Software for improved scientific references using the Web-Citation Protocol

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project will develop software for Web-based Compendia , which is defined as a concise, yet comprehensive, organization of a body of knowledge, together with its evaluation. Such Compendia will for a basis for Outlined-Knowledge on the Web. The software will use a new standard, the Web-Citation-Protocol. The Protocol offers a new method of creating references in the scientific/medical literature. The project will direct the development of the Protocol, and then program the software necessary to implement it. An important feature of the Web-Citation-Protocol is the ability to create Citations (called on the Web as Links ) with additional information added by Citing Authors. The additional information will aid the Reader in deciding which Citations to follow, and will be presented in a spreadsheet format that will allow the Reader to sort on variables-of-interest to the Reader at that time. The software will allow mapping of both Cited Articles and Citing Articles. The project incorporates means by which the information in Compendia and that collected about the citations can be different for different scientific/medical fields, and change when such fields change. Both Web-based Compendia and the WebCitation-Protocol are in this way adaptable, rather than fixed. This project is directly related to the mission of NLM and NIH Institutes to make medical and scientific knowledge readily accessible to the public, to the medical profession, and to scientists. This mission will be enhanced by improving scientific and medical article citations to enhance recovery of information from web-based repositories. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This project is directly related to Public Health because it will provide an easy method to disseminate scientific knowledge over the Web, to both specialists and the public, by means not presently available.