I'd be interested!!  And not just in articles using my type of confocal - but
all the vendors.  I don't have Current Contents at the moment but I might be
able to be of some help in the compilation if I can get access.  I happen to be
a BioRad user from way back!
 
Sue DeMaggio
UC Irvine
 
 
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Vendor-specific publications
Author:  Confocal Microscopy List <[log in to unmask]> at biosmtp
Date:    1/31/95 2:31 PM
 
 
I wanted to summarize the responses to my ill-fated suggestion about
tracking specific equipment
usage via having authors index vendor names in articles. First of all,
I thank Mol. Probes and Zeiss for replies: I appreciate contributions
(and corrections) from the vendors themselves. Since Mol. Probes is
spending manhours to search the literature, it seems clear that this is
not an "effortless" task if it is to be successful. Zeiss's request for
authors to send reprints is fair, but frankly we will forget and be
grossly incomplete. I agree with the comment that placing the vendor name
in keywords or somewhere else in the database is the beginning of a
potentially endless clutter: suggestion withdrawn.
 
Why track users at all? The benefit is for both vendors (who need to
show the utility of their wares) and users (i.e. this creates the resource
of an extended  base of users and their applied methodology). We all know
how helpful the excellent Mol.Probes reference lists can be when trying to
figure  out how to answer a new question.
 
Who should do it? I would like to suggest a solution for everyone to
edit (and/or destroy). I suggest a collaboration between the vendors and
one of their (interested) users who has access to Current Contents on
computer. Once every six months, the user can run a standard computer
search based on CONFOCAL and <INSTITUTIONS WHICH HAVE YOUR INSTRUMENT>.
The latter list would be supplied by the vendor. Then a
second tier of search can identify (and print out) which of these
references contain one or more folks from the  <LIST OF KNOWN USERS>. The
remaining references can be read individually by the vendor to find if
they apply to their instrument. The final list can be circulated (free by
e-mail) to the known users. I think this is realistic. Over the last 6
months, there have been a total of about 600 confocal references: which
includes all vendors. I predict the library run will only have to find
10-20 references every 6 months.
 
I would love getting this list on a regular basis, to keep up with the
current applications of the instrument and those folk who have
successfully done the work (plus I just love reading about new confocal
stuff). Am I barking up the wrong tree, fellow confocalists? Any vendors
interested? Any volunteers on either side of the street?
 
Chip Montrose, troublemaker
Johns Hopkins u.