'Blogs firmly established as means of scientific communication'

A voice from Latin America:

Many scientists use science blogs to post information on their work and receive comments from other scientists and from people outside the usual circle of readers. Some authors even suggest posting in blogs part of their works before publishing them, in order to exchange ideas and bring new perspectives. Scientists who use blogs consider them a complement to - not a replacement of - scientific journals, since they represent documents that do not substitute articles, but that establish a maturing stage of scientific work preparation, which is static and limited in terms of scope. However, many scientists still see blogs as a distraction from the real world and believe they do not gain much by commenting their work with lay people or specialists from other fields. Some consider attractive the possibility of communication through blogs, but do it anonymously, afraid of being deemed as not serious, or criticized for dedicating time to tasks that are not acknowledged as academic activities.