A report from the International Mathematical Union (IMU) in cooperation with the International Council of Industrial
and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM) and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS).

This is a report about the use and misuse of citation data in the assessment of scientific research. The idea that research assessment must be done using "simple and objective" methods is increasingly prevalent today. The "simple and objective" methods are broadly interpreted as bibliometrics, that is, citation data and the statistics derived from them. There is a belief that citation statistics are inherently more accurate because they substitute simple numbers for complex judgments, and hence overcome the possible subjectivity of peer review. But this belief is unfounded.

For the full report, go to: http://www.mathunion.org/fileadmin/IMU/Report/CitationStatistics.pdf

Posted by Peggy Dominy at 08:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, I am embarrassed to say that I haven't been to the American Mathematical
Society web site for quite awhile. Although, I do use MathSciNet regularly. Anyway, I have just discovered Mathematical Moments. The Mathematical Moments program promotes appreciation and understanding of the role mathematics plays in science, nature, technology, and human culture via podcasts. In addition, a few display the national flags of various countries, by selecting the flag icon, you can hear the podcast in that language. Also, there are links to supplemental resources (web sites and pdf documents). Some examples of topics of the podcasts are: Bending It Like Bernoulli, Burying Carbon Dioxide, Finding Fake Photos, Predicting Storm Surge. There many more.

If this is news to you, please check it out.

Posted by Peggy Dominy at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There is a new, online-only journal from SIAM:
SIAM Journal on Imaging Sciences http://epubs.siam.org/SIIMS/siims_toc.html

-- first articles are now available.

Access is free during 2008.

Posted by Peggy Dominy at 07:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Great News! Project Euclid is now hosting the Hiroshima Mathematical Journal back to 1961 as open access.

In the meantime, you can check it out at: http://projecteuclid.org/DPubS?service=UI&version=1.0&verb=Display&handle=euclid.hmj

Posted by Peggy Dominy at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A few new electronic math books recently added to the catalog:

Algebraic geometry [electronic resource] : a volume in memory of Paolo Francia / editors, M.C. Beltrametti ... [et al.]. QA564 .A19 2002eb

An introduction to abstract algebra [electronic resource] / Derek J.S. Robinson. QA162 .R63 2003eb

An introduction to the geometry of stochastic flows [electronic resource] / Fabrice Baudoin. QA274.2 .B38 2004eb

Automatic sequences [electronic resource] / by Friedrich von Haeseler. QA292 .H34 2003eb

Beyond beta [electronic resource] : other continuous families of distributions with bounded support and applications / Samuel Kotz, Johan Rene van Dorp. QA324 .K68 2004eb

Bifurcation theory and applications [electronic resource] / Tian Ma, Shouhong Wang. QA380 .M3 2005eb

Elliptic curves [electronic resource] : a computational approach / Susanne Schmitt, Horst G. Zimmer with an appendix by Attila Pethö. QA567.2.E44 S35 2003eb

Equivariant degree theory [electronic resource] / Jorge Ize, Alfonso Vignoli. QA612 .I94 2003eb

Trigonometric sums in number theory and analysis [electronic resource] / by G.I. Arkhipov, V.N. Chubarikov, A.A. Karatsuba. QA246.8.T75 A75 2004eb

Three courses on partial differential equations [electronic resource] / editor, Eric Sonnendrücker. QA377 .T526 2003eb

The Reidemeister torsion of 3-manifolds [electronic resource] / Liviu I. Nicolaescu. QA613.2 .N53 2003eb

The determinacy of long games [electronic resource] / Itay Neeman. QA269 .N44 2004eb

Test your numerical aptitude [electronic resource] : how to assess your numeracy skills and plan your career / Jim Barrett. QA141 .B34 2007eb

Posted by Peggy Dominy at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)