Videos in the service of science.

JoVE is a journal that publishes scientific videos, particularly about how experiments are conducted in actual practice. It is an example of how the moving image has increasingly become part of scientific publications. – In a moving image you can show things that would be very difficult to explain in a piece of text. Nevertheless, I believe that the position of the written word in scientific publishing will continue to be dominant, explains Anders Blomberg, Professor of Functional Genomics.

IT WAS IN THE AUTUMN It was in the autumn of 2018 that Anders Blomberg’s research group came into contact with JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments. – The editorial staff at JoVE had been informed via our previous publications that we were cultivating barnacles, at a unique cultivation facility at Tjärnö Marine Laboratory. They contacted us to ask if this year-round cultivation would be suitable for their video journal. And we thought that was a good idea.

Publication in JoVE initially works in the same way as publication in other scientific journals: the research group submits an article that undergoes careful review by external experts. If the article is accepted, however, a different process is initiated. A screenwriter at the journal rewrites the text to create a film script and after the research group’s approval, work commences on the video itself.

– JOVE HAS CONTACT with film makers all over the world. One of them, who is responsible for Scandinavia, came to Tjärnö and spent a whole day filming and directing us: raise your right hand, stand over there on the left, now you can move forward. I had to say a few well-chosen words, as I was the main person in charge, but otherwise a narrator’s voice and some explanatory text were used. When the film was finished, the researchers watched it, commented and suggested some changes, and finally we gave our approval.

The film was about 10 minutes long, says Anders Blomberg. – Of course, you can’t include everything, but it is important to choose the most essential aspects or elements that are difficult to explain in a piece of text. We thought it would be very expensive considering all the work. But publishing a video, along with our article, did not cost much more than a regular article. However, we chose a slightly more expensive version that is open access.

JOVE IS A UNIQUE journal that focuses on videos. But also other more established journals, such as Nature, PNAS and BMC Biology, often publish additional material for their articles, which can include videos. – Videos have many scientific advantages. Of course, it is easier to understand how a method is actually performed if you see a person doing certain elements, and not just read about it. Furthermore, videos can of course be used in teaching and often work better than a demonstration in real life in a laboratory, where it can be difficult for all the students to really see all the steps. But videos can also save a lot of time and unnecessary travel. For example, if one of my doctoral students wants to learn a method used by a

A picture from the published video about the cultivation of barnacles, which shows Martin Ogemark at Tjärnö marine laboratory putting panels of barnacles down into the cultivation troughs.

However, videos and other digital solutions can be a good complement to demonstrate a process or a method, or to visualize something that can be difficult to accurately describe in words.

colleague in the United States, I may not need to send her across the globe. Instead, I can ask her to watch an explanatory video and, based on that, she can ask my colleague questions via Zoom, for example.

HOWEVER, Anders Blomberg does not believe that videos and other digital possibilities will replace text-based articles. – There is a reason why researchers write articles. They are rational, economical, easily accessible and work well for deeper analyses and reasoning. So written articles will probably be the main way to communicate research for the foreseeable future. However, videos and other digital solutions can be a good complement to demonstrate a process or a method, or to visualize something that can be difficult to accurately describe in words.

FACTS

JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments, is a journal that primarily publishes experiments and methods using videos. Many traditional journals today also have additional material in the form of videos.