PerspectivesAre you interested in submitting a Perspective Article? Be sure to read The Science Advisory Board's Editorial Guides for Perspective Articles. Click here. Trends in Science and Medical Publications: Video Journals by Manu Lopus, Ph.D. No amount of description -- no matter how didactic it is -- can convey a protocol in its entirety. People often omit the minute details of the protocols while publishing their findings in print journals rationalizing that "it is obvious" and supposed to be known to those who work in the field. Though the described protocols in such journals can be mastered with few trial and errors by other researchers, when trying to repeat it, lack of some "trivial" steps may at times lead to the complete failure of the experiment, casting doubt over the reproducibility of the experiment. Video Journals report the experiments as videos, enabling researchers to watch the experiments being performed and the results thus obtained. Uploading videos in a journal’s online version is nevertheless not a new practice. Journals like Journal of Cell Biology, Science, etc. publish videos (mostly the results) as supplementary data in their online version. On the other hand, there are journals like Nature Methods and annuals including Methods in Cell Biology dedicated to communicating the principles and methods of research. However, a video journal, according to the Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE), “allows you to publish your experiments in all its dimensions, overcoming the inherent limitations of traditional print journals, thus adding a whole new quality to the communication of your experimental work and research results.” JoVE also notes that video journals help the viewers to "address the 'bottleneck' of reproducibility and transparency" and thus ensure ‘rapid knowledge transfer.’ Moreover, a video of the entire experiment will help other researchers to get an idea about the time required to finish an experiment. The Video Journal of Orthopedics "gives 12 segments of live action surgery in four quarterly issues." The journal offers the "Video Supplement library and most popular VJO productions online in full-length streaming format." Another medical journal, Video Journal of Ophthalmology, is in DVD format and contains video articles related to clinical and surgical practice in ophthalmology. By providing open access (like JoVE) and complete coverage of the method used in the paper, video journals herald the future of science and medical communication and set an imitable example for others. References 1. Journal of Visualized Experiments (www.jove.com) 2. Video Journal of Orthopedics (www.vjortho.com) 3. Video Journal of Ophthalmology (https://mediamillinc.com/vjo.php?display=home) Dr. Manu Lopus completed his Ph.D. in Biotechnology at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, where he studied the antiproliferative mechanism of action of sanguinarine and dolastatin 15 on cancer cells. As an NIH post-doctoral fellow, he is investigating the mechanism and regulation of microtubule dynamics in neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, at the department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology & the Neurosciences Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara. He may be reached at manu.lopus@gmail.com ### << Previous Next >> [ View All Perspectives ] |
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