Comments on: JACS β for your click click hedghodelase seco-what blues

By: orgopete

orgopete — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:45:25 +0000

Interesting discussion about having an abstract in plain English. When recruiting for my company, that was my first filter for a candidate. Can they explain the significance of their research to someone not familiar with it and in plain English? Sadly, many cannot.

It is also something that I need to do if I don’t want to hear about it later from my wife. If I wish to tell someone about what I do, I must do it in a way that uses their knowledge level and I must make it interesting. That or “I do research (as in don’t ask).”

By: Wavefunction

Wavefunction — Fri, 30 May 2008 21:47:29 +0000

While JACkasS research is not supposed to be listened to, I could do it when I am stuck in the damn traffic. At least better than listening to some expensive audiobook.

By: Uncle Al

Uncle Al — Fri, 30 May 2008 18:25:13 +0000

You miss the subtlety of ACS project SEED blooming. In the future all employable chemists will be diversely other-abled: blind, deaf, quadruplegic… with minimal dermal albedoes and smart as the current President. Multimedia feeds will be required to impart any communication at all. Interface will be mediated by minimum-waged techno-caregiver (look in the mirror, sucker) patriarchal historic White Protestant European oppressors of protected Challenged Minorities of Colour.

Don’t inappropriately touch your masters.

By: uncle sam

uncle sam — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:37:41 +0000

Arggghhh! You’re being facetious. But what if someone else, a gentle soul in search for truth in this multi-disciplinary world, is led astray by your jovial deflection? We cannot allow that.

No dear reader, you are supposed to read JCAS very quickly as one word. Just as you would with JACS.

By: excimer

excimer — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:00:02 +0000

I do enjoy your modification of JACS into the Journal of the Canadian Agricultural Society.

By: uncle sam

uncle sam — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:14:07 +0000

With all due respect to Nature, you guys don’t really publish a lot of chemistry papers. Perhaps these summaries would be more useful to a person with a more biological bent.

Nature Chemistry isn’t even out yet and it’ll be a year, but I agree that if it becomes as big as JCAS or Andjewandte, it’ll be a very useful feature for someone like me. It would be great if the summaries were voiced too so that I could listen to them while running a column or wasting time on blogs.

As a bonus, if you manage to make Nature Chemistry as big as the big two, then I promise I will think long and hard, and come up with a unique derogatory moniker for your journal. A true sign of greatness.

By: uncle sam

uncle sam — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:04:10 +0000

If your article doesn’t tell a good story, it doesn’t deserve to be in JCAS. I agree that it could get into Tet. Lett. though.

By: uncle sam

uncle sam — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:02:55 +0000

I could easily read my JCAS paper to a general “chemical” audience, or even focus on my field, where it would be interesting and engaging. An abstract is not a plain english summary. An abstract is impossible to understand in most cases even if you are a chemist.

I definitely think that a lot of articles in JCAS have storytelling potential. Otherwise, why the hell publish them?

Why sell yourself short?

By: ChemE

ChemE — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:34:56 +0000

“Now… issues that read well on my iPhone so that I can enjoy them in the shitter… That would be supahsweet.”

The poll currently on the front page of JACS Beta makes me think your dreams will come true.

By: ChemE

ChemE — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:33:03 +0000

I have to agree with Kyle completely on this one. As formerly separate disciplines start to intertwine, significant amounts of jargon skip right over the uninitiated reader’s head. When an abstract requires background reading, the task of determining if the paper has information useful to a project becomes difficult. Having a plain english summary (particularly in broad impact journals) doesn’t reduce the mystique of your Art, just makes it easier for readers in other fields to determine if the paper merits the time required to read the entire paper and fully understand its implications.