1. NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE
Defining the Next Generation Journal: The NLM-Elsevier Experiment Interactive Publications and the Record of Science ICSTI Winter Workshop Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France February 8, 2010
Elliot R. Siegel, Ph.D.
Associate Director
National Library of Medicine
National Institutes of Health
Department of Health and Human Services
Bethesda, Maryland USA

2. Objective: Design and Conducted Controlled Experiment
Demonstrate benefits of interactive journal article vs conventional publication
Hypothesis: Knowledge acquisition and reader acceptance better with enhanced article
Recruit ‘digital native’ medical students to identify desired enhancements
Use medical students as test subjects

3. Collaborators
National Library of Medicine – Elliot Siegel, Sheldon Kotzin, Michael Ackerman
Elsevier Science – Glen Campbell, Diane Bartoli
Student National Medical Association – Wallace Davenport, Rory Goodwin
Interactive Drama, Inc. – William Harless, Robert Duncan

4. Procedures
Medical students (n= 15) reviewed 12 candidate journal articles
Urology article selected – “Prognostic Factors in Stage T1 Bladder Cancer”
Enhanced version prototype developed
Contains both user-invoked features and presentational improvements

5. Conventionally Printed Article

6. Experimental Interactive Version

7. Experimental Interactive Version

8. Methods
Medical students (n=51) randomly assigned to experimental (n=28) and control (n=23) conditions
Articles pre-loaded on 20 individual workstations at UMAB Computer Lab
Students read assigned experimental or control article
Completed pre- and post-test instruments measuring knowledge gain on 30 true-false and multiple choice questions validated by medical experts
Acceptance of article format measured by 7 Likert-type questions

9. Results
Dependent measure of knowledge acquisition showed no difference overall (30 questions)
Significant gain on content accessible by user-invoked interactive features (10 questions)
Significant interactions by student year and gender
Second year students were best performers with both articles
Female students benefitted more from enhanced article
Acceptance greater for experimental article