BiomedExperts: Unlocking the Potential of the Internet to Advance Collaborative Research in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

Like them or not, most of us are aware of the massive success of Facebook and MySpace, the multi-billion dollar social networking Internet sites launched early in the 21st century. These Websites have more than 180 million active users worldwide with the sites attracting hundreds and thousands of new users every day. Rather less well known is the BiomedExperts Website. This is the first literature-based scientific social network, bringing researchers together and allowing them to collaborate online. This interface is provided free of charge by Collexis (Collexis Holdings, Columbia, SC) to researchers worldwide in an effort to increase collaborative biomedical research for the common good. BiomedExperts has the potential to allow plastic surgeons to contact each other through the display and analysis of the networks of coauthors with whom each investigator has collaborated with to publish scientific papers. The comprehensive system of expert profiles, coupled with the ability to analyze all associated professional connections within the coauthor network, allows clinicians and researchers in various disciplines across organizations to share data and collaborate in ways never before considered. It is possible to analyze the expert profiles of more than 1.4 million scientists worldwide and explore your personal network, starting with your direct coauthors and moving on to the coauthors of your coauthors (see Fig. 1). It readily allows the identification of clinicians and researchers with the expertise you need in your broader multidisciplinary network through simple search interfaces. Following identification of researchers who you have identified via BiomedExperts, one may contact them and cultivate your professional network. Clinicians and researchers who have published over the last 10 years at least 3 papers that are indexed in the PubMed database can validate a precalculated expert profile and network in a simple registration process. BiomedExperts offers the exciting opportunity to put together multidisciplinary teams to tackle important clinical and basic science research projects in plastic and reconstructive surgery. It allows basic scientists to find out which clinical investigators are working in their areas and vice versa. BiomedExperts also has the ability to augment faculty and departmental Websites with visual representations of faculty research networks across the globe (see Fig. 2) and expert profiles.