On the PROW

Abstract

Using the URL at the [end][1] of this item, readers can immediately offer feedback and suggestions on this topic. Protein Reviews on the Web (PROW; [www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/prow/][2]) [[HN1][3]] is an online knowledge environment that organizes human protein and gene information. As a proof of principle, the editors of PROW have first tackled human cell-surface molecules (CD). There are approximately 200 human CD cell-surface molecules, and information about each of them is available on this Web site. The content on PROW is a combination of “PROW Guides,” peer reviewed contributions from selected experts in the field and “Forum entries,” which are open World Wide Web submissions. The latter are reviewed by editors before appearing on the site. PROW can be searched by entering query terms or viewing an index. For each molecule, short reviews are available in bullet format. Hypertext links to other Web resources such as SwissProt, Mendelian Inheritance in Man, and Medline/PubMed are available to add more depth to the content. Viewers are encouraged to provide feedback by adding comments that can be linked to the review. In principle, the PROW approach can be applied to other families of molecules. The open, global approach of PROW is a highly laudable one, but for it and other similar Web-based projects to be sustainable, contributions from many authors will be essential. Over time, it may be hard to solicit submissions on goodwill alone. Perhaps academic tenure boards will start taking into consideration an author's track record for publishing in sites such as PROW. Digital Mailbox:[www.sciencemag.org/dmail.cgi?53543][4] ### Numbered Hypernotes 1. [PROW][2] is a Web resource/journal from the [National Center for Biotechnology Information][5]. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.279.5354.1231a [2]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/prow/ [3]: #p-7 [4]: http://www.sciencemag.org/dmail.cgi?53543 [5]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/