Category Archives: oa.india

Does openness of articles get higher attention in altmetric? An investigation of medical discipline | Emerald Insight

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Abstract:  Purpose

This paper aimed to explore the presence of altmetric data across the sub-categories of the medical science discipline and also explore whether the openness of articles results in (dis)advantage for altmetrics mentions.

Design/methodology/approach

The research implies data carpentry methods for gathering bibliographic data related to narrow fields of medical science discipline from the Scopus database with at least one Indian author affiliation during 2012–2021. The corresponding data were also collected from three different sources: Altmetric.com, Mendeley.com and Unpaywall.org, using OpenRefine and REST/API calls. Further, the authors observed open access altmetric advantages (OAAA) and categorical OAAA (COAAA) across seven altmetric platforms for all articles as well as discipline-wise.

Findings

The result shows that the overall coverage of altmetric events is still low, but it shows an increasing trend from the past. Mendeley has the largest coverage; almost 97.12% of publications are covered. The health policy discipline has extensive coverage across altmetric platforms (nearly 57.40% of publications in altmetrics and 99.23% in Mendeley), whereas the drug guides has the lowest (almost 0.92% in Altmetrics and 77.05% in Mendeley). Moreover, the OA articles have been highly covered in altmetrics than those of non-OA articles, and bronze OA articles covered mostly compared to others. News registered with the significant OA altmetric advantages across disciplines. Categorically, bronze and hybrid OA have the largest altmetric advantages.

Originality/value

This research is a unique attempt to apply OAAA and COAAA to explore OA altmetric advantages of narrow subject categories of medical science disciplines.

Findability and Accessibility of Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repositories of Newly Established Central Universities in India

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Abstract:  As professionals and academicians, we are all aware of ETDs (Electronic Theses and Dissertations) ‘ impact on the discourse, communication, and dissemination of research in our respective fields. ETDs are more widely used and advantageous than their conventional equivalents. ETDs, which are academic works that students submit as a requirement for their degree programs, provide various advantages made possible by technological improvements. One significant benefit is the simplicity with which digital research materials may be accessed and distributed, making knowledge easy to share and retrieve. This paper discusses the ETDs’ importance, aim, and initiatives in India. In addition, it discusses the Central universities and their role and contribution to ETDs. The study’s primary objective is to evaluate the ETDs platform aspect of newly established central universities in India. ETDs offer several advantages over their traditional counterparts. They provide easy and convenient access to research work, and their accessibility enhances the visibility and usability of the research. We will try to evaluate the Findability and Accessibility of ETDs that are really easily discoverable and accessible.

In this study, a webometric method is utilized for the evaluation of the websites of ETDs. Webometrics is the quantitative study of developing and using web-based information resources, structures, and technologies. As is common knowledge, a website serves as a digital representation of the ETDs themselves, reflecting the discoverability and accessibility of the ETDs’ content. Using webometrics tools Google PageSpeed Insights, we assess the discoverability and accessibility of the websites of ETDs. We also used a manual approach for findability and accessibility; a simple Google search for findability and for accessibility, we check whether ETDs provide contents openly, full-text availability, and how many platforms a university uses for content dissemination. The present work is limited to newly established central universities. The data were acquired and analyzed using the methods as mentioned above and instruments.

This study’s findings shed light on the applicability of webometrics in assessing the ETDs’findability and accessibility. It also sheds light on the significance of other parameters affecting discoverability and accessibility in ETDs. The study attempts to justify using a webometric approach to evaluate the platform aspect of ETDs. By focusing on discoverability, and accessibility, we provide a comprehensive website-evaluation approach to ETDs, which will aid in assessing the quality, influence, and standing of ETDs. This method will apply to other ETDs Platforms, and similar methods can also be developed in the future.

Indian researchers paid $17mn to publish in open access journals in 2020 — 57% of global total

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“Indian researchers paid a whopping $17 million in 2020 to publish their research articles in open access formats, with over 80 percent of it going to commercial publishers including MDPI, Springer Nature and Elsevier, a new study has revealed.”

Publications in gold open access and article processing charge expenditure: evidence from Indian scholarly output

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“Article processing charges (APCs) ensure the financial viability of open access (OA) scholarly journals. The present study analyses the number of gold OA articles published in the Web of Science (WoS)- indexed journals by Indian researchers during 2020, including subject categories that account for the highest APC in India. Besides, it evaluates the amount of APC expenditure incurred in India. The findings of this study reveal that Indian researchers published 26,127 gold OA articles across all subjects in WoS-indexed journals in 2020. Researchers in the field of health and medical sciences paid the highest APC, amounting to USD 7 million, followed by life and earth sciences (USD 6.9 million), multidisciplinary (USD 4.9 million), and chemistry and materials science (USD 4.8 million). The study also reveals that Indian researchers paid an estimated 17 million USD as APC in 2020. Furthermore, 81% of APCs went to commercial publishers, viz. MDPI, Springer–Nature, Elsevier and Frontier Media. As there is a growing number of OA publications from India, we suggest having a central and state-level single-window option for funding in OA journals and backing the Plan S initiative for OA publishing in India”.

