Category Archives: oa.people

Q&A: Phillip Sharp and Amy Brand on the future of open-access publishing | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Posted on by
Reply

“A group of MIT scholars is releasing a new white paper about academic open-access publishing. The paper gathers information, identifies outstanding questions, and calls for further research and data to inform policy on the subject.

 

The group was chaired by Institute Professor Emeritus Phillip A. Sharp, of the Department of Biology and Koch Institute of Integrative Cancer Research, who co-authored the report along with William B. Bonvillian, senior director of special projects at MIT Open Learning; Robert Desimone, director of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research; Barbara Imperiali, the Class of 1922 Professor of Biology; David R. Karger, professor of electrical engineering; Clapperton Chakanetsa Mavhunga, professor of science, technology, and society; Amy Brand, director and publisher of the MIT Press; Nick Lindsay, director for journals and open access at MIT Press; and Michael Stebbins of Science Advisors, LLC.

 

MIT News spoke with Sharp and Brand about the state of open-access publishing….”

Research Organization Registry (ROR) | Case Study: Clear Skies, Research Integrity, Data Science, and ROR

Posted on by
Reply

“Having institutional identifiers in there, it’s part of the puzzle. And it’s an important part of the puzzle. But there are limits to data analysis. Data analysis has got to help people to do the investigation – not try to do it for them.”

“If we’re talking about misconduct, then you might need to be able to contact the institution that the author is from. On an individual manuscript, it doesn’t matter if there’s no identifier – an address will do. But if you find some signal that is on manuscripts at scale, and you’ve got thousands of them, well, you need an identifier. You can’t go through them and try and search for every single one of those institutions.”

“Having nice, clean, big, open datasets like this is really valuable, especially for a problem like this one, a problem which does require taking a big step back and looking at all of the data together, and not having barriers in the way of getting parts of it.”

DORA Welcomes New Co-Chairs and Vice Chair | DORA

Posted on by
Reply

“As of November, 2023, DORA has two new Co-Chairs, Ginny Barbour and Kelly Cobey, as well as a new Vice Chair, Rebecca Lawrence. We are so excited to welcome all three of them to the DORA team and look forward to working together to promote responsible research assessment. See each of their welcoming remarks below: …”

Bidding Farewell to DORA Chair Stephen Curry | DORA

Posted on by
Reply

“In October 2018, Stephen Curry took on the position of Chair of DORA, acting as an advocate for equitable and responsible research assessment. During his time as Chair, he has been a dedicated advocate and champion for DORA. His contributions have been immense, including action plans aimed at increasing awareness of DORA, as well as promoting open scholarship and collaboration across the globe.

As his time with DORA comes to a close, he leaves us with the following parting words: …”

25 Years of Open Source & Open Access: An interview with Lynn Copeland – Public Knowledge Project

Posted on by
Reply

“For a quarter of a century, community partnerships have been key in PKP’s work towards making research a global public good. Getting into the stories behind these relationships, we asked some of our partners to share what drives these connections. We are grateful to Lynn Copeland and those who know her for taking the time to share these stories….”

Perspectives on open access publishing in India: Interview with Sridhar Gutam | Editage Insights

Posted on by
Reply

“The landscape of open access in India is evolving, following a global trend. However, what continues to steer scholarly communications in India is the pursuit of a high impact factor or journal prestige. Many open access journals favored by Indian authors impose substantial article-processing charges (APCs), which often prove unaffordable. Meanwhile, subscription-based journals restrict the free sharing of articles. Although ResearchGate has gained popularity as a repository among Indian authors, institutional repositories are not seeing significant contributions of postprints. Notably, IndiaRxiv and AgriXiv (now partnered with Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International [CABI] as agriRxiv) are facing challenges in garnering preprints, whereas bioRxiv, in contrast, is experiencing a surge in contributions from Indian scientists….”

 

Dr. Adriene Lim to retire as dean of the University of Maryland Libraries, June 2024 | University Libraries

Posted on by
Reply

“Today, the University of Maryland announced the upcoming retirement of Dr. Adriene Lim, dean of University of Maryland Libraries….

Dr. Lim has led important initiatives to achieve more open, equitable, and sustainable models for the creation and sharing of knowledge. She initiated and co-led UMD PACT, a cross-campus group working to advance sustainable, equitable publishing models and promote open scholarship and shared infrastructure, a movement that culminated in the passage of UMD’s equitable access policy approved by the University Senate in 2022. Characterized as a “champion for open research” by Provost Rice, Dr. Lim was appointed to serve as UMD’s designated lead for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Higher Education Leadership Initiative for Open Scholarship (HELIOS).

Dr. Lim led the initiation and improvement of several new service models and programs, including those in collaboration with the Big Ten Academic Alliance’s library deans. She initiated the Libraries’ new Open Scholarship Services program, the Affordable Course Content @ UMD project, the pilot of TOME@UMD (Toward an Open Monographs Ecosystem), and the new Fisher Family Library Fellowship program. A strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion has been evident in her career-long practice of librarianship scholarship, and research….”

An Interview with Volcanica on joining OASPA – OASPA

Posted on by
Reply

“Volcanica has recently become a member of OASPA in the scholar publisher category, further enriching the growing community of members. To gain more insight into their recent affiliation with OASPA and to learn more about their institution, we conducted an interview with Professor Jamie Farquharson, Editor-in-Chief of Volcanica & Specially Appointed Professor at Niigata University, Japan…”

Replacing academic journals: Björn Brembs on a future beyond traditional journals | Karolinska Institutet University Library

Posted on by
Reply

“In October 2023 Karolinska Institutet University Library met with Björn Brembs, researcher and Professor of Neurogenetics, Institute of Zoology, Universität Regensburg in Germany. The interview is on the subject a future beyond traditional journals – replacing academic journals where Björn Brembs openly talks about his view on publishing and open access….”