve in new directions that advance the frontier of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Two-dimensional illustration is used extensively to study and disseminate the results of structural molecular biology. Molecular graphics methods have been and continue to be developed to address the growing needs of the structural biology community, and there are currently many effective, turn-key methods for displaying and exploring molecular structure. Building on decades of experience in design, best-practice resources are available to guide creation of illustrations that are effective for research and education communities. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • Molecular illustration is widely used for dissemination of structural results. • Best practices for molecular illustration build on decades of prior work. • Illustrations show lasting effectiveness in life science education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantitative analysis of the scientific literature is important for evaluating the evolution and state of science. To study how the density of biological literature has changed over the past two decades we visually inspected 1464 research articles related only to the biological sciences from ten scholarly journals (with average Impact Factors, IF, ranging from 3.8 to 32.1). By scoring the number of data items (tables and figures), density of composite figures (labeled panels per figure or PPF), as well as the number of authors, pages and references per research publication we calculated an Average Publishable Unit or APU for 1993, 2003, and 2013. The data show an overall increase in the average ± SD number of data items from 1993 to 2013 of approximately 7±3 to 14±11 and PPF ratio of 2±1 to 4±2 per article, suggesting that the APU has doubled in size over the past two decades. As expected, the increase in data items per article is mainly in the form of supplemental material, constituting 0 to 80% of the data items per publication in 2013, depending on the journal. The changes in the average number of pages (approx. 8±3 to 10±3), references (approx. 44±18 to 56±24) and authors (approx. 5±3 to 8±9) per article are also presented and discussed. The average number of data items, figure density and authors per publication are correlated with the journal’s average IF. The increasing APU size over time is important when considering the value of research articles for life scientists and publishers, as well as, the implications of these increasing trends in the mechanisms and economics of scientific communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the scientific publishing contributions of North America to the Nature Index database in 2014. Topics cited include the region's article and weight fractional count, the pattern of top five institutions' relative subject area distribution and collaborativeness and top three country collaborations, the initiative of the Canadian government to launch the Canadian High Arctic Research Station, and percentage of life science research in the U.S.

A table is presented showing China's Nature Index of leading institutions for scientific research articles ranked according to weighted fractional count (WFC) for 2013, including their WFC rankings in the fields of life sciences, chemistry, physical sciences, and earth and environmental sciences.

Current scientific capacities in Austral and Neotropical America (ANA) for plant conservation genetics (PGC) were assessed. Publications (1980–2010) were analyzed, considering the taxa and geographical origin of samples, geographical origin of the institutional affiliation of the authors (first, corresponding and co-authors), the threat category of the taxa studied, focus of the genetic analysis (phylogeny, phylogeography, populations and/or individuals), and focus of the conservation actions. Of the 656 publications in conservation genetics, 46 % were about plants, of which 83 % studied Magnoliophyta. Fourty two percent of publications concerned five plant families. Twenty seven percent of taxa are threatened and 15 % are included in the CITES Appendices. Sixty three percent of the publications were focused on population genetics and 32.6 % on diagnosing threats to the gene pool. The samples analyzed mainly originated from Brazil and Mexico. Publications are primarily led by researchers from institutions based in ANA. Over time, PGC scientific production and proportion of authors from ANA increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent increases in capabilities for gathering, storing, accessing, and sharing data are creating corresponding opportunities for scientists to use data generated by others in their own research. Although sharing data and crediting sources are among the most basic of scientific ethical principles, formal ethical guidelines for data reuse have not been articulated in the biological sciences community. This article offers a framework for developing ethical principles on data reuse, addressing issues such as citation and coauthorship, with the aim of stimulating a conversation in the science community and with the goal of having professional societies formally incorporate considerations of data reuse into their codes of ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Corpus studies suggest that verb tense is a differentiating feature between, on the one hand, text pertaining to experimental results (involving methods and results) and on the other hand, text pertaining to more abstract concepts (i.e. regarding background knowledge in a field, hypotheses, problems or claims). In this paper, we describe a user experiment that investigates whether for biological readers, this tense correlation has a psychological correlate. To study this, we defined seven distinct discourse segments types and modified them either by changing the verb tense/mood (for all segment types), negation (for Problems), or presence of an epistemic matrix clause (‘These results suggest…’) for Implications. Regardless of the original segment type, we found that for Facts, Results and Hypothesis segments, present tense yielded more Fact classifications, past tense more Result interpretations, and modal auxiliaries more Hypothesis interpretations. Methods statements were less sensitive to verb form. Problem segments required negations to be recognized, while Implications required introductory matrix clauses. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Without accurate taxonomic identification, research carried out in academic and applied branches of life sciences is effectively worthless. In the present note the role of taxonomy and taxonomists in modern science is highlighted with the help of suitable examples. Yet, taxonomy is generally neglected or avoided due to the mistaken belief that it is a disused branch of life sciences. On the contrary, taxonomy needs to be encouraged and taxonomic research and knowledge require to be more thoroughly applied for the correct identification of biological material as used in both academic and applied research for the welfare of society and humankind. Certain policies and factors responsible for the gradual decline in quality of Indian taxonomic research, and pushing taxonomy and taxonomic expertise towards extinction are identified. Some suggestions for the furthering of taxonomy in Indian universities and institutions are also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Xth SCAR International Biology Symposium was held under the theme of “Antarctic Biology in the 21st Century—Advances in and beyond IPY—“ at the Conference Hall, Hokkaido University, between July 26 and 31, 2009. A total of 113 oral presentations and 122 poster presentations were given under six sub-themes. This special issue was edited by six guest editors under the Editor-in-Chief of “Polar Science”, in accordance with the editorial system of “Polar Science” and contains one overview paper and five review papers and 18 research papers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

