Uncovering hidden jewels: how Faculty of 1000 helps scientists find the best research

摘要

Scientists from all disciplines frequently complain that it is impossible to keep up with the literature. Researchers currently do their best, using three main approaches: searching bibliographic databases, reading review articles, and scanning table of contents for a few top research journals. Faculty of 1000 (www.facultyof1000.com) is a new type of information service for biologists, which offers informative context and editorial filtering (like a review), but retains timeliness (like a bibliographic database or alerting service). The contributors to Faculty of 1000, over 1400 of the world's top scientists, pick out the best new research (often within days of its publication) and evaluate it through the Faculty of 1000 website. They describe succinctly why the research is important, classify it by subject and rate it as 'Recommended', 'Must Read' or 'Exceptional'. After editing for style and comprehensibility, evaluations are rapidly made available on the Faculty of 1000 website. Each listed article has an F1000 Factor, which is derived from all the ratings the article has received. A key benefit of Faculty of 1000 is that it identifies 'Hidden Jewels': important papers that have appeared in less well-known journals. Biologists are not the only researchers facing information overload. The positive response to Faculty of 1000 suggests that comparable services may be useful to scientists in other disciplines.