The Semantic Web has been a very important development in how knowledge is disseminated and
manipulated on the Web but it has been of particular importance to the flow of scientific
knowledge and will continue to shape how data is stored and accessed in a broad range of
disciplines including life sciences earth science materials science and the social
sciences. After first presenting papers on the foundations of semantic e-science including
papers on scientific knowledge acquisition data integration and workflow this volume looks
at the state of the art in each of the above-mentioned disciplines presenting research on
semantic web applications in the life earth materials and social sciences. Drawing papers
from three semantic web workshops as well as papers from several invited contributors this
volume illustrates how far semantic web applications have come in helping to manage scientific
information flow.