Exploring Metadata Quality for Scientific Data in Indian Research Data Repositories: A Survey

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Abstract:  The study aims to trace the development of Indian Research Data repositories (RDRs) indexed in Registry of Research Data Repositories(re3data.org) with their types, subject coverage, software tools, standards and specification used for implementation. The study strives to achieve the following objectives such as: to analyze different aspects of Indian Research Data Repositories(RDRs), to identify data licenses, data upload and access restriction policies and to ascertain quality of scientific metadata being used in RDRs in India. The result of the survey is presented by examining the collected data from the libraries of Research Data Repositories. The result of the study will help to find the effective and qualitative research data in various discipline in Indian subcontinent.

 

IOP Publishing and Manipal Academy of Higher | EurekAlert!

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“IOP Publishing (IOPP) and the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India have finalised a Read and Publish agreement as they work towards breaking down barriers to publishing open access (OA) for researchers from lower and lower middle-income countries.”

The status quo of Indian data repositories indexed in re3data registry

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Abstract:  Purpose

The purpose of this study was to understand the landscape of Indian research data repositories (RDRs) indexed in the re3data.org. The study analysed the metadata elements of Indian RDRs to identify their disciplinary orientations, typology, standards adopted, foreign collaborations, etc. The study ascertained the current status of the Indian RDRs by visiting their respective websites and tried to identify and map the exact disciplinary orientation of each RDR.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used “content analysis” of the metadata elements extracted from re3data.org along with the information analysis of the respective websites of the registered RDRs.

Findings

The study identified that only 80% of the Indian RDRs listed by the re3data.org is currently active. Most of the Indian RDRs are hosted by the central and state governments and are almost equally distributed among Life Sciences, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences domains. The data provided by the re3data.org for the Indian RDRs are not complete and up-to-date.

Practical implications

The findings indicate the presence of a good number of inactive RDRs in the re3data.org. The study suggests using a revised version of the DFG subject classification scheme or considering a standard classification scheme for subject indexing.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind that critically analysed the metadata values extracted and moved further to identify the current status of Indian RDRs.

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

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“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….”

 

OA Week 2023 Lecture MetaROR: Meta Research Open Review – DST Center for Policy Research

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“The DST-Centre for Policy Research (CPR), Indian Young Academy of Science  (INYAS), JSD Tata Library, IISc, and Centre for Society & Policy, IISc are thrilled to announce a special lecture in celebration of the International Open Access Week 2023. Marking the seventh year in celebrating the international open access week by CPR at IISc, we are excited to invite you to the lecture titled “MetaROR: MetaResearch Open Review” aligned with this year’s theme ” Community Over Commercialization”. The lecture is focused on the “MetaROR” Platform- a community endeavor.

Celebrating its fifteenth year, the International Open Access Week stands as a global testimony to the movement for open access and open science. It aims to cultivate discussions and foster a broader embrace of open science as the standard in academia and research. Originally launched in 2007 as Open Access Day, a collaboration between SPARC and U.S. students, it has since expanded into an international phenomenon with events worldwide. This year’s theme, “Community Over Commercialization”, seeks to spotlight the pivotal role of the community in championing scholarly publishing, which is grappling with serious issues and needs urgent reforms.

This year’s event is even more special for DST-CPR as we are collaborating with the Indian Young Academy of Science (INYAS) to broaden the research community’s participation in this important discussion. Researchers worldwide grapple with the “publish or perish” dilemma, leading some to fall into predatory journal traps. The issue is especially severe in the developing world.  Under the umbrella of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), INYAS has joined hands with three other international science academies: Bangladesh, Benin, and the Czech Republic. DST-CPR is the knowledge partner of this project. One of the missions of the project is to push for change at the highest levels to safeguard academic quality and integrity. What’s better than to discuss the way forward for the scientific community during Open Access week.”

