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Date of publication Dec 21, 2003 Category: Focus

Hinari and Agora: free access to scientific information for poor countries

by Elisabetta Tola

In the midst of a debate on access to information, the World Health Organization and the FAO have decided to develop a strategy to guarantee the right of poor countries to have free access to scientific publications. This right is often denied, mainly because of high subscription costs. For this reason, universities and research centres in southern countries must forego buying magazines, which are a valuable instrument for updating, and exchanging information on research and scientific issues. This choice has been made in an historical period when the industrialized world is marked by a knowledge-based economy.

Volume 2Issue 042003
Date of publication Dec 21, 2003 Category: Focus

The Evolution of Scientific Publishing and the JHEP Model

by Loriano Bonora

Some recent events have brought to the attention of the general public the issue of free access to scientific information. On many occasions basic scientific information has been said to be constantly available to scientists. In truth, a group of scientists (those who live in the developing countries) have long remained on the fringes of the international research community and in part still are, mainly because of the existing difficulties in accessing scientific publications. However, this fact has never been as blatant as it was with the Human Genome Project. Indeed, the project saw an attempt to conceal and privatize the results of advanced basic research. On that occasion, the fear of a private exploitation of scientific results became a real threat.

Volume 2Issue 042003
Date of publication Dec 21, 2003 Category: Commentary

Évariste Galois, a tragic romantic hero

by Luca Viganò

Telling mathematics in a comic strip
by Marco Abate

Mathland - the space between mathematics and architecture
by Michele Emmer

Mathematical correspondences
by Angelo Guerraggio

Volume 2Issue 042003
Date of publication Sep 21, 2003 Category: Article

Scientific communication in Italy: an epistemological interpretation

by Eloisa Cianci

The aim of the present research is to study the "collective imaginary" produced by the articles within scientific circulation, in order to understand the perception of science that is shaping among the public. It is meant to identify, based on the theoretical background of cognitive science and on a epistemological perspective, the cognitive maps that drive the analysis and the interpretation of scientific knowledge, in order to let the global sense built by single individuals' cognitions and interpretative acts arise; their paradigms of reference and the scientific imaginary being subtended. The results from this analysis have proven how important the role of collective scientific imaginary can be in a "knowledgeable society". Twelve cognitive maps have been deduced, and they represent the epistemological outlines the articles refer to. They have highlighted an ongoing general transition from mechanicist and reductionist paradigms of reference to other olistic and systemic ones, as well as the new role that technology has attained within our society and its own imaginary. What comes out of all of this, is therefore an always-tighter need for collaboration and cooperation among all the disciplines concurring to the building of our society and our science.

Volume 2Issue 032003
Date of publication Sep 21, 2003 Category: Focus

Invisible Hand(s): Quality Assurance in the Age of Author Self-Archiving

by Gerry McKiernan

There are forces, factors, and influences other than pending classical peer review that assure the quality of scholarship before formal publication.

Volume 2Issue 032003
Date of publication Sep 21, 2003 Category: Commentary

For a paleontology of the scientific imaginary

by Yuri Castelfranchi

Volume 2Issue 032003
Date of publication Sep 21, 2003 Category: Commentary

Communication between doctor and patient in the information society

by Vincenza Pellegrino

For a paleontology of the scientific imaginary
by Yuri Castelfranchi

Volume 2Issue 032003
Date of publication Sep 21, 2003 Category: Article

Characters in search of Majorana

by Francesco Scarpa

Through the years, Majorana's life - and his mysterious disappearance in particular - inspired manifold representations. The wide range of links to science, philosophy and literature have allowed deep reflections crossing the borders of genre: from theatre to fiction, from essays to novels and cartoons. Reconstructing the character of Majorana by thinking back to all the interpretations he has been given allows us to place him in a wider and more organic context, which goes beyond the functional aspects of fiction. In this wider prospective, we can clearly see why the still unresolved Majorana case has aroused the interest of so many diverse authors.

Volume 2Issue 032003
Date of publication Sep 21, 2003 Category: Editorial

Political censorship of science

by Pietro Greco

On June, the 23rd of last year, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its Draft Report on the Environment, a report on environmental quality. The EPA is an autonomous federal agency known for its reliability on environmental studies and safeguards. Its Draft Report is considered by Science, the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the nation's most scientifically reliable analysis on environmental quality.

Volume 2Issue 032003
Date of publication Sep 21, 2003 Category: Focus

Peer review: is it crisis?

by Mauro Scanu

Volume 2Issue 032003

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