EPUB3 for integrated and customizable representation of a scientific publication and its associated resources

Abstract

Scientific publications point to many associated resources, including videos, prototypes, slides, and datasets. However, discovering and accessing these resources is not always straightforward: links could be broken, readers may be offline, or the number of associated resources might make it difficult to keep track of the viewing order. In this paper, we explore potential integration of such resources into the digital version of a scientific publication. Specifically, we evaluate the most common scientific publication formats in terms of their capability to implement the desirable attributes of an enhanced publication and to meet the functional goals of an enhanced publication information sys- Tem: PDF, HTML, EPUB2, and EPUB3. In addition, we present an EPUB3 version of an exemplary publication in the field of computer science, integrating and interlinking an explanatory video and an interactive prototype. Finally, we introduce a demonstrator that is capable of outputting customized scientific publications in EPUB3. By making use of EPUB3 to create an integrated and customizable representation of a scientific publication and its associated resources, we believe that we are able to augment the reading experience of scholarly publications, and thus the effectiveness of scientific communication.