Publications in gold open access and article processing charges expenditure: evidence from Indian scholarly output

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Abstract:  The article processing charges (APC) ensure the financial viability of open-access (OA) scholarly journals. The present study analyses the number of Gold OA articles published in Web of Science-indexed journals by Indian researchers during 2020, including subject categories that account for the highest APC cost in India. Besides, it studies the amount of APC expenditures incurred in India. The present study’s findings reveal that Indian researchers published 26,127 Gold OA articles across all subjects in WoS-indexed journals in 2020. Researchers in the field of Health and Medical Sciences paid the highest APC costs, amounting to $7 million, followed by Life and Earth Sciences ($6.9 million), Multidisciplinary ($4.9 million), and Chemistry and Material Sciences ($4.8 million). The study reveals that Indian researchers paid an estimated 17 million USD as APC in 2020. Furthermore, the study’s findings reveal that 81% of the APC goes to commercial publishers, viz. MDPI, SpringerNature, Elsevier, and Frontier Media. As there is a growing number of OA publications from India, the authors suggest having a central and state-level single window option for funding in OA journals and backing Plan S in India. 

Indian Institute of Science hosts the Springer Nature India Research Tour team on campus

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“The Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru hosted the 9th research summit as part of Springer Nature’s India Research Tour, being conducted in collaboration with the Indian Ministry of Education on Monday, 9 October 2023. The event focused on the role of open science and transformative agreements to make research more accessible for all….

Under a transformative agreement subscription access and OA publishing are brought together into one reading and publishing contract across a consortium of institutions. This means that researchers in those institutions can publish under the ‘gold’ open access model, while also gaining access to research in subscription journals….”

COAR Asia OA Survey on India’s Institutional Repositories

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“Dear repository managers in India,   COAR (Confederation of Open Access Repositories) Asia OA would like to invite a representative from each institutional repository to participate in this survey that aims to gather information on the current interoperability status of India’s institutional repositories.   Your participation will enable us to understand the local landscape better and identify areas that could potentially benefit from more help.   Survey findings will be presented at the next COAR Asia OA Meeting, which is likely to be in New Delhi, India in 2024 (date to be confirmed). The aggregated survey data may be used for research and development in a manner that does not identify the name of the specific institution or survey participants.   The survey has 18 questions and will take about 10 minutes to complete.   The survey will close on November 3, 2023 ”

Roadmap to improve Ethics in Science and Curb prEdatory publishing (RESCUE)-An IAP Consortium among India, Bangladesh, Benin and Czech Republic. – INYAS

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“Researchers worldwide grapple with the “publish or perish” dilemma, leading some to fall into predatory journal traps.  The issue is especially severe in the developing world. But we have some good news to share. Under the umbrella of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) INYAS has joined hands with other three international science academies i.e. Bangladesh, Benin, and the Czech Republicto form a consortium. The consortium has received fund support of 50,000 USD from InterAcademy Partnership. Our mission is to create awareness and unite against predatory publishing practices and push for change at the highest levels to safeguard academic quality and integrity”

The Urgent Need to Reform Research Publishing: A Call to the G20 | Center For Global Development | Ideas to Action

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“There are three specific issues that could be taken up by the G20: 

Endorsement of cOAlition S: While initial efforts may have facilitated a shift towards a pay-to-publish model that does not work for most of the world, cOAlition S remains the most promising vehicle for reform and is actively exploring alternative models from emerging economies.

Championing equitable funding: There will be costs to infrastructure that is likely to be needed for research publishing reforms. This necessitates innovative and equitable funding mechanisms that ensure all researchers, irrespective of their geographical location or institutional affiliation, can publish their work Open Access.

Policy harmonization: G20 is a high-level political platform and may not be the right forum for negotiating comprehensive Open Access policies. But if the G20 nations were to endorse specific Open Access policy positions, it would provide direction for national and multilateral initiatives.

There is a window of opportunity. India, which holds the G20 presidency, is already lighting a path by putting research publishing on the agenda of several G20 engagement groups. These groups, particularly the Chief Scientific Advisers Roundtable, can seize the moment and harness the influence of the G20 to pursue effective, efficient, and equitable research publishing. They would do well to work with leaders from Brazil and South Africa, who will hold the presidency in 2024 and 2025 respectively, to ensure momentum for reform is sustained.

G20 CSAR meet | Enabling universal access to scientific knowledge ‘a million-dollar question’, says Principal Scientific Adviser Ajay Kumar Sood | Ahmedabad News – The Indian Express

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“[Q] Given that one of the talking point in G20-CSAR was acknowledging the need to enable immediate and universal access to scientific knowledge to communities, how do we do that in the Indian context?

[A] It is a million dollar question, how do we do it. The current publication model doesn’t deal with this because it is based on subscription through organisations. Our attempt in our negotiations with publishers is to strike a deal fair to them as well as us, which is a difficult job. The ‘One Nation, One Subscription’ is aimed at making publications accessible to say, all in colleges, which is not the case at the moment. When we ask publishers to grant greater access, they increase the price manifold. It is not easy but we are trying our best in collaboration with multiple ministries.”