I propose we abandon the unit concept of “the evolutionary synthesis”. There was much more to evolutionary studies in the 1920s and 1930s than is suggested in our commonplace narratives of this object in history. Instead, four organising threads capture much of evolutionary studies at this time. First, the nature of species and the process of speciation were dominating, unifying subjects. Second, research into these subjects developed along four main lines, or problem complexes: variation, divergence, isolation, and selection. Some calls for ‹synthesis’ focused on these problem complexes (sometimes on one of these; other times, all). In these calls, comprehensive and pluralist compendia of plausibly relevant elements were preferred over reaching consensus about the value of particular formulae. Third, increasing confidence in the study of common problems coincided with methodological and epistemic changes associated with experimental taxonomy. Finally, the surge of interest in species problems and speciation in the 1930s is intimately tied to larger trends, especially a shifting balance in the life sciences towards process-based biologies and away from object-based naturalist disciplines. Advocates of synthesis in evolution supported, and were adapting to, these larger trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Editorial Board of the South African Journal of Botany pays tribute to Prof. Johannes van Staden, the current Editor-in-Chief of the Journal, on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Prof. van Staden has been at the helm of the South African Journal of Botany since 2000, and his vision to raise the standard of the journal and to extend its readership has led to some exciting changes to the journal in recent years. It required serious enthusiasm and effort on his part, and has paved the way forward to position the botanical sciences in South Africa in the international arena. Considering the enormous botanical wealth that South Africa possesses, it is certainly of great benefit to South African botanists and scientists in related disciplines to have this platform on which to showcase the research in the plant sciences in southern Africa. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract  The authorship of Platycephalus japonicus and Platycephalus crocodilus is researched. Although many authors have considered that the authorship of these flatheads can be attributed to Tilesius (1812), we consider that Cuvier in Cuvier and Valenciennes [ex Tilesius] (1829) has valid authorship of them. Platycephalus isacanthus, Platycephalus borboniensis and Platycephalus guttatus were also established by Cuvier in the same publication. The conspecificity of these three species and the precedence of P. japonicus are reconfirmed in this study. Although many authors have recognized the validity of P. guttatus, its holotype is identical to P. crocodilus. We also establish the precedence of P. crocodilus over P. guttatus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Journals devoted exclusively to brief communications or letters papers are common outlets for scientific authors, and many such serials have become famous in their fields. However, a pattern of making these “least publishable units” one's favorite form of publication is often regarded as an attempt to inflate artificially one's CV, by critics who consider longer, comprehensive published studies a more appropriate genre for serious science. Letters papers in letters journals have nonetheless historically been defended on grounds that they appear far more quickly in print after acceptance than do regular full-length articles, giving them a greater chance to be noticed and cited by the scientific community sooner. This article demonstrates that with the advent of e-publishing upon manuscript acceptance and ahead of print, the lag time between the appearance of a letters paper and a corresponding full-length article is diminishing to a matter of days, and arguments for or against letters papers and letters journals must be made on other grounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The UniProt knowledgebase, UniProtKB, is the main product of the UniProt consortium. It consists of two sections, UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot, the manually curated section, and UniProtKB/TrEMBL, the computer translation of the EMBL/GenBank/DDBJ nucleotide sequence database. Taken together, these two sections cover all the proteins characterized or inferred from all publicly available nucleotide sequences. The Plant Proteome Annotation Program (PPAP) of UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot focuses on the manual annotation of plant-specific proteins and protein families. Our major effort is currently directed towards the two model plants Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa. In UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot, redundancy is minimized by merging all data from different sources in a single entry. The proposed protein sequence is frequently modified after comparison with ESTs, full length transcripts or homologous proteins from other species. The information present in manually curated entries allows the reconstruction of all described isoforms. The annotation also includes proteomics data such as PTM and protein identification MS experimental results. UniProtKB and the other products of the UniProt consortium are accessible online at www.uniprot.org. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

