ANALYSIS INFORMATION OVERLOAD WILL PROMPT


CHANGES IN RESEARCHER BEHAVIOUR Annual Reviews has just published a white paper into the challenges of information overload and how it is and will be addressed, writes Charlie Rapple


I


nformation overload has been the subject of debate since Clay Shirky’s 2009 assertion that ‘it’s not information overload, it’s fi lter failure.’ The term became popular in the 1960s, but the problem it describes has been acknowledged for much longer – since at least the 1920s when Stanford professor J. Murray Luck set out to review current research in the emerging fi eld of biochemistry and found himself ‘dismayed… by the immensity of the task.’ Luck’s solution was to arrange for the leading professors in the fi eld to write syntheses of the key literature, and so was born the fi rst Annual Review. Now, Annual Reviews, the non-profi t scientifi c publisher that he established, has conducted research into how today’s scholars cope with the fl ow of scientifi c information. The result is a white paper, published at the end of March, that considers the issue of


information overload. It draws on a survey of early-career researchers, examining their approach to academic literature, how much time they dedicate to it, what informs their reading choices, and how they assess quality, as well as interviews with a range of prestigious scientists. It also includes discussion by current and past members of Annual Reviews staff into how critical review articles help scientists address the challenge of information overload. The white paper contains stark statistics to


remind us of the impact of burgeoning research output. For example, 81 per cent of readers say they should read more than they do. It also gives insights into how literature is fi ltered currently – primarily by peer recommendation – and into the processes that underpin its creation. Among other things, it anticipates that authors will become more technologically savvy in the


future, providing more comprehensive metadata with their manuscripts to aid navigation, interpretation, and application of their work. Authors will also increase post-publication activities such as interviews, commentaries, and debates to help readers assess key points. The paper also predicts that readers will make


the time away from their desks more productive, as improvements in mobile content enable them to read from anywhere. Another prediction is that publishers will integrate content more effectively into workfl ows. New technologies, or increased adoption of existing technologies, will change the way content is evaluated and selected, with greater interactivity. The white paper concludes that publishers


and libraries need to understand and nurture the core concepts and services that make them valuable, and be ready to structure these around changing research workfl ows, reading behaviour, and technological expectations.


Charlie Rapple is head of marketing development at TBI Communications


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