Annual Meeting Reports
A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words
Moderator:
Holly Brenza Zoog
Amgen Inc
Thousand Oaks, California
Speakers:
Poly M Potter
Emerging Infectious Diseases
Atlanta, Georgia
Linda J Miller
Nature Publishing Group
New York, New York
Moshe Pritsker
Journal of Visualized Experiments
Somerville, Massachusetts
Reporter:
Emily White
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas
Pictures have many uses in communicating
science. In this session, the speakers discussed three aspects of image use in science
communication.
Fine art enhances science communication, said Poly M Potter, managing
senior editor of Emerging Infectious Diseases
(www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/index.htm), a
journal known for featuring fine art on its
covers. Art works, Potter said, by illustrating ideas, raising consciousness, revealing
truth, stimulating the intellect, and firing
the emotions.
The color, style, and vitality in art, contrasted with the formality of black-andwhite text, create opportunities for a richer
interpretation of the scientific content, an
interpretation that takes into account the
people who benefit from the content. Art
“humanizes” technical subjects and reminds
the audience that science exists to improve
the quality of life for all people.
The link between art and science is more
direct in some works used on the cover of
Emerging Infectious Diseases than in others.
For example, Amedeo Modigliani’s 1919
Self-Portrait, which was painted a year
before he died of tuberculosis, described
not his face alone but the face of the
tuberculosis patient. The images on other
covers may be more subtle. For example,
Jackson Pollock’s 1950 Autumn Rhythm,
an intricate modern painting, was used to
draw an analogy between complexity in
nature (seen in the painting) and in public
health, as seen in the unexpected connection between the increased incidence of
malaria and HIV infection. In that case,
Potter said, “entangled trails led to unanticipated discoveries”.
More information about Emerging Infectious
Diseases cover art can be found at www.cdc.
gov/ncidod/EID/cover_images/covers.htm.
Linda J Miller, US executive editor of
Nature and the Nature research journals,
spoke about image integrity: Images in peerreviewed publications must portray data
accurately. The responsibility for image
integrity lies with laboratory chiefs, Miller
said, but journals can evaluate the integrity
of submitted images (using such resources
as those from the National Institutes of
Health Office of Research Integrity Web
site), and their information for authors
should provide guidelines regarding image
manipulation.
Checking images does not guarantee that
the submission of inappropriately manipulated images will decrease. According
to Miller, the Journal of Cell Biology has
checked images in all accepted papers for
years without “deterrent effect”. Journals
that check images need to devote in-house
resources to do it or hire companies to
do so. Intentionally deceptive images are
well done, Miller warned. Many easily recognizable image manipulations are forms
of “beautification”—such as attempts by
authors to remove smudges. That common problem lacks ill intent, and Nature
requests correction of the images without
punishing authors. Journals can promote
image integrity by understanding what
manipulations are necessary and standard
in different academic fields, Miller said,
and by developing procedures to enforce
the standards.
Publishers should give journals resources
to train employees to recognize image
manipulations, and journals should alert
institutions if suspicious manipulations
need investigation, Miller said. When
manipulations are discovered, she said,
image checkers should first rule out journal-induced artifacts and then follow standard procedures for requesting original data
and consulting referees as necessary.
Moshe Pritsker, cofounder, CEO, and
editor-in-chief of the Journal of Visualized
Experiments (www.JoVE.com), spoke
about using video online to communicate
research methods. He encouraged journal
editors to form partnerships with JoVE, an
online journal that develops and uses a new
type of science article, the video article.
In typical text-based scientific articles,
Pritsker said, the method is often difficult
to discern. Reproducibility of experiments
therefore suffers, and time and money are
wasted. JoVE publishes methods articles
that include video demonstration of experimental procedures and traditional text
description.
A JoVE video article consists of an animated abstract, an introduction by the scientist, a filmed experiment (with overlaid
text descriptions), and a discussion by the
scientist. Chapter links let viewers skip to
specific parts of procedures, and comment
sections let readers ask authors questions.
The 8-week publication procedure involves
scriptwriting, filming, and animation development, all provided by JoVE. Authors (or
editors interested in supplementing articles
in their publications) need to submit only
a description of the technique.
JoVE currently publishes 30 video articles per month, Pritsker said, covering all
fields of life sciences. The journal has a
network of videographers who can cover
all universities in the United States and 11
other countries. Current partners of JoVE
include Science, Annual Reviews, Current
Protocols, and Springer Protocols.
156 • Science Editor • September – October 2010 • Vol 33 • No 5
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