One of the classic studies in animal behaviour is that by Niko Tinbergen on the stimuli that elicit begging behaviour in young herring gull, Larus argentatus, chicks. Tinbergen examined which features of the beak induced chicks to peck by using various cardboard models of herring gull heads in different shapes and colours. Leiden University, home university to Tinbergen at the time, still has a summarizing overview of the data of the initial experiment of the study. In that experiment, models with a yellow beak with patches in various colours and different positions were presented to young chicks. In this essay, I relate those earliest data to the various publications in which Tinbergen discussed them over the years. Subsequent publications became more and more detached from the original data, resulting in sizeable discrepancies between the original study and later descriptions of when and how the experiment was done and its outcome. I first sketch the scientific context of the herring gull study. Next I present the original data and document the subsequent changes. I discuss what might have led Tinbergen to modify his account of the study over the years, relating it both to its historical context and to the issue of ‘expectancy biases’. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Dendrochronologia, a short review over the first years of its existence is given and an outlook into the near future is done; both perspectives are subjectively biased. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of Estudos de Sociologia is the property of Universidade Estadual Paulista and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Books, articles, government documents, and other written accounts of tropical biology and conservation reach a tiny fraction of their potential audience. Some texts are inaccessible because of the language in which they are written. Others are only available to subscribers of developed-world journals, or distributed narrowly within tropical countries. To examine this dysfunction in the tropical literature—and what it means for conservation—we tried to compile everything ever written on the biology and conservation of the department of Madre de Dios, Peru, in southwestern Amazonia. Our search of libraries, databases, and existing bibliographies uncovered 2,202 texts totaling roughly 80,000 pages. Texts date from 1553 to 2004, but 93% were written after 1970. Since that year the publication rate has increased steadily from fewer than 10 texts/year to nearly 3 texts/week in 2004. Roughly half of the Madre de Dios bibliography is in Spanish-language texts written by Peruvian authors and mostly inaccessible outside Peru. Most of the remaining material is English-language texts written by foreign authors and largely inaccessible in Peru. Foreign authors tended to write about ecological studies with limited relevance to on-the-ground conservation challenges, whereas Peruvian authors were more likely to make specific management recommendations. The establishment of a Web-based digital library for Neotropical nature would help make the tropical literature a more efficient resource for science and conservation. Additional recommendations include investing in syntheses, translations, popular summaries, and peer-reviewed journals in tropical countries, providing incentives for management-relevant research in tropical protected areas, and reinforcing training of scientific reading and writing in tropical universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measuring the growth of fields and subfields has been carried out using publication output in different fields. However, not all published literature contribute to the growth of a discipline and thus the publications with impact alone are being used in many recent studies. In measuring subfield growth, general impact is not considered as a suitable parameter. Scientometricians have resorted for subfield impact to study the subfields for observing growth, impact etc. In this study, both general impact of journals in a field (impact factor) and subfield impact (subfield corrected impact factor) are used to measure the growth, size and impact of subfields in life sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author focuses on different ecological aspects of origin and existence of life by reviewing the book "Scissors and Silks, Flowers and Trees, and Geraniums Ruined by the War: Virginia Woolf's Ecological Critique of Science in Mrs. Dalloway." It is suggested that to study life, we must consider three things, which are, the orderly sequence of external nature, the living organism and changes which take place in it, and the continuous adjustment between the two sets of phenomena which constitutes life. According to some researchers' point of view, knowing the power and the effect of fire, water, air, stars, the heaven and all other bodies that surround us as distinctly, we might put them in the same way to all the uses for which they are appropriate and therefore make ourselves masters and possessors of nature. Both the religious and the medical establishment aim to control the individual freedoms with their dictates on how to live and how both nature and organism should interact with each other so that a balance of life can be maintained.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the quality of the published literature on the treatment of pityriasis versicolor and to compare this evaluation with the number of times the work has been cited. METHODS: A search was performed using MEDLINE (1966-2002) to find publications evaluating the treatment of pityriasis versicolor. Two reviewers evaluated each clinical trial according to a list of pre-determined criteria including randomization and blinding, prior sample size calculation, treatment regimen clearly explained, and well-defined efficacy parameters. A maximum score of 20 could be attained by each publication. A citation count was performed using the ISI Web of Science Database (http://www.isinet.com/isi/products/citation/wos/). RESULTS: A total of 94 studies were included in this analysis of quality. Studies with a score of 8 or more were considered to be high quality, and 61 studies were rated as high-quality studies (65%). There was no significant correlation between paper quality and citation count. CONCLUSION: It is important for investigators and clinicians to be aware of the design of a high-quality protocol, since such high-quality studies are more likely to reflect accurate efficacy rates. Also, it is important for the information on the design and conduct of the trial to be conveyed to the reader so that a meaningful comparison between the studies can be made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NEW: Online submission and review of manuscripts is now available. Please follow the instructions for authors given below. When your manuscript has been prepared in accordance with these instructions, please access the following web site: http://britishecologicalsociety.manuscriptcentral.com/. You must select Functional Ecology when you log on to the online submission site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifies core journals in the life sciences for Ithaca, New York-based Cornell University researchers by analyzing the frequency of Cornell-authored citations in Biosi Previews between 1996 and 2001. Confirmation of Bradford's Law of Scatter or the 80/20 Rule through the distribution frequency of journals; Analysis of 240 journals by publisher type and institutional subscription price.

