1. Scientific and Technical Information Issues
The Future of Scientific Knowledge Discovery in Open Networked Environments
Symposium and Workshop
National Academy of Sciences
Walt Warnick, Ph.D. Director, Office of Scientific and Technical Information U.S. Department of Energy
March 10, 2011

2. Science Progresses Only If Knowledge Is Shared
The results of the US government R&D investment ($140 billion/year) are shared via a number of formats.
Text, Including journals, e-prints, technical reports, conference proceedings, and more
Non-text data, including numeric data sets, visualizations such as geographic information systems, non-numeric data such as a genome sequence, and more
Other formats: video, audio
Each format is in a state of change and presents its own set of issues.

3. Journal Articles Issue: open access vs proprietary access
Text
Journal Articles Issue: open access vs proprietary access
The gold standard for text-based STI is peer reviewed journal articles.
Many highly respected journals are available only via proprietary access.
NIH has pioneered a transition to make journal literature it sponsors open access.
PI’s are asked to submit journal-accepted manuscripts for publication in its open access PubMed Central.
The America COMPETES Reauthorization Act calls upon OSTP to initiate a process to determine if open access to journal literature sponsored by the government should be expanded.

4. Text Gray literature issue: integrating with journal literature
Gray literature, including technical reports, conference proceedings and e-prints, is typically open access. Often organized into single purpose databases.
DOE has pioneered novel ways to inexpensively make multiple databases act as if they were an integrated whole (e.g. Science.gov).
Our largest such effort it WorldWideScience.org, which is a “computer-mediated scientific knowledge discovery tool.”
WorldWideScience makes the knowledge published by or on behalf of the governments of 74 countries, including the US, all searchable via a single query.
The amount of content is huge – 400 million pages.
Handles any of nine languages.

5. Non-Text
An important issue re non-text (e.g. numeric data, genome sequence, etc.) is the extent that it needs to be made accessible, and for how long.
Some agencies are grappling with the issue by formulating data policies.
Some agencies are grappling with the issue by requiring PI’s to propose data management plans.
The American COMPETES Reauthorization Act calls upon OSTP to initiate a process to encourage agencies to consider data policies and data management plans.

6. Knowledge Investment Curve
Research is Needed to Understand Knowledge Sharing and How It Is Changing
Knowledge Investment Curve
Decision makers affect the pace of discovery when they determine the fraction of R&D funding dedicated to sharing
Pace of Scientific Discovery
Optimum Sharing
Not enough sharing 0%
Percentage of Funding for Sharing of Scientific Knowledge
100%