Profile-Moshe Pritsker
Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE)
48 Grove Street
Profi le-Moshe Pritsker
-
Interview — Moshe Pritsker
from page 49
Our prices are significantly lower for M.Sc.
and B.Sc. level institutions.
Currently, nearly 200 institutions are
subscribed to JoVE, including such world leaders
in research and education as Harvard, MIT,
NIH, Stanford, Yale, UC Berkeley,
Princeton, and others. Overall, the list of subscribers
includes research universities, colleges, and
pharma companies.
ATG: Do you have peer reviewers? How
does the peer-reviewing process with with a
videojournal?
MP: The JoVE peer review is very similar
to the peer-review process in traditional text
journals. A video article is sent to three
anonymous reviewers who then provide their
comments on the video and text part of each article.
For example, they can say “I have a problem
with this specific procedure at 3 minute 5
second from the beginning of the video.”
ATG: How is this financed? Did you
obtain a grant? How will JoVE be supported
inthefuture?
MP: After its foundation in the end of
2006, JoVE was financed through an “angel”
investment received from a group of private
investors in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria.
As its operations grew, JoVE has implemented
a business model, which is very similar to the
models employed by other STM publishers.
The revenues come from author fees,
institutional subscriptions, and sponsorships from
companies. JoVE became profitable at the end
of 2009, and continues to grow.
The main difference between JoVE and
other STM publishers is the high cost of video
production which makes JoVE articles much
more expensive to produce. We have to
carefully walk the thin line between keeping our
operations sustainable and keeping our
subscription fees acceptable to institutions, especially
in these difficult library budget times.
ATG: We notice that you have “sponsored
articles.” What does that mean? Are these
peerreviewed?
MP: Sponsored articles means articles
where video-production fees are sponsored
by biotech companies, producers of research
tools. They are peer reviewed too, of course.
A disclaimer on sponsorship is included for
such articles.
ATG: How is JoVE indexed or made
available in the wider Internet community?
Is it indexed by ISI or will it be considered
forindexingthere?
MP: JoVE is indexed in MEDLINE/
PubMed and Chemical Abstracts/Scifinder .
We are considering an application to ISI.
ATG: This is an innovative and “next
generation” publication. What other similar
typesofendeavorsareyouawareof?
MP: I do not want to sound arrogant but I
did not hear about any other significant recent
against the grain
people profile
r Born and lived: Born in Russia, immigrated to Israel at age 16, came to U.S.
e as a Ph.D. student at age 26. For those who don’t know, “Moshe” is the Hebrew
k version of “Moses.”
s
t
i
r
early life: I was born in the city named Petrozavodsk, which is the North-West
part of the Soviet Union. I had a normal life of a normal Soviet school child. In
1990, at the age 16, I immigrated to Israel together with my parents, in the big
P wave of Russian-Jewish immigration. I went to study chemistry at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, and then continued for a master degree at the Weizmann
e Institute of Science. After the army service mandatory for every Israeli citizen, I
h decided to see the world and got into the Ph.D. program at Princeton, NJ.
s
professional career and activities: I got a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology
o from princeton University and a M.Sc. in Chemistry from the Weizmann institute
of science . I worked in a few research areas such as stem cells, genomics,
bioMinformatics, and HIV. The results of my research were published in well-known
scientific journals (PNAS, JBC, Genome Research and Biochemistry). For one
year, I was working as a post-doctoral researcher at the Massachusetts General
Hospital, affiliated with Harvard Medical school . Then I started JoVE.
faMily:
Single.
in My spare tiMe i like to:
favorite
ariely.
Read, watch movies.
Books:
Many. The last I read – Predictable Irrationality by dan
pHilosopHy:
Work hard, life is short.
Most MeMora Ble career ac Hieve Ment: First article published in a scientific
journal (PNAS) and the indexing of JoVE in pubMed
Grow JoVE big, make it
Goal i Hope to acHieve five years froM noW:
even more useful.
HoW/WHere do i see tHe indUstry in five
years: I think the STM publishing industry
will mainly remain the same because I do not
envision any viable alternatives to its current
business model or any significant changes in the
workflows/incentives governing the behavior of
end users, scientists, and students. Significant
changes, if they happen, will be generated by
technological developments such as the spread
of mobile devices, quality product improvements
(e.g., video), or changes in the economics of
science and education.
developments with respect to the format of
scientific articles. In general, with respect
(...truncated)