Making the case: open research

"The internet continues to transform the way we do science." M. H. Todd,2007

"... Building a Structure Centric Community for Chemist." ChemSpider

Jean-Claude posted today about a thesis written on a Wiki. The thesis has the title
'Synthesis of Diketopiperazines, Possible Malaria Enoyl Reducatase Inhibitors Using Open Source Science'
and is written by Alicia Holsey.

This is a nice collaboration idea and is 'making the case' in chemical publishing. For a broader audience this is already well established in form of WikiBooks. And to be honest, this idea is not new. If it is new to you, then you are probably one of those, which looses a quarter of life-time by ignoring collaboration. And why are you reading this blog? Go back drawing your benzene molecule with a typewriter.

If you think about chemical structures and the next steps forward then you should check-out those two pages:

• ChemSpider: Register as clearance reviewer
  "The ChemSpider website presently makes available a database aggregated by our development team. In the near future the ChemSpider website will be accepting submissions for addition to the database via a website submission process. The process is presently under definition but we are proactively searching for passionate chemists who would be interested in participating in the process of assisting in clearing fresh submissions to the database."
• ChemSpider: Deposit data
  "We welcome the opportunity to add data to our collection. In order to add data we need to receive the data in the form of SDF files. The definitions of any text fields in the SDF files should be detailed in an accompanying file so that we are conscious of the information accompanying the data. Any data obtained from alternative sources will be listed on our Database Content page will full credit to the suppliers."
  

And for those, which might have already forgotten

"When we call software 'free', we mean that it respects the users' essential freedoms: the freedom to run it, to study and change it, and to redistribute copies with or without changes. This is a matter of freedom, not price, so think of 'free speech', not 'free beer'." [R. Stallman]

References

• M. H. Todd, Open access and open source in chemistry, Chemistry Central Journal, 1, 2007. DOI 10.1186/1752-153X-1-3
• Wikimedia: Smith Premier Typewriter
• R. Stallman, Why 'Open Source' misses the point of Free Software.