Author Archives: Frank Norman

About Frank Norman

I am a retired librarian. I spent 40 years working in biomedical research libraries.

Err … ology

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Frank Norman

Publication bias is the tendency to report positive results differently from negative or inconclusive results, resulting in a bias in the overall literature (see Wikipedia article and this tutorial at the Cochrane Collaboration). Afficionados of evidence-based practice and meta-analysers of research worry … Continue reading →

Posted in Journal publishing | 12 Comments

Hawking history

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Frank Norman

It was good to hear the reports of Stephen Hawking’s speech at his 70th birthday celebrations at the weekend. The Independent ran the story under the headline “I owe it all to my father” and noted that Hawking spoke movingly … Continue reading →

Posted in History | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

How are your tweetations?

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Frank Norman

A contentious paper came out towards the end of last year in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. That is a reasonably respectable title in its niche field and the author, Gunther Eysenbach, is a respected medical informaticist and e-health … Continue reading →

Posted in Bibliometrics etc, Journal publishing | 8 Comments

A fruitful New Year

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Frank Norman

In England we don’t have much in the way of colourful New Year traditions. The Scots famously make more of the season, which they call Hogmanay, but in England the traditional choices are: Go out to a pub and get … Continue reading →

Posted in Froth, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Righting authorship wrongs

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Frank Norman

I had never heard of Dalton Trumbo until today, and I daresay you haven’t heard of him either. He was a member of the “Hollywood Ten,” which was a group of writers and directors who were blacklisted after being deemed … Continue reading →

Posted in Authorship, Froth | 4 Comments

They’re really not helping

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Frank Norman

Getting older and more forgetful is one of those things you just have to accept. Trying to remember where you left the keys, what day your niece’s birthday is, whether you need to catch the 143 bus or the 134 … Continue reading →

Posted in Journal publishing | 13 Comments

Is this a post?

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Frank Norman

Today is a special day on Occams Typewriter. One year ago the site burst onto the blogosphere. I had an idea to write a witty history of Occams Typewriter in the form of a Christmas carol, but I didn’t have … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogology | 20 Comments

It’s a book, but not as we know it

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Frank Norman

A series of 21 online books has been launched as part of an initiative to provide a bridge between the humanities and the sciences. The aim is to create: a resource for researching and teaching relevant science issues across the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Trashy journals

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Frank Norman

A Chinese couple published a couple of dozen academic journals, collecting a reported $1.5 million in publication fees from thousands of contributors. But, provincial authorities allege, the journals were fake. Only a few copies of each issue were printed, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Journal publishing | 3 Comments

The Royal Society Library

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Frank Norman

Librarians love to snoop round other libraries, looking for new ideas and taking inspiration from different institutions and their collections. I must confess that sometimes I find such visits a bit tedious but I really enjoyed my latest visit. Last … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Libraries and librarians | 4 Comments