This week, we listen to a podcast exploring the role of AI in medical storytelling. We delve into the role of preprints in academic publishing and read about the influence of academic editing on the success of publications. We also dissect the impact of open access tools on the academic publishing landscape and reflect on the evolution of scholarly search engines as we celebrate Google Scholar’s 20th birthday. Finally, we spotlight the latest uses of AI to optimize scientific literature reviews.
To listen to:
Optimizing the role of AI in medical storytelling via The Publication Plan | 16-minute listen
How can we most effectively harness artificial intelligence (AI) in medical storytelling? In this conversation, host Victoria Hart (Manager, Scientific Communications at Inari Medical) and guests Kelly Soldavin (Senior Editor at Taylor & Francis) and Jon Viney (Senior Scientific Director at OPEN Health) discuss the role of AI in generating plain language summaries, explore the challenges around data security and accuracy, and emphasize the need for guidelines and policies around AI use in medical communications.
To read:
Keeping preprints, preprints via LSE Blogs | 7-minute read
Is the push to make preprints more credible undermining their value? In this article, Natascha Chtena (Research Associate at the Simon Fraser University [SFU] Scholarly Communications Lab), Juan Pablo Alperin (Co-director of the SFU Scholarly Communications Lab) and Alice Fleerackers (Vice President of the PCST Network) explore the reliability and credibility of preprints. The authors also consider the impact of tightening controls on the speed and openness of academic publishing and examine strategies to preserve the role of preprints while maintaining scientific integrity.
Taylor & Francis pilot collective open access funding via STM Publishing News | 2-minute read
Taylor & Francis have launched a pilot scheme to accelerate open access publishing. As Emily Farrell (Global Commercial Director for Open Research, Taylor & Francis) explains, the Collective Pathway to Open Publishing aims to combine funding from open access agreements with income from journal subscriptions and other access fees to support the conversion of journal articles to open access without article processing charges.
The impact of plan S on the open access community via STM Publishing News | 2-minute read
Five years after the launch of Plan S, cOAlition S announces the release of an independent study examining its impact on scholarly publication. This article highlights that Plan S has opened new avenues to full and immediate open access but recommends revisiting the study in 5–10 years to understand the long-term quantitative impact of the initiative.
Examining the importance of academic editing on publication success via MDPI | 3-minute read
Academics face fierce competition for publication owing to rigorous standards upheld by journals. How important is academic editing in ensuring publication success? This article by Nat Kelly (Marketing Associate at MDPI) shines a light on the role of an academic editor and examines whether editorial intervention can reduce the chances of rejection by journal reviewers.
Google Scholar in the era of AI via Nature | 5-minute read
As Google Scholar celebrates its 20th birthday, Smriti Mallapaty (Senior Reporter at Nature News) reflects on the rise of the largest and most comprehensive scholarly search engine. Commenting on the development of alternative search engines that use AI, Jevin West (Associate Professor and Director of the Center for an Informed Public at the University of Washington) says, “If there was ever a moment when Google Scholar could be overthrown as the main search engine, it might be now, because of some of these new tools and some of the innovation that’s happening in other places.”, but he adds, “It would take a lot to dethrone it [Google Scholar].”
Harnessing the power of AI for scientific literature reviews via Nature | 13-minute read
“Artificial intelligence could help speedily summarize research. But it comes with risks.” says Helen Pearson (Senior Editor at Nature). This article highlights an AI-based system – developed by Sam Rodriques (Director and CEO at FutureHouse) and his team – that can produce syntheses of scientific knowledge more accurately than Wikipedia pages in minutes. This article also shines a spotlight on real-world examples of AI use in this context and addresses key limitations for users.
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