sciPROOF  

By Dale Farris, Secretary Golden Triangle PC Club June 2005 sciPROOF is innovative software designed to streamline the scientific writing process. Seamlessly integrated with Microsoft Office, sciPROOF verifies scientific spelling and styles. Style includes font styles, e.g. italics, bold, underline, and font effects such as sub- and superscripting and ALL CAPS. The program comes equipped with a powerful database engine that includes over 250,000 technical, scientific, medical and chemical terms from the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). Other tools for scientific writing such as reference searching and glossaries are also included. sciPROOF improves accuracy and saves users countless hours of formatting and proofreading. The sciPROOF program supports all languages that are configured during the installation of Microsoft Office. For example, if support for English, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, etc., is installed, then sciPROOF will support all of these languages. Please note that all terms in the current sciPROOF database are in English (US), however, terms in any language configured in Office can be added. Features The sciPROOF program seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Office and works with Microsoft Word, Outlook, Outlook Express, Power Point, Front Page, Excel, Access, Visio, Publisher, One Note and Microsoft Project. The sciPROOF databases currently contain over 250,000 scientific, medical and chemical terms from the US National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), including all Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). MeSH is the National Library of Medicine's controlled vocabulary list that is used for reference searching at various levels of specificity. Spell Checker: The sciPROOF spell checker works in conjunction with the native Microsoft Office spell checker. The native Office spell checker first evaluates terms and then "sends" unrecognized terms to sciPROOF. If sciPROOF recognizes the term, it will "instruct" Office not to mark the word as unrecognized (removes the red squiggly line). If the term is misspelled, then sciPROOF will display appropriate spelling suggestion(s). It is important to note that since the Office and sciPROOF spell checkers work together, it is not necessary to re-add custom terms to sciPROOF that have been previously added to the native spell checker. Style Checker: In conjunction with spellchecking, sciPROOF verifies text styles, including font styles, e.g. italics, bold, underline, and font effects such as sub- and superscripting and ALL CAPS. While spellchecking a document, sciPROOF will scan a paragraph first for spelling and then for styles according to the style information stored in active sciPROOF databases. Greek Symbol Checker: The sciPROOF database includes the entire Greek Alphabet. This feature was designed to ensure proper use of Greek symbols and to automate their insertion. For example, if the user typed "b-catenin" or "alpha, beta, gamma-immunoglobulin," then sciPROOF would suggest "b-catenin" and "a, b, g-immunoglobulin," respectively. Internet Searching: Through the sciPROOF interfaces, PubMed searches can be performed within your Word document. This is facilitated through a special sciPROOF link to the US National Library of Medicine. Search results are displayed through the user's native web browser. Google, Yahoo, All the Web, and MSN search engines are also included in the sciPROOF search interface. Scientific Glossary: sciPROOF includes a scientific glossary of over 30,000 terms from the US National Library of Medicine. This drop-down glossary is easily accessible while proofreading with sciPROOF and can be customized by the user. Options: sciPROOF was designed to be a dynamic and flexible program. Through the "sciPROOF Options" dialog, any or all features or term databases (dictionaries) of sciPROOF can be activated or deactivated. Editions There are two versions of sciPROOF, the Workstation (WSE) and Terminal Server Editions (TSE). Workstation Edition: This edition is designed for single and multiple non-concurrent users and is installed locally on the computer(s) with one of the following operating systems: Windows 98/ 98SE / Windows ME / Windows NT 4.0 Workstation / Windows 2000 Workstation / Windows XP. Terminal Server Edition: This edition is designed for multiple concurrent users and can be installed on and run through any Terminal Server with Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003 and one of the following operating systems: Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server / Windows 2000 Advanced Server / Windows 2003. The Workstation Edition is ideal for personal use and is available for all local accounts. The Terminal Server Edition is cost-effective for large groups and the technical support is minimized since sciPROOF is installed on one computer only. Spelling and Style Checking Activate the "Check with sciPROOF" button, located on the Word toolbar, the context (“right-click”) menu, and in the Word Tools > sciPROOF menu, or the Ctrl+F7 shortcut key. This will open the spell/style-check dialog. Style/spell checking operates