Biophysical Society Newsletter - May 2016

7

BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

2016

MAY

In all of the above stories there is some kind of dif- fusive or thermal motion. Molecules move down their concentration gradient, or molecules change from a high energy to a lower energy state. Yet in all of these stories this motion is exploited, either by extracting information from the rate of move- ment about size or location or by harnessing the energy to do physical work, transmitting a signal, or building a structure. I find it incredibly fascinat- ing to see the myriad of ways that living organisms are able to exploit this basic fact of physics. Publishers Forum Discovering Journal Articles: How Do You Do It? Online searching is still the most commonly used method to discover journal articles; how- ever for the first time in the past 10 years, the academic community uses Google Scholar more than Google to find those articles, according to a recent large-scale survey (n=40,439) of readers of scholarly publications and their behavior in the discovery of journal articles. The recent 2016 find- ings update previous surveys done in 2005, 2008, and 2012 (Gerdner T. and S. Inger. 2016. How readers discover content in scholarly publications. Renew Training, Abingdon, United Kingdom). Although abstracting and indexing services (Sco- pus, PubMed, Web of Science) have shown some decline in importance over the last 10 years, they still rank as the most important starting point for those looking for journal articles. While use of social media as a route to journal article discov- ery is still less important than other routes, it has gained popularity in several fields including the life sciences, physics, and chemistry. When looking at the academic sector in life sci- ences, all publisher websites, journal alerts, journal homepages, and society websites have gained use since the 2012 survey. The most sought-after fea- tures of a journal website have changed with time and related articles was the most popular feature of

a publisher’s website in 2015, overtaking search- ing and table of contents alerts, which had been by far the more popular features in 2005 and 2008. Reference linking, the ability to download images, and related articles have all become more popular features since the last survey in 2012. As for article delivery, in the academic sector about 60% of all journal articles read are accessed from a free resource. In low-income countries the percentage is higher. Laptops are still the most commonly used way to access journal articles; use of desktop computers has declined slightly and use of mobile devices are on the rise in low income countries more than in high income countries. Read the entire survey report at http://sic.pub/discover. Why Publish in BJ ? Here are more than 10 reasons to publish your research in Biophysical Journal . • Rapid turnaround times • No page limits • Rigorous and constructive peer review by working scientists • Affordable publication fees with discounts for BPS members • Author friendly pre-print policy • Policies that promote transparency and data sharing • Hybrid journal with Open Access and licensing options • Publisher deposits to Pub Med; compliance with federal agency policies

• Broad focus, wide dissemination • Easy submission with ORCID IDs • Authors receive link to share their article for 50 days

• Opportunities to have your work highlighted in cover art, sliders, video clips, news releases, the BPS Newsletter, and more • Automatic consideration for the Paper of the Year Award