A little over one year ago, it was announced that video abstracts would soon become an option for authors of AJP articles.1 For a short period of time following that announcement, we worked with authors to produce what we believe are exemplars for what a video abstract should look like. I invite you to spend some time viewing these videos on the AJP website right now; I want you to see just how compelling a well produced video abstract can be. For your convenience (and at the risk of being accused of trying to manipulate the journal's impact factor2), I include here a list of all the articles that have already appeared in AJP accompanied by video abstracts:
“Editorial—Video abstracts now available” (Ref. 1)
“Weight of an hourglass—Theory and experiment in quantitative experiment” (Ref. 3)
“Relating Brownian motion to diffusion with superparamagnetic colloids” (Ref. 4)
“Inexpensive robots used to teach dc circuits and electronics” (Ref. 5)
“A quantitative analysis of the chain fountain” (Ref. 6)
“Magnetic cannon: The physics of the Gauss rifle” (Ref. 7)
“Dripping faucet in extreme spatial and temporal resolution” (Ref. 8)
“The physics of a popsicle stick bomb” (Ref. 9)
“Unmixing demonstration with a twist: A photochromic Taylor-Couette device” (Ref. 10)
“Demonstrating the conservation of angular momentum using spherical magnets” (Ref. 11)
“Oscillations in a half-empty bottle” (Ref. 12)
“An optical levitation system for a physics teaching laboratory” (Ref. 13)
“A study of kinetic friction: The Timoshenko oscillator” (Ref. 14)
We live in a time when it is relatively easy to create and post videos on the web. The downside of this, of course, is that there are a lot of lousy videos being posted, and some of them are linked to journals. Anyone viewing a few of the videos listed above will understand that AJP wants to impose the same high standards on videos as with its text. Please do not be intimidated by this. Rather, take it as a promise that we will do what needs to be done to help you reach those standards. As stated previously,1 if a picture is worth a thousand words, a video may be worth a million. Video abstracts will not only draw in readers in a way that traditional abstracts cannot—thereby increasing interest in the article—they work magnificently in conjunction with the text to clarify often subtle ideas that may be hard to visualize.
After the announcement that video abstracts were an option for authors, we initially received a fairly steady stream of video submissions. In fact, it seemed as though there would soon be a few video abstracts in every issue. However, the submission rate has since slowed down, so it seems like an appropriate time to remind authors of this feature and to clarify the type of assistance we can provide.
If you have little to no experience editing video, you might think it is difficult and time consuming to produce a video abstract. If you find yourself in this camp, please be aware that I can provide significant assistance. This help can be as simple as adding voice-over narration to an author-supplied video (yes, that is my voice you hear on some of the videos above), or as involved as splicing together pictures and videos and adding appropriate transitions and captions as needed. I recently worked with one author who was hesitant to proceed because he knew very little about the technology. But after supplying the raw material, it took less than an hour to create the video abstract and he was quite enthusiastic about the final result, as were many readers. In other words, as long as you provide the appropriate material—videos, pictures, and a basic script—I can act as your own personal video-editing assistant. Think of it as a pat on the back for getting your article accepted in AJP.
If you are interested in having a video abstract included with your article, be sure to notify the editor once your article has been accepted for publication. Then, you can either create the video yourself or consult with me about how to proceed. In either case, you should read the original announcement,1 which includes a number of helpful guidelines. I have been very impressed with the overall quality of the video abstracts that have appeared in AJP so far, and I look forward to seeing many more in the years to come. Perhaps yours will be one of those.