like the native Microsoft Word spell checker. Within this spell/style-checking dialog box, spelling errors and unrecognized terms will be flagged in red, and terms with style suggestions will be flagged in blue. The sciPPOOF style/spell-checker works with the native Microsoft Word spell checker so that common words, words that have been added to Word's custom dictionary, and grammar are also checked though this dialog. Searching Local Databases and PubMed In the text, select the term to be searched. Activate the "Search/Modify Term" button, located on the Word toolbar, the context (“right-click”) menu, and in the Word Tools > sciPROOF menu, or the Ctrl+Num shortcut key. The "Search/Modify Term" button will search the local sciPROOF databases (PubMed and Custom1) for that term and will display definition(s), if any, for that term. If the same or similar term is in more than one database, the "Find Similar" button will be active (not gray) and will allow the user to toggle between databases to find all stored information (definitions and links) for the term searched. A PubMed search can be activated by double-clicking on the "Search with PubMed" link. This link can be accessed by activating the "Search/Modify Term" button or the "More" button, located on the spell/style-check dialog. Reference information is displayed through the user's native web browser. Modifying Terms Select the term to be modified. Activate the "Search/Modify Term" button, located on the Word toolbar, the context (“right-click”) menu, and in the Word Tools > sciPROOF menu, or the Ctrl+Num* shortcut key. Activate the "Edit term" button to open the Edit Term dialog. Select the character(s) of term to be modified. By default, the entire term is highlighted. Put a check in the box next to preferred style (Bold, Italic, Underline, Sub/superscript, Case, and Font) and activate the corresponding button. Style changes may be previewed in the "Term to be modified" window. Adding Terms, Definitions and Links New terms can be added to the sciPROOF database (Custom1) by highlighting the term in the text and activating the "Add Term" button, located on the Word toolbar and the Word Tools > sciPROOF menu, or the Ctrl+Num+ shortcut key. Terms can also be added by activating the "Add" button on the spell/style-checking dialog while proofreading. Both the "Add Term" and "Add" buttons will open the "Add Term" dialog. If there is no style, definitions or links to be included with term, click "OK" on the "Add Term" dialog and term will be added. To add style to term, click on the "Term Style" tab on the "Add Term" dialog. Put a check in the box next to the preferred style (Bold, Italic, Underline, Sub/superscript, Case, and Font) and activate the corresponding button. Style changes may be previewed in the "Term to be stored" window. To add definitions, click on the "Descriptions" tab on the "Add Term" dialog and activate the "Add new information" button. A blank field will appear to add new information. To add links, click on the "Descriptions" tab on the "Add Term" dialog and activate the "Add new link" button. Fill in the "link title" and "link URL" fields in the "Add link" dialog. NOTE: You must fill in the "Link title" field or the link cannot be displayed. NOTE: Style, definitions and links can be added to terms already in the sciPROOF or PubMed databases by highlighting specific terms and activating the "Search/Modify Term" button, located on the Word toolbar and in the Word Tools > sciPROOF menu, or it can be can be activated by the Ctrl+Num* shortcut key. IMPORTANT: Please note that sciPROOF works with Microsoft Word so that regular words and any custom terms that have been added to Word need not be added to the sciPROOF database. Deleting Terms from the sciPROOF Custom Database Select term to be deleted. Click the sciPROOF “Search/Modify” button. The term to be deleted will appear in the Search/Modify dialog. Click the “Delete” button on the Search/Modify dialog. Activating and Deactivating sciPROOF Databases The sciPROOF databases include: PubMed and PubMed 2 – Contains scientific, medical, and chemical terms. The terms in these databases can be modified. The user can set up styles, add definitions, notes, and WWW links. Greek symbols – Contains the entire Greek alphabet. This is a read-only database. Demo – Contains a set of “pre-styled” terms for demonstration purposes. This is a read only database. Custom 1 – Custom database for storing custom terms. User can add, modify or delete terms from this database. To deactivate any of the sciPROOF dictionaries, go to the “Available dictionaries” window on the sciPROOF Options dialog box. Highlight the database and click the "deactivate database" button (the garbage can icon). To re-activate databases, click the "Add database" button. Locate the database to be added (usually in your private database folder that you specified during installation (e.g. C:\Documents and Settings\John\Application Data\sciPROOF\database\) and click the "Open" button. The selected database will now be displayed in the “Available dictionaries” window. Target Customers sciPROOF is just what the scientist ordered. Now, instead of having to add