Weekly News Digest

Intellext, Inc. (http://www.intellext.com) announced that the new version 2.4 of its free Watson search tool is now fully customizable. This feature was previously only available in Watson Professional, the licensed version of the proactive search tool. In addition to traditional Web search engines, blog search engines, and news and shopping sites, users can now also tap into additional sources including networking sites MySpace and LinkedIn and premium news sites like The Wall Street Journal Online.

The company expects that social networking sites will continue to claim an increasing share of search queries; thus it has adapted Watson to bring the social networking experience to users when they are away from the individual sites. MySpace users can discover and make new connections, as Watson understands what a user is doing online, such as checking out a new band or movie, and finds other MySpace users with similar interests. For LinkedIn users, Watson automatically finds people in the user's LinkedIn network, such as when a user is researching a potential customer, proactively presenting networking opportunities the user might not have thought to seek out. In this way Watson is designed to become a networking tool, not just a search tool, allowing users to collaborate and stay connected.

The company has also introduced add-ons for users to search Friendster, The Wall Street Journal Online, PubMed, and blog search engine Feedster, among others. Users can also learn to add additional sources of their own at http://www.intellext.com/addons.

Watson Professional remains available for users and enterprises who do not wish to see text advertisements and who want priority technical and customer support. The products are otherwise identical. Users and enterprises now have a choice between ad-supported, subscription, and license models.

Source: Intellext, Inc.

CrossRef (http://www.crossref.org), the cross-publisher linking network with more than 1,600 participating publishers, announced that it had reached an agreement with Microsoft Corp., which will become the first official CrossRef Web Services Search Partner. CrossRef will provide Microsoft with a bulk feed of metadata from hundreds of participating CrossRef member publishers. Microsoft is using CrossRef Web Services to assist in the indexing of scholarly content for Windows Live Academic Search, a beta of which launched in April 2006 (http://academic.live.com).

CrossRef Web Services offers an easy-to-use tool for authorized search partners to collect metadata on a cross-publisher basis to streamline Web crawling. The program also provides standard terms and conditions for search engines using the cross-publisher metadata available through CrossRef. Just as the core CrossRef linking service removes the need for bilateral linking agreements among publishers, the Search Partner Program removes the need for bilateral agreements covering use of metadata between publishers and search providers. Participation in CrossRef Web Services is optional for CrossRef member-publishers.

Source: CrossRef

Thomson Scientific (http://www.scientific.thomson.com) announced that it is collaborating with ScholarOne, Inc. (http://www.scholarone.com) and Blackwell Publishing (http://www.blackwellpublishing.com) to develop a simple process for manuscript review. The collaboration is designed to provide authors, editors, and reviewers with tools to enhance each stage of the manuscript review process.

These tools will integrate elements of ScholarOne Manuscript Central with Web of Science and EndNote from Thomson Scientific, making it possible for authors to create their manuscripts in EndNote and seamlessly submit them for review using Manuscript Central. Additionally, reviewers and editors using Manuscript Central will have one-click access to times cited, related records, and links to the full record in Web of Science from manuscripts. New task-focused tools developed for Manuscript Central will interact in real time with the Web of Science, so editors can easily find reviewers and check references for completeness and reviewers can place an author's new work in its entire research context with a single click. Blackwell Publishing will collaborate in the application of these tools before they are made available to the publishing community at a later date.

ScholarOne provides comprehensive work flow management systems for scholarly journals, books, and conferences. Blackwell Publishing is a leading society publisher, partnering with 665 academic, medical, and professional societies. Blackwell publishes more than 800 journals and has published close to 6,000 books, across a wide range of academic, medical, and professional subjects.

Source: Thomson Scientific