Improving Scientific Communication

Abstract

Even the most brilliant scientific discovery, if not communicated widely and accurately, is of little value. And with the explosion of science around the globe, the dissemination of scientific information, once the purview of learned societies and a handful of publishers, is now a growth industry. This growth has attracted new models and new providers of services. In the process, the standards for scientific communication are slipping (see the special section on Communication in Science beginning on p. 56). The science community must explore new ways to improve upon them.