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LAB 2 BIO1130
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Essay of 17 pages for the course bio1130 at U of O (LAB 2 BIO1130)
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Scientific LiteratureLab created by Antoine Morin
Objectives
After completing this module, you should be able to:
• Assess whether a printed or electronic publication can be considered
an original scientific paper
• Search for references using the online resources of the University of
Ottawa, including Web of Science
• Find an electronic copy of a scientific paper held by the library network
of the University of Ottawa
• Correctly quote scientific publications in your own work or lab reports
• Detect plagiarism and learn about University of Ottawa policy
regarding academic fraud.
• Build a bibliographic database, insert citations in a text and generate a
reference list using a Reference management tool (Mendeley)
Introduction
Scientific knowledge, in order to be useful, must be transmitted in a
credible way. Written communication, either on paper or in electronic
form, facilitates the diffusion of scientific and other knowledge. However,
the quality of the texts varies. Word processing and the Internet now
allow nearly everybody to publish virtually anything they like. It may
therefore seem difficult to evaluate the truthfulness of what is portrayed
as a fact, and a healthy scepticism is always a worthy attitude in the
scientific world.
A sound judgment is necessary, although not sufficient, to gauge the
credibility or the truthfulness of any information. Errors, fraud,
plagiarism and hoaxes exist in science as much as anywhere else. By using
our judgment and carefully picking our sources of information, we can
minimize the risk of error and improve the credibility of our writing. In the
scientific world, the privileged source of information is the refereed
scientific publication, which contains original scientific articles.
This module is aimed at showing you, if you are not already familiar with
them, certain facets of the scientific endeavour. The first part covers
original scientific publications, their characteristics and the usual
mechanism leading to their publication in a refereed scientific journal.
The second part, more practical, covers the online tools at your disposal
at the University of Ottawa. These tools will allow you to search the
available literature and to access original scientific publications. The third
part describes when and how to quote references in order to avoid being
accused of plagiarism and risk academic fraud sanctions.
1
,Lab 2 - Scientific Literature
Original scientific publications and refereed journals
1- Definition
An original scientific publication is a report or paper describing and
interpreting the results of observations, experiments or statistical
analyses. The publication must include a description of the scientific
methodology used to obtain the results, putting the reader in a position
to judge their validity. The term original not only refers to the contents of
the publication but implies that the author(s) of the publication have
themselves done the study, as opposed to simply reviewed the available
literature, popular science books or journals that only report (and
sometimes not quite accurately) the results of studies done by others.
Furthermore, to be considered credible, a publication has to be evaluated
by experts in the field before being published. This revision process is the
distinguishing feature of refereed journals.
Daily newspapers (such as the Ottawa Citizen or Le Droit) and journals
(e.g. National Geographic or Québec Science) do not publish any original
scientific papers. Their articles are often written by journalists who are
not experts in the discipline, typically do not include a detailed description
of the experimental methodology, and their scientific contents are rarely
evaluated by experts on the subject (even though the criticisms of the
editorial process can be very harsh). Consequently, these sources, as
stimulating as they may be, cannot be considered credible sources of
scientific information.
The vast majority of websites are not considered credible sources of
scientific information for several reasons: the author is not identified, no
experts have reviewed the information offered on the site or the
experimental methodology used to obtain the information is not
described. There are however credible databases and electronic
publications available on the Internet, revised as they are by experts using
the same process, and as thoroughly as any article in a refereed
publication.
Handbooks and general or specialized encyclopaedias are generally
considered sources of reliable information, but not to the same degree as
original scientific publications. These books offer a synthesis but rarely
give any details on the methodology used to gather the information. They
give a superficial coverage of several subjects and generally do not report
on any new developments (printing an encyclopaedia is a major
undertaking to say the least!).
In short, if the author is not given, or if the author was not directly involved
in the reported work, if the detailed methodology (or raw data) are not
available, or if the text was not refereed by specialists in the field, there is
some risk in having absolute faith in the contents of a scientific
publication.
2
, Lab 2 - Scientific Literature
2- Refereed scientific publications
There are several thousand scientific journals and most of them are
specialized in a sub-discipline. Notable exceptions are Nature and
Science, both are among the most prestigious scientific publications,
which publish original articles in all scientific disciplines. The quality of
journals varies a lot; some have more stringent requirements than others
and have a better reputation.
Therefore, several alternatives are available to the author of an article
who wants to publish in a refereed scientific journal. Since an article can
only be published in one journal and as ethical considerations prevent
submitting an article to several journals at the same time, the author will
find it advantageous to pick the right journal.
How can one identify the best journals and weed out the second rate
ones? The best journals have generally earned their reputation: over a
rather long period, they have published and widely distributed excellent
articles in a given discipline. These articles have not only been read but
they have also been frequently cited in other articles published later in
the same journal and elsewhere. Experienced research scientists have a
good idea of the quality of scientific journals, which publish, in their own
specialized field. For the others, the Institute of Scientific Information
publishes statistics such as the Impact Factor based on the frequency of
references to articles in a given journal.
The Impact Factor of a journal is a measure of the average number of
citations that each article from a given journal has received in a given
period of time. This is an objective measure but it should be used with
caution as the results vary considerably from one type of article to
another (review articles are more frequently cited) and the discipline
concerned. Furthermore, as the number of citations can vary widely from
one article to another in the same journal, the average number of
citations does not take into account this variability. For these reasons, the
Impact Factor is often criticized, but failing any other alternative, it
remains a very useful tool.
3- Normal procedures for publication in refereed journals
The interval from submission to publication of an article in a refereed
scientific journal may range from several weeks to even years. The delay
differs between journals, the extent of requested modifications for the
article to be accepted in the chosen journal, and the speed at which
editors, printers and referees work. The normal steps are as follows:
• After multiple drafts and a revision by the co-authors, a manuscript is
sent to the editor of a scientific journal.
• The editor or one of the assistant editors who specializes in the subject
of the manuscript asks experts in the field (2 to 5) to act as referees and
sends each of them a copy of the manuscript. (1 week to 1 month)
3
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