Article of the Future

In case you haven't seen it, Elsevier has launched a new format for research articles online that is being touted as the “Article of the Future”. These will be published in the series Cell Press journals.  The idea is “to redefine how scientific articles are presented online”.  The new approach will restructure research articles by using:

1.    An integrated, linked navigation scheme whereby the reader can move through the article at a self-determined path—as opposed to the traditional linear format.

2.    A tabbed navigation structure through the major article sections, which allows general readers to get the main message and experts to delve deeper into the details.

3.    A graphical abstract and a list of highlights is found on the landing page of each article.

4.    Text, a figure, and figure caption on the same screen.  The figures will have zooming capability for readers to see fine details.

5.    Integrated multimedia via PaperFlicks, a video tour of an article’s content (for selected articles).  You can download this video and view it later.

Here is an example of the future article format.  It should be interesting to see how this plays out.   This format makes a lot of sense—and will presumably allow authors to include important information that would otherwise be prohibited by word limits.  The downside is accessibility to such articles, which will require a subscription to the journal.  You can still get a pdf or an extended pdf with supplementary material from the author, but these will not have the navigability function.