Kirsty Meddings of Crossref demonstrates the depth of information that’s available to researchers via Crossmark.

Recorded 4 January 2017 at a MedComms Networking event in Oxford. Produced by NetworkPharma.tv

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ABSTRACT:

Crossmark is a service run by Crossref.  Signaled by a red and blue symbol on the front page of journal articles and other content, Crossmark provides readers with quick, easy access to the current status of indexed content. On clicking the button, readers can see if content has been updated, corrected or retracted, and access further potentially valuable metadata provided by the publisher. 

Arguably the most important thing about Crossmark is that it relates the publication status of a piece of content, i.e. anything that happens after publications that may affect crediting or interpretation of the work.  Crossmark provides a consistent and reliable way for readers to be notified about such changes, which is particularly important where PDFs are concerned.  When the publisher has added a Crossmark button, this will pop up a webpage advising the current status of the document, provided the researcher is online. In most instances, the update will be a confirmation that the document is current.  Occasionally there will be a link to a message ‘Updates are available’ or, rarely, ‘Retraction’.

Alongside status updates, the Crossmark button provides publishers with an opportunity to showcase a wealth of extra metadata, e.g. re:

  • Funding behind the research
  • Authors’ ORCIDs
  • Publication history
  • Rights and licensing information
  • Links to other publications on the same clinical trial
  • Further information, e.g. re the publishing process.

All together 340 publishers are now applying the Crossmark button across 15,000 journals, amounting to 4.3 million Crossmark buttons on scholarly publications, and growing.

Written by Penny Gray, Freelance Medical Writer

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We are building a library of free webcasts, like this one, for the global MedComms Community and others at http://www.networkpharma.tv and we’d welcome your suggestions for new topics and speakers.

Full details of this MedComms Networking event are at http://medcommsnetworking.com/event83.html

Kirsty’s presentation (PDF format) is at http://medcommsnetworking.com/presentations/meddings_040117.pdf

Kirsty’s Linkedin page is at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirstymeddings/

More about Crossref can be found at http://www.crossref.org

Filming and technical direction by Mario Crispino, Freelance Cameraman & Editor

[For the avoidance of doubt: this video is intended to be freely accessible to all. Please feel free to share and use however you like. Cheers, Peter Llewellyn, Director NetworkPharma Ltd and Founder of the MedComms Networking Community activity at http://www.medcommsnetworking.com]