“When I was a student, I would have loved to have been able to click on a video abstract and see great scientists discussing their ideas at various points in their careers,” says David Goss, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Number Theory, about the rationale behind his journal’s innovative approach to abstracts.

Since April of this year, authors whose articles have been accepted for publication in the journal have been able to submit a video abstract along with a traditional written abstract. As part of Elsevier’s strategy to develop various forms of multimedia content and Web 2.0 applications, videos will eventually appear in permanent electronic archives on ScienceDirect. As ScienceDirect does not currently support Flash, however, it was decided that YouTube would be a viable and cost-effective interim host.

Humanizing science

So far, six videos have been submitted, some of which have already been watched more than 1,300 times. “This is excellent for a scientific idea,” says Goss. Ranging in length from around two to four minutes, the videos are made by the authors themselves with a simple video recorder or webcam. “Of course, it is not obligatory to submit a video, but for the authors who want to, we provide guidelines for how to create an abstract. The videos are not polished, nor are they supposed to be. What’s important is that they convey the enthusiasm and emotion of the scientist. Videos are not going to replace scientific papers, but they are a very immediate and informal medium and thus a great way of humanizing science,” he says.

Some of the videos are very simple indeed, showing the author looking into the camera and reading the abstract as it appears at the top of the paper. “One such video was submitted by an author in China,” says Goss, “The sound quality was not perfect, but even so, there is something compelling to me about being able to see and hear an author from the other side of the world talk about research they have conducted that is relevant to my field.”

Other authors have gotten quite creative with their videos, putting mathematical formulae up on a blackboard and talking through these in the context of their papers. “This is a great way of visualizing the problem the author will go on to discuss in the paper; and highlights just how useful video abstracts can be, even – or perhaps particularly - for something like number theory, which most people would not immediately regard as a visual field,” says Goss.

Recording science for the future

One of the other core ideas behind Goss’ adoption of video abstracts is their ability to – quite literally – record science for future generations. “Suppose, hypothetically, that these video abstracts had been done routinely since the 1950s,” he says. “It is mind boggling to think of all the great careers that would be chronicled in this fashion. If we start now, future generations will be the beneficiaries. In fact, I recently read that young people use YouTube more than cable TV, so video is becoming an increasingly natural, if not essential, way of communicating with upcoming scholars and potentially also attracting young people to science.”

Goss worked closely with Tyge Burgess, Publishing Editor for Journal Development, to set up this channel. “The YouTube videos are just one example of the kinds of initiatives currently being set up at Elsevier. They provide tools and resources for our authors to present and distribute their content in innovative and sophisticated ways,” says Burgess. “In addition, these sorts of channels can act as a valuable marketing tool for journals by building brand awareness and driving users back to ScienceDirect for the full-text article. Most top mathematics graduates are not at the level where they can publish now, but in a few years they will be, and they will know the journals from YouTube.”

Growing trend

Goss believes that other publishing groups within Elsevier could eventually pick up video abstracts and evolve into an industry trend. “My journal is performing an important experiment. We’ve received very positive feedback on this initiative so far from Elsevier publishing teams and from our authors. Whatever the final outcome, I hope to see video abstracts becoming the norm instead of the exception,” he says. In 2003, ScienceDirect received 1,759 articles containing one or more multimedia file. Five years later, this number has increased to an average of 1,900 per month. This explosion is a clear indication that the trend Goss envisages is not too far away.

To see an example of one of the Journal of Number Theory video abstracts, link from the full paper on   ScienceDirect through to YouTube or go directly to the video via this open   link.

To cite this article, please use: Cecily Layzell, “Behind the Scenes… Increasing journal visibility”, Elsevier Editors’ Update, Issue 24, November 2008

Useful Links
  The Journal of Number Theory