This book critically examines the historical developments and current trends in the scientific scholarly communication system, issues and challenges in scientific scholarly publishing and scientific data sharing, implications and debates associated with the influence of intellectual property rights on scientific information sharing, and new trends related to peer reviewing and measuring the impact of scientific publications. Based on thorough examination of published literature, the book illustrates the involvement of many stakeholders—scientists, science educators, university administrators, government entities, research funders, and other interested parties—in this complex and dynamic system. The discussion highlights the roles these stakeholders have to play, individually and collaboratively, to help transform the future of the scientific scholarly communication system.
Pali U. K. De Silva (Ph.D. in Plant Health, Master of Library and Information Science) has been trained as a research scientist with expertise in biological and agricultural scientific disciplines. Because of the curiosity and interest she developed about the evolving scholarly communication system, she decided to learn more about it and pursued a degree in library and information science. After obtaining an MLIS, she changed her professional career direction to become an information professional and was affiliated with Iowa Sate University and Murray State University. During her career as an information professional, she became especially interested in the complexities of the changing scientific scholarly communication landscape and extensively researched the developments and trends in various aspects of the scientific scholarly communication system. This book is a product of that effort.
Candace K. Vance (B.S. in Agricultural Science, Master of Science in Information Sciences, M.A. and M.F.A. in English and Creative Writing). Her interest in science, particularly the health sciences, led her to an internship at Eskind Biomedical Library at Vanderbilt Medical Center after receiving her MSIS degree. She has been a health science librarian since 2000 and was affiliated with the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Aquinas College, and Murray State University. During this experience, she discovered the benefits of evidence-based medicine and the important role scientific scholarly communications plays in delivering the highest level of health care. Her research and teaching interests include scientific scholarly communication, the open access movement, assessing the impact of research, and scientific misconduct. These, combined with her interest in creative writing, helped her contribute in making this book a reality.
