This is a forum to discuss issues surrounding scientific communication in a digital age – the focus of the upcoming Talkscience on the evening of 22nd July 2009.

The topic will be introduced by John Wilbanks of Science Commons and you can click here now to book tickets.

Below we set out a few thoughts to get the discussion going in advance of the event, but please feel free to raise your own issues.

Looking Good on Paper The gold standard of the peer-reviewed scientific paper has barely changed in form since its inception over 300 years ago. However, with more and more scientists communicating research findings in digital format in many different ways does the notion of the scientific ‘article’ itself remain relevant? Is the traditional research paper still the optimal format for the dissemination of the outputs of scientific research? If not, what are the alternatives?
Video Killed the Methods Section More and more scientific findings are ‘born digital’. The traditional format of research article is being transformed into a multi-media digital object with linked content, video, audio, datasets and reader annotation. This raises new possibilities and challenges. How should these newer types of content be peer reviewed? Are researchers really able to make the most of them? Does a link to a dataset or image always provide sufficient context to enable informed re-use or validation?
Share and Share Alike Scientific researchers are both producers and consumers of data and information. Outside of the peer-reviewed article, what mechanisms are available for ensuring standards of quality in both contexts? Should they differ, and if so, why?
On Common Ground Open access publishing, data sharing initiatives and Science Commons aim to open up access to research information. What social, legal, economical and technological challenges remain to enable global access to the outputs of scientific research? Is it really practicable to manage the outputs from publicly-funded research as a public good, and if not, why? How long will it take to see the impact of ‘open science’ on innovation and discovery, and how will we know?