Science and the Web

Up next is Australian Chief Scientist Robin Batterham, speaking on the use of the Web by Australian scientists. The nature of science is changing, not least because of the impact of the Web. The best direction for it isn't quite clear yet.

The is now a significant level of information on the impact of scientific research, and Robin shows what's called Australia's research footprint (measured in terms of output, citations, researchers as percentage of the workforce, etc.), where Australia rates well, but not necessarily at the very top. However, the nature of scientific work has changed towards much larger-scale collaboration across national boundaries, as well as towards a concentration of research around a small number of particularly excellent institutions. The information used to measure such outcomes is itself a result of the information revolution which the Web and other related tools have brought about. Science is also increasingly cross- or transdisciplinary.

Science continues to rely on peer-reviewed information, however, because from the multitude of available information this provides the only useful way of identifying what can be trusted. However, the increasing complexity of science in itself once again also complicates peer reviewing, and adds further funding problems. The Web has created financial pressures on scientists and peer-reviewed journals; journal prices have increased, and library subscriptions to such journals have consequentially declined.

How can reliable information be secured, then? Public repositories may provide one answer here. There is strong demand for publicly available and quality-assured material, while Web publishing makes it easy to post any material without review. Therefore we need different models for the publication of quality content, where for example the review occurs in chat rooms, and where access to these chat rooms is restricted to expert reviewers. Another model could be pay-to-publish, where material is available openly, and the author pays for the privilege of having their content reviewed and published.