Video Abstracts in a Physics Journal

The New Journal of Physics, which is an open-access journal from the Institute of Physics, has started to allow authors to submit video abstracts with their papers.

This is really cool because it gives authors a chance to explain their work in a more accessible and detailed way. Video abstracts are allowed to be up to 4 minutes long. That may not seem like much, but when you compare it to trying to fit all the important details of your paper in a 200 word abstract, it is really an eternity.

Besides the advantage for the authors, people like you and me can watch the videos and get a better understanding of what the paper is about. This is particularly useful if the subject is not in your field of expertise.

Researchers are already saying how much they think this is a good idea

‘Research is a human journey. The internet was invented to bring human beings together. To meet a researcher through an internet video is to be part of this adventure. New Journal of Physics is a high-quality journal at the forefront of current physics discoveries. NJP video abstracts humanize this journey somehow.’
Germain Rousseaux, Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, France (Rousseaux et al2010 New J. Phys.12095018)

I can’t embed any videos on a free WordPress blog (I might get my domain soon so I can do stuff like that), but here is what a reference page looks like with a video abstract.

Science and the internet. A perfect match.