all those complex scientific terms to the Word dictionary, you just add sciPROOF to your Word and it takes care of all the scientific term corrections for you. Without sciPROOF, scanning for complex scientific terms with Word's existing dictionary usually requires a few months of adding terms to the dictionary, as you go, when preparing the various documents in a specialized scientific field. sciPROOF simplifies this process and thus saves users countless hours of time they no longer have to spend laboriously configuring their Word dictionary. sciPROOF is tailor made for all medical professionals and scientists, especially those in laboratories and any of the many medical fields. The price of this amazing program is so realistic that sciPROOF belongs on the computers of all scientists who have to write narrative documents, as well as spell check all their email messages. sciPROOF also belongs on the computers in all university libraries, especially those that set aside workstations for students to use to prepare reports. System Requirements Windows 98, 98 SE, ME, NT 4 Workstation, 2000 Workstation, XP, NT 4 Terminal Server, 2000 Advanced Server, 2003 Office 2000, Office XP, Office 2003 15MB free hard disc space for executable components and common files 20MB in the Profiles folder to store personal databases for each account Please notice that if you install sciPROOF for more than one account, then you need more than 20 MB of free space in the Profiles folder. Price $129 $129 Government $  99 Academic Note: sciPROOF is only available in downloadable format. Contact the company for pricing for multiple licenses and for multiple student/academic pricing. $258 - Terminal Server Edition - Commercial and Government Price $198 - Terminal Server Edition - Academic Edition This edition is designed for multiple concurrent users and is installed on and run through a terminal server with one of the following operating systems: Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server / Windows 2000 Advanced Server / Windows 2003. NOTE: This edition cannot be installed on a workstation. Contact the company for pricing for the Terminal Server Edition for multiple, concurrent users. About sciPROOF, LLC SCIPROOF LLC, founded in 1999, is a privately held company headquartered in Portland, OR. It is a leading developer of innovative proofreading technology for scientific writing, editing, and publishing. Through licenses with the United States National Library of Medicine and the National Center for Biotechnology Information, SCIPROOF guarantees that its products ship with the most comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date information. SCIPROOF's flagship product sciPROOF was released in late 2002 and continues to evolve as a comprehensive scientific editing/publishing tool. sciPROOF is currently packaged and sold as an add-on for Microsoft Office. SCIPROOF has a strong belief that customer feedback is the single most important resource for successful product development and evolution. All product feedback is channeled directly to our development team for critical evaluation. We hope to have productive, long-term relationships with our customers and are committed to providing the best possible support. In 2004, SCIPROOF formed a partnership with Thomson ResearchSoft (www.researchsoft.com) to co-market sciPROOF worldwide and to improve workflow between their respective products to increase productivity for scientific researchers. Thomson ResearchSoft, a business of the Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com), is the maker of EndNote, Reference Manager, ProCite, RefViz, and WriteNote--bibliographic management and text analysis solutions for the desktop and Web. These programs, used by researchers worldwide, are industry standards. The Thomson Corporation, with 2004 revenues from continuing operations of $8.1 billion, is a global leader in providing integrated information solutions to business and professional customers. The Corporation's common shares are listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC). SCIPROOF is an official licensee of the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM). The NLM, on the campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, is the world's largest repository of biomedical and health sciences information, providing over 40 online databases. The NLM is SCIPROOF’s primary source for data, including MEDLINE, the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), and taxonomy (maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology (NCBI), a division of NLM) databases. SCIPROOF is and official licensee of Microsoft technology. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The cooperation between Microsoft and SCIPROOF allows for the seamless integration of sciPROOF into the Microsoft Windows and Office platforms. Contact Thomson ResearchSoft 2141 Palomar Airport Road, Suite 350 Carlsbad, California 92009 760-438-5526 Sales: 800-722-1227 FAX: 760-438-5573 www.endnote.com/pubtools/sciproof.asp Donna Kirking Product Training Coordinator Product Review Coordinator Thomson ResearchSoft 510-691-9805 Voicemail: 415-344-3974 www.isiresearchsoft.com