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Assessing Impact

Dec 18, 2009

ResearchBlogging.org and PLoS are teaming up to improve how the impact of journal articles is determined. PLoS began its metrics project earlier in the year and now part of that metrics tab for each article, readers can see, in addition to how many people have viewed and commented on the article, blog posts about it from the ResearchBlogging network. "Since the site carefully vets every blog and rejects both blogs and individual posts that don’t meet its guidelines, these posts represent the best commentary the internet has to offer about peer-reviewed research, often from experts in the field," writes Dave Munger at ResearchBlogging.org News.

Breaking News
The Scan

Pig Organ Transplants Considered

The Wall Street Journal reports that the US Food and Drug Administration may soon allow clinical trials that involve transplanting pig organs into humans.

'Poo-Bank' Proposal

Harvard Medical School researchers suggest people should bank stool samples when they are young to transplant when they later develop age-related diseases.

Spurred to Develop Again

New Scientist reports that researchers may have uncovered why about 60 percent of in vitro fertilization embryos stop developing.

Science Papers Examine Breast Milk Cell Populations, Cerebral Cortex Cellular Diversity, Micronesia Population History

In Science this week: unique cell populations found within breast milk, 100 transcriptionally distinct cell populations uncovered in the cerebral cortex, and more.