“One of Europe’s biggest science spenders could soon branch out into publishing. The European Commission, which spends more than €10 billion annually on research, may follow two other big league funders, the Wellcome Trust and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and set up a “publishing platform” for the scientists it funds, in an attempt to accelerate the transition to open-access publishing in Europe….”
Category Archives: oa.announcement
Linked Open Data Services for OpenAIRE : OpenAIRE blog
“We’re happy to announce that the OpenAIRE Linked Open Data (LOD) Services are now available as a beta version at http://beta.lod.openaire.eu/. OpenAIRE already makes its data freely available for re-use via APIs. In line with its commitment to openness, OpenAIRE has been busy mapping OpenAIRE’s data onto suitable standard vocabularies in order to make OpenAIRE’s data available as Linked Open Data. This started with a specification of the OpenAIRE data model as a Resource Description Framework (RDF) vocabulary, and then entailed mapping of the OpenAIRE data to the graph-based RDF data model. To interlink the OpenAIRE data with related data on the Web, we have identified a list of potential datasets with which to interlink, including the DBpedia dataset extracted from Wikipedia and the publication databases DBLP and CiteSeer. Making our data available in this way extends OpenAIRE’s technical interoperability and enables new user communities to engage with our data …”
Placing Authors at the Center of the Scientific Endeavor | The Official PLOS Blog
PLOS is developing a new submission system to enhance the publishing experience for our community of editors, authors and reviewers. Why are we doing this? The linear, step-by-step process of creating, submitting and reviewing a manuscript simply does not satisfy the needs of scientists today. Large-scale solutions to the current challenges of scientific publishing are not simple, but PLOS believes they are challenges that must be addressed. PLOS is rooted in responsible disruption, beginning with a community-driven Open Letter, to proving Open Access as a sustainable publishing model and creating PLOS ONE, the world’s first and now largest multidisciplinary journal to accept all rigorous science, independent of perceived impact. The PLOS commitment to transforming research communication is not limited to Open Access to the literature; it includes commitment to Open Data, Open Science and Open Recognition. PLOS was the first organization to develop a suite of Article-Level Metrics for its articles and to enforce the requirement that all published articles be accompanied by accessible relevant data. It was also a key driver behind the global collaboration to award researchers for open publication practices with the Accelerating Science Award Program. With this history of pushing boundaries, coalition building and community respect as a foundation, PLOS is well placed for ongoing innovations that benefit science and the public … ‘To honor and connect our roots in the Open Access movement to the exciting Open Science era ahead, we chose the name Aperta™ for our new submission system. Aperta means Open in Italian and brings with it the association of forthcoming and fairness, qualities that PLOS strives to bring to the process of publishing scientific research’ …”
VACANCY DOAJ Ambassadors | News Service
“The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) indexes more than 11 000 open access journals covering all areas of science, technology, medicine, social science and humanities. It is a white list of open access journals and aims to be the starting point for information searches for quality, peer reviewed open access material. Publishers must apply for their journal(s) to be indexed in DOAJ and each application is reviewed manually by the editorial team. We receive approximately 80 new applications every week. DOAJ has been awarded a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) to improve open access publishing practices in the Global South. We are now seeking 8-10 full time Ambassadors (10 month contract) who are residents in the following regions and are native speakers of the indicated languages and fluent in English …”
IDRC grant to improve OA journals from the Global South « Infrastructure Services for Open Access
“We are very pleased to announce that IS4OA/DOAJ has been given a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) to improve open access publishing practices in the developing world. The overall objective of the grant is to enhance DOAJ and the open access infrastructure that supports researchers` ability to publish in reputable open access journals …”
ERC supports OAPEN library for open access books
“The European Research Council (ERC) and OAPEN Foundation have announced today their cooperation in furthering open access to academic books and book chapters. With the help of an ERC grant OAPEN will develop a tailor-made deposit service for ERC grantees and their publishers. The OAPEN library provides a platform for the full-text dissemination of open access books from all scientific areas, in particular in social sciences and humanities. As part of the new project funded by the ERC, OAPEN will provide guidance and support to ERC grantees and their publishers to comply with ERC open access requirements for books. It will aggregate and allow the deposit of open access monographs and book chapters based on ERC funded research, provide quality assurance and dissemination of deposited publications and ensure their digital preservation …”
