Information Technology Reference
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and editor and publisher of the journal) to select interesting accounts.
Oldenburg's selection, backed by the weight of the Royal Society,
helped those with an interest in the emerging field of natural
philosophy (which we would now call science) by providing both
improved access and a quality selection. As journals evolved throughout
the Enlightenment period, they did much to promote the ideas of
evidence-based science and reason and helped to challenge existing
dogmas. Many journals of the time mostly published book reviews, but
for scholars they helped greatly to sift the already large quantity of
reading material available. However, information overload was clearly
still an issue, some 160 years after the first issue of
Philosophical
Transactions
was published, as eloquently noted by Michael Faraday:
It is certainly impossible for any person who wishes to devote a portion
of his time to chemical experiment, to read all the topics and papers that
are published in connection with his pursuit; their number is immense,
and the labour of winnowing out the few experimental and theoretical
truths which in many of them are embarrassed by a very large proportion
of uninteresting matter, of imagination, and of error, is such that most
persons who try the experiment are quickly induced to make a selection
in their reading, and thus inadvertently, at times, pass by what is really
good.
(Faraday, 1826)
Chinese research output in the 21st century
Despite the increasing specialization in academic endeavour, a highly
developed network of journals and great technological advances in
search and discovery, information overload is still a growing issue today.
Increasing research outputs from China will prove an additional
challenge. The Chinese government has been investing heavily in the
funding of basic research, with research and development funding
tripling in the ten years from 1998 to 2008. There are plans for a
further four-fold increase by 2020, and universities and research centres
the length and breadth of China boast brand new buildings filled with
state-of-the-art equipment.
Also there is a 'returning tide' (Wells, 2007) of Chinese scholars who
have trained in Western universities, and they are bringing with them
best-of-breed methods which are boosting the quality and effectiveness
