Disputes Over Text-Mining

Computer programs that trawl research papers can reveal important large-scale patterns and facilitate further research, but publishers are wary.

| 2 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
2:00
Share

FLICKR, ROBERT CUDMOREResearchers are increasingly keen to use computer programs that scour the text of thousands of scientific papers, a method known as text-mining, but publishers tend to block such programs. The resulting disagreements are coming to a head, reported Nature, with the European Union set to rule on the legality of text-mining, and researchers and publishers discussing the terms by which the method can be used.

“Data- and text-mining techniques . . . could hold the key to the next medical breakthrough, if only we freed them from their current legal tangle,” Neelie Kroes, vice-president of the European Commission, told a Brussels intellectual-property summit last September, according to Nature.

Indeed, text-mining of the scientific literature has already proven useful. For example, Raul Rodriguez-Esteban, a computational biologist at drug company Boehringer Ingelheim in Connecticut, told Nature that he used the method to search roughly 23,000 articles to identify hundreds of proteins that ameliorate multiple sclerosis in a mouse model. He then identified other proteins that interacted with them to find potential drug targets.

But it can take years to negotiate agreements with publishers to trawl their content, if permission is granted at ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Keywords

Meet the Author

  • Dan Cossins

    This person does not yet have a bio.
Share
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

sartorius logo
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo

Products

Photo of a researcher overseeing large scale production processes in a laboratory.

Scaling Lentiviral Vector Manufacturing for Optimal Productivity

Thermo Fisher Logo
Discover a serum-free way to produce dendritic cells and macrophages for cell therapy applications.

Optimizing In Vitro Production of Monocyte-Derived Dendritic Cells and Macrophages

Thermo Fisher Logo
Collage-style urban graphic of wastewater surveillance and treatment

Putting Pathogens to the Test with Wastewater Surveillance

An illustration of an mRNA molecule in front of a multicolored background.

Generating High-Quality mRNA for In Vivo Delivery with Lipid Nanoparticles

Thermo Fisher Logo