From ‘as soon as possible’ to ‘immediate’ Open Access
“NWO will tighten its granting conditions in the area of Open Access with effect from 1 December. In concrete terms this means that all publications emerging from a ‘call for proposals’ published by NWO after this date must be immediately accessible to everybody from the moment of publication …”
Launching new Lund University Press | EurekAlert! Science News
“Working with Manchester University Press, the Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology at Lund University are launching a new publishing operation called Lund University Press. Its aim is to channel excellent Lund research straight into the international scholarly conversation. The goal is to bring the best of Lund research to global audiences. Initially, operations comprise the Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology (HT) only; but the HT Faculties would be glad to see other Faculties joining the enterprise. Lund UP books are published in English only, starting in 2017. Appearing simultaneously in print and Open Access, they will achieve maximum dissemination and exposure. Some of our books will be written directly in English for an international readership, says Marianne Thormählen, professor and initiator of Lund UP, but others will be translations into English of first-class research in Swedish on Scandinavian topics. With the English language as the medium and our strong partner’s resources as instruments, Lund UP will make the voice of Sweden more audible in the global research community. An Editorial Committee with representatives from a number of different disciplines determines the selection of books following a stringent and independent peer-reviewing process. Our partner Manchester University Press is in charge of production, marketing and sales. Manchester UP is a pioneer when it comes to Open Access publishing of high-class academic books in Britain, and they could see a Scandinavian ally, small but dedicated, in the new Lund press.”
The British Museum: A Museum for the World | British Museum blog
“The British Museum was founded in 1753 by an act of Parliament and is the embodiment of Enlightenment idealism. In a revolutionary move, it was from its inception designed to be the collection of every citizen of the world, not a royal possession and not controlled by the state. Over the succeeding 260 plus years it has gathered and exhibited things from all over the globe – antiquities, coins, sculptures, drawings – and made them freely available to anyone who was able to come and see them. Millions have visited and learned, and have been inspired by what they saw. Today the Museum is probably the most comprehensive survey of the material culture of humanity in existence. The world today has changed; the way we access information has been revolutionised by digital technology. We live in a world where sharing knowledge has become easier, we can do extraordinary things with technology which enables us to give the Enlightenment ideal on which the Museum was founded a new reality. It is now possible to make our collection accessible, explorable and enjoyable not just for those who physically visit, but to everybody with a computer or a mobile device. Our partnership with Google allows us to further our own – extraordinary – mission: to be a Museum of and for the World, making the knowledge and culture of the whole of humanity open and available to all. But this isn’t just about putting the collection ‘online’. Through our partnership with Google, we hope to give people new ways to experience and enjoy the Museum, new ways to learn, new ways to share and new ways to teach. Thousands of objects from the Museum’s collection will be available to view through the Google Cultural Institute site and through a special microsite ‘The Museum of the World’ which will allow users to explore and make connections between the world’s cultures. One of the Museum’s most important Chinese scrolls, the 6th-century Admonitions Scroll has been captured in super high-resolution to give you a closer and more intimate view than could be achieved with the naked eye. We’ve captured the whole Museum via Street View, meaning that if you can’t get to the Museum in person, you can do a virtual walking tour of every permanent gallery, and all its outdoor buildings. And virtual exhibits allow you to see Celtic objects from across UK museums brought together in a unique tour, or a thematic exhibition detailing Egypt’s history after the pharaohs. None of this is to deny the power of seeing an object in the flesh in a gallery, nothing will replace that experience, but it does allow a far greater public access to the Museum and its unparalleled collection …”
Agreement signed with KDI School of Public Policy and Management – Institute of Development Studies
“IDS was pleased recently to sign an important Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the KDI School of Public Policy and Management, the education arm of Korea Development Institute (KDI) … The MOU confirms the participation of KDI’s ‘K-Developedia’ knowledge service in the IDS-led Global Open Knowledge Hub project making them the latest organisation to join a group of international partners working collectively to support the adoption of Open Access and Open Data approaches in the sharing of research evidence. Speaking of KDI’s reasons for joining the project Hye-Kyung Chung, Head of Development Knowledge Bank at KDI, said ‘K-Developedia is an open access repository that contains more than 35,000 resources on Korean development experience. People can access it for free from anywhere […] The collaboration with IDS comes as an opportunity to widen the availability of our website and resources to increase the redistribution of our resources all over the world’ …”
