Science Signaling: Research, Teach, and Discover with the Weekly Journal
Devoted to Cellular Signal Transduction
Nancy R. Gough, Ph.D., Editor
Science Signaling
June 2011
What Is Signal Transduction?
Signal transduction is the molecular processes by which cells respond to cues in their internal or external environment.
Signal transduction mechanisms are targets for drug development.
Signal transduction research is an intensely active field of biomedical research and is of interest to a broad array of scientists.
330,683 results in PubMed for “signal transduction”
482,130 results in PubMed for “signaling OR signalling”
Who Studies Signal Transduction?
Biochemistry Bioinformatics Cell Biology Development Host-Pathogen Interactions Immunology Microbiology Molecular Biology Neuroscience Plant Biology Pharmacology Physiology and Medicine Systems Biology
Signal transduction is multidisciplinary:
A Primary Research Journal
January 2008: Change name from Science’s STKE to Science Signaling
September 2008: First issue containing Research Articles
August 2010: First issue containing Research Resources
53 selected in Faculty of 1000
Indexed in PubMed, Google and Google Scholar, and Thomson Web of Science
Research Content
Research ArticlesHypothesis-driven research leading
to major advances in understanding cell regulation, especially research with impact across multiple disciplines in the biological sciences
~8-12 per monthly print compilation
Research ResourcesNonhypothesis-driven papers
relevant to signal research, including analysis of validated datasets and development of new tools, methods or techniques
~2 per month print compilation
Journal Content
Editorial Guides EditorialsEditors’ ChoiceResearch Articles and ResourcesPerspectivesReviewsProtocolsJournal ClubMeeting Reports
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Editorial Guides come in two flavors: Editorial Style written by scientists, and Focus Issue introductions written by the editors; Editors’ Choice are short summaries of hot signaling papers published in other journals and are written by the editors; Research Articles and Resources are primary peer-reviewed research papers; most Reviews, Protocols, and Perspectives are solicited by Science Signaling editors; Journal Club articles are short commentary articles written by student authors; Meeting Reports are highlights of recent conferences or meetings and are written by one or more meeting attendees. All of these are exclusively available in Science Signaling.
Stay abreast of the latest updates to Science Signaling by signing up to receive weekly etoc alerts, or daily content alerts, or through your web browser with the weekly RSS feed. The folders allow readers to collate and organize information in Science Signaling. Both the Display Settings and Saved Searches allow readers to customize their searches and the results when those search are performed using the Science Signaling search interface. The Directory provides readers a place to share contact information and research topics to maximize networking opportunities.
Complements Science
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This is an example of a Science Signaling Focus Issue that was part of a Science Online Special Collection, that included Science, Science Signaling, and Science Translational Medicine.
Focus Issues
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Science Signaling also publishes stand-alone Focus Issues on hot topics in cell signaling. There is usually one Focus Issue per month.
Community
Directory
Events, Meeting Reports, Presentations
E-Letters
Forums
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Briefly, I will describe the features in the Community section of the site. Some of these sections appear in the weekly table of contents and some of these are strictly part of the Knowledge Environment. The Directory provides a searchable index of signal transduction researchers for networking, and collaborations. The Events calendar provides a list of meetings, conferences, and workshops relevant to cell signaling. E-Letters and Forums are opportunities to comment on a specific paper (E-Letters) or to participate in open thematically organized discussions without having to leave the lab. Meeting Reports, which are also published in the weekly journal and included in the print compilaiton, provide summaries of recent conferences, allowing even those who could not attend the meeting an opportunity to glimpse the latest findings. Presentations are generally invited by the Science Signaling Editors and include a slideshow of a particularly interesting talk, along with a text description of each slide so that readers can understand the presentation even if they didn’t see it in person.
Resources
Teaching Resources
Glossary
Podcasts
ST NetWatch
Jobs
Funding Sources
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Presentation Notes
Science Signaling offers several features relevant for education, either from a student perspective or that of the instructor. The Teaching Resources, which are included on the weekly table of contents, offer many kinds of online materials for teaching the complex topics related to signal transduction and cellular regulation. These range from animations created by professional artists to illustrate concepts presented in content in other parts of the journal, information for organizing particular lectures or entire courses, details for performing undergraduate laboratory exercises, among others. The Glossary helps even the experts make sense of the acronym soup that signaling research can seem, and Podcasts, which are usually short ~10-15 minute conversations with recent authors of Science Signaling research papers, provide an easy to understand synopsis of the importance and implications of their research findings. ST NetWatch provides an editor-vetted organized list of online resources relevant for performing cell signaling research, bioinformatics tools for analyzing datasets, education web sites, and databases important for signaling researchers. The editors also provide a short summary of the features of each site and although these can be suggested by the community, each is editorially evaluated before inclusion in ST NetWatch. No lab would function without access to funding sources and this section of the site includes grant and training opportunities. The Jobs section provides an interface for searching the Science Careers jobs database.
Leveraging Online Opportunities
Database of Cell Signaling
Presentations
Interactive Structures
Links in references to articles online
Serendipitous discovery tools
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Because Science Signaling is an online journal and knowledge environment, it provides unique opportunities for AAAS to leverage the web to bring science to life and to help readers make new connections. I will describe a few examples to illustrate some of these features.
Leveraging Online Opportunities
From questions to answers to knowledge
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Because Science Signaling is an online journal and knowledge environment, it provides unique opportunities for AAAS to leverage the web to bring science to life and to help readers make new connections. I will describe a few examples to illustrate some of these features. Imagine that you have performed a screen and you get Wnt, which is known to be involved in cancer and also in development, but you know nothing about this protein or the pathways in which it functions.
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So, you get the following results and you decide to see the latest research on this pathway.
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The Editor’s Summary is a short editor-written synopsis of the paper, less detailed than the scientific abstract, this summary allows readers to grasp the essence and impact of the research in just a few sentences.
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From the Editor’s Summary, readers can easily access the full text (HTML) view or the PDF of the paper.
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As you read the full text, the reference section will include links to the full text of cited papers that are also published in journals hosted by HighWire Press. Additional links include those to CrossRef, Medline (PubMed), and ISI Web of Science.
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The Article Tools provides access to many features helpful for the reader. For example, you may decide that you want to save this article into your personal folders.
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Once a paper has been added to your personal folders, then you can organize those folders in the best way for you.
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Returning to the article view, we find that the editors have identified other resources that may be useful. One that is unique to Science Signaling is the Presentation, so you decide to explore that one further.
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Presentations are slideshows, most often of talks presented at meetings or conferences, and these provide both the slideshow and a text (PDF or HTML) so that the reader can understand each slide and follow along at their own pace.
Serendipitious Discovery Tools
Resources for Researchers and Educators
Research Article Related Resources Folders Alerts Cited By
Slides Podcast Database of
Cell Signaling Animations
RESEARCHER EDUCATOR
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Science Signaling has many features and tools that could be useful for research or teaching.
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Science Signaling offers slides of each figure, which can be useful if you are teaching or if you need to present your published work or make a pitch for a new avenue of commercial research.
Published by AAAS M. B. Major et al., Sci. Signal. 1, ra12 (2008)
Fig. 1 An extensively validated mammalian genome-wide siRNAscreen of the Wnt/{beta}-catenin signal transduction pathway