Presents the table of contents of volume 84 of the 1995 issue of the journal "Immunology". Serotonin regulation of T-cell subpopulations and of macrophage accessory function; Modulation of antigen processing and presentation by covalently linked complement C3b fragment; Apoptosis and Bcl-2 expression in cultured murine splenic T cells.

Presents the author index to volume 84 of the 1995 issue of the journal "Immunology". J.E. Callahan; M. Daeron; F.M. Gabert; M. Gani.

Describes biology-book publishing and some of the changes that are in its future. Trend toward producing fewer copies at higher prices; Dominance of journals; Various types of scientific books; New markets include computer programs and videotapes.

The article presents views of Mole and Ground Sloth on various aspects of life-science research. It discusses irregularities in the scientific literature do so out of bitterness or spite, angered by the apparent ease with which some scientists publish work. It further explains about the perception that scientific fraud lying about scientific results for personal gain.

A subject index for the 2006 issue of "Hydrobiologia" is presented.

Since the 1920s, interest in hormesis has peaked and ebbed. Hormesis had been a forgotten theory until recent investigation by Dr Ed Calabrese at the University of Massachusetts, along with others, resurrected it from obscurity. This renewed interest is demonstrated by recent articles in prestigious scientific journals such as Nature and Science as well as the popular press (Discovery, US News and World Report and newspapers such as the Boston Globe). Currently, a strong interest in this theory of dose-response (which predicts contrasting effects at low versus high doses) exists and is explored in this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information about lab management courses for group leaders in scientific researches. Being a group leader is probably one of the hardest and most challenging jobs the natural sciences have to offer. Therefore, funding organizations, such as the HHMI and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund in the U.S., the Medical Research Council in London, Great Britain, and the European Molecular Biology Organization, have begun to offer lab-management courses to junior scientists. These courses are designed to help researchers prepare for a life as a group leader and to teach junior investigators how to increase the efficiency of their lab.

Virology Journal is an exclusively on-line, Open Access journal devoted to the presentation of high-quality original research concerning human, animal, plant, insect bacterial, and fungal viruses. Virology Journal will establish a strategic alternative to the traditional virology communication process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the contributions of Africa to the scientific publishing database Nature Index in 2014. Topics cited include the need for scientists to initiate life science publishing worldwide to address the growing demands in public health research, weighted fractional count in the Nature Index, the pattern of top five institutions' collaborativeness and subject area distribution, and mechanisms used by drug companies to become more involved in Africa such as investing in research.

The article presents Hong Kong's contribution to China's Nature Index based on weighted fractional count of scientific papers published in 2013, with the University of Hong Kong (HKU) as the city's largest contributing institution. HKU's main outputs are in microbiology, with topics such as the infectivity and transmission of avian and swine influenza viruses. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's papers deal mainly with the physical sciences, such as graphene and metamaterials.

Statistical graphs are presented showing China as the second leading country for high-quality scientific research output, including the weighted fractional count for the contribution of authors from collaborating countries, and from collaboration between China's institutions in ten leading cities.

The article presents the Chinese Academy of Sciences as the world's largest scientific organization with researchers and institutes spread across China, led by the Institute of Chemistry, Institute of Physics, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, and Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences. Chemistry papers were top contributors to the country's Nature Index while life science articles command a dominant share in journal publications.

The author shares her experience of taking the 2017 European Board of Editors in the Life Sciences (BELS) examination, with a great mix of very hard and very easy questions that cover most types of problems as life science editor.

The author reflects on writing a paper on life sciences and compares it with writing a mystery story. The author discusses the attitude of readers in reading a paper, the problem with authors planning to publish their detective of mystery story, and the public support for science and biomedical research.