OLH Launches | Open Library of Humanities
“It is with great pleasure that we announce the launch of the Open Library of Humanities. Over two years in the planning and execution, the platform starts with seven journals, supported by 99 institutions. Our estimated publication volume for year one is 150 articles across these venues. The economics of this work out at approximately £4 ($6) per institution per open-access article …”
Developing the first Open Peer Review Module for Institutional Repositories : OpenAIRE blog
“Why aren’t articles on arXiv or any other open access repository formally credited as publications? What is it exactly that separates open access repositories from publishers? The simple answer is that publications in journals come with an amorphous quality indicator associated with the journal’s perceived prestige. Articles posted on a repository on the other hand, are considered to be ‘provided at the reader’s own risk’, as they are not accompanied by any measurable guarantee of their scientific merit. We think the time has come to change all that. With the support of OpenAIRE, Open Scholar will coordinate a consortium of five partners to develop the first Open Peer Review Module (OPRM) for open access repositories. Our partners that will deliver this work include: 1. The institutional repository of the Spanish National Research Council (DIGITAL.CSIC) 2. The repository of the Spanish Oceanographic Institute (e-IEO) 3. The Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (IIIA) in Catalonia 4. The Multidisciplinary Laboratory of Library and Computer Sciences (SECABA) in Granada, and 5. A company of DSpace professional development and services (ARVO) … Our project envisions the gradual conversion of existing open access repositories into fully-functional evaluation platforms that will provide the capacity needed to bring back research quality control to the community of scholars and help bridge the gap between academic institutions and publishers. The OPRM will initially be developed as a plugin for repositories using the Dspace software package, but will be designed in a way that will facilitate subsequent adaptation to other repository software suites such as EPrints and Invenio …”
FASTR to be Considered by Senate Committee | SPARC
“After a month of intense conversations and negotiations, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) will bring the ‘Fair Access to Science and Technology Research (FASTR) Act’ up for mark-up on Wednesday, July 29th. The language that will be considered is an amended version of FASTR, officially known as the ‘Johnson-Carper Substitute Amendment,’ which was officially filed by the HSGAC leadership late on Friday afternoon, per committee rules. There are two major changes from the original bill language to be particularly aware of. Specifically, the amendment Replaces the six month embargo period with ‘no later than 12 months, but preferably sooner’ as anticipated; and Provides a mechanism for stakeholders to petition federal agencies to ‘adjust’ the embargo period if the12 months does not serve ‘the public, industries, and the scientific community.’ We understand that these modifications were made in order accomplish a number of things: Satisfy the requirement of a number of Members of HSGAC that the language more closely track that of the OSTP Directive; Meet the preference of the major U.S. higher education associations for a maximum 12 month embargo; Ensure that, for the first time, a number of scientific societies will drop their opposition for the bill; and Ensure that any petition process an agency may enable is focused on serving the interests of the public and the scientific community …”
Impact of Social Sciences – Rather than narrow our definition of impact, we should use metrics to explore richness and diversity of outcomes.
“Impact is multi-dimensional, the routes by which impact occur are different across disciplines and sectors, and impact changes over time. Jane Tinkler argues that if institutions like HEFCE specify a narrow set of impact metrics, more harm than good would come to universities forced to limit their understanding of how research is making a difference. But qualitative and quantitative indicators continue to be an incredible source of learning for how impact works in each of our disciplines, locations or sectors.”
Wellcome Trust Launches Guide for Publishing Open Access Monographs and Book Chapters – OASPA
“Open access for monographs and book chapters is a relatively new area of publishing, and there are many ways of approaching it. With this in mind, a recent publication from the Wellcome Trust aims to provide some guidance for publishers to consider when developing policies and processes for open access books. The Wellcome Trust recognises that implementation around publishing monographs and book chapters open access is in flux, and invites publishers to email Cecy Marden at c.marden@wellcome.ac.uk with any suggestions for further guidance that would be useful to include in this document. ‘Open Access Monographs and Book Chapters: A practical guide for publishers’ is available to download as a pdf from the Wellcome Trust website.”