JournalMap illustrates the power that can come from harvesting information that is already contained in published studies.
Presenting knowledge in the form of published studies by their location opens up new possibilities for finding and using relevant knowledge about the world's natural systems. However, much work needs to be done to realize the full potential of JournalMap - work that will take the collaborative efforts of authors, publishers, scientific societies, and researchers.
Authors & Research
The support of JournalMap by researchers and authors has turned JournalMap from a concept demonstration into a viable knowledge system. With your help we can continue to improve JournalMap and make it a dynamic research tool. There are three ways users of JournalMap and authors of scientific papers can contribute to growing and improving JournalMap:
- Contribute geotagged articles through the JournalMap website, and verify, and when needed correct, location information in JournalMap.
- Let us know the kinds of features and content you would like to see in JournalMap by filling out a feedback form or getting in touch with us.
- Spread the word! Let your peers and project collaborators know about JournalMap and encourage them to contribute as well.
Publishers & Societies
We are interested in working with publishers and scientific societies to geotag journal archives and improve the practice of location reporting in scientific articles. The JournalMap team has developed a workflow and algorithms for semi-automated processing of large volumes of articles. This makes it possible to quickly input entire journal volumes into JournalMap while ensuring accurate geotagging.
Through collaborations with JournalMap, publishers and scientific societies can have access to the location information and analytics associated with article sets. These data can be used, for example, to embed maps of article locations in a collaborator's website or to develop custom geographic search features.
Identifying and extracting the myriad formats of location information from studies is necessary to geotag articles that have already been published. But with the adoption of standard location reporting practices in journals and the incorporation of location fields in article metadata, geographic searching would become much easier and more universal. We are eager to engage with publishers and societies to develop and implement these standards.
Development Roadmap
JournalMap is still in active development, and we have lots of exciting things planned. Follow us on Twitter to stay informed!
Future plans for JournalMap
Foremost is expanding the content of available journals and volumes in JournalMap. The new JournalMap website allows authors and researchers to contribute their own geotagged articles. We also continue to add geotagged articles to JournalMap through research projects and collaborations with publishers.
We are continuing to roll out new features for JournalMap as well, including:
- Saved searches
- Notification of new articles for a saved search or a geographic area
- Support for line and polygon geometries to represent articles (instead of just points)
- Better feedback and error reporting
- Integration with other online databases
- Deployment of JournalMap web APIs for embedding JournalMap in other websites
Of course, the long-term success of JournalMap will depend on the ability to precisely geo-locate published studies. To this end, we are working with journals and publishers to increase the prevalence and standardization of geographic information reported in scientific literature.
Collaborate
If you're interested in collaborating on the JournalMap project, contact:
Jason Karl, Ph.D.
Research Ecologist,
USDA Agricultural Research Service
Jornada Experimental Range
(575) 646-1301