Category Archives: oa.india

Open access publishing in India: trends and policy perspectives | Emerald Insight

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Abstract:  Purpose

This study aims to analyze Open Access (OA) publishing trends and policy perspectives in India. Different aspects, such as the growth of OA journals digital repositories, the proportion of OA availability to research literature and the status of OA mandates and policies are studied.

Design/methodology/approach

Data for analyzing OA trends were gathered from multiple data sources, including Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), OpenDOAR, SCImago and Web of Science (WoS) databases. DOAJ and OpenDOAR were used for extracting OA journals and digital repository data. SCImago Journal and Country ranking portal and WoS database were used to obtain Indian publication data for assessing the proportion of OA to research literature. ROARMAP was used to study OA mandates and policies adopted by universities, research institutions and research funders in India. OA mandates and policies of major regulatory bodies and funding agencies were also reviewed using secondary sources of information and related websites.

Findings

India ranks number 15 and 17 globally for OA journals and OA repositories, with 317 journals and 98 repositories. Although India’s proportion to OA publications is 23% (7% below the world average of 30%), the annual growth rate of OA publications is around 18%. Although the governing bodies and institutions have made efforts to mandate researchers to adopt OA publishing and self-archiving, its implementation is quite low among Indian researchers, as only three institutions (out of 18 listed in the ROARMAP) are defined the embargo period. Funding agencies in India do not provide financial assistance to authors for the payment of Article Processing Charges despite mandates that research is deposited in OA repositories. India lacks a national OA policy but plans to implement a “one nation one subscription” formula to provide OA to scientific literature to all its citizens.

Research limitations/implications

The study has certain limitations. Because much of India’s research output is published in local journals that are not indexed in WoS, the study recommends conducting further analyses of publications using Scopus and other databases to understand the country’s OA publishing proportion better. A further study based on feedback from different stakeholders through a survey may be conducted for formulating a national OA policy.

Originality/value

The study is the first that used multiple data sources for investigating different facets of OA publishing in India, including OA journals, digital repositories, OA research output and OA mandates and policies for publicly funded research. The findings will be helpful for researchers and policymakers interested in promoting OA adoption among researchers worldwide.

Altmetrics and their relationship with citation counts: a case of journal articles in physics | Emerald Insight

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Abstract:  Purpose

The first purpose of the present study is to investigate the coverage of journal articles in Physics in various sources of altmetrics. Secondly, the study investigates the relationship between altmetrics and citations. Finally, the study also investigates whether the relationship between citations and altmetrics was stronger or weaker for those articles that had been mentioned at least once in the sources of altmetrics.

Design/methodology/approach

The journal articles in Physics having at least one author from an Indian Institution and published during 2014–2018 in sources of altmetrics have been investigated. Altmetric.com was used for collecting altmetrics data. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (?) has been used as the data found to be skewed.

Findings

The highest coverage was found on Twitter (22.68%), followed by Facebook (3.62%) and blogs (2.18%). The coverage in the rest of the sources was less than 1%. The average Twitter mentions for journal articles tweeted at least once was found to be 4 (3.99) and for Facebook mentions, it was found to be 1.48. Correlations between Twitter mentions–citations and Facebook mentions–citation were found to be statistically significant but low to weak positive.

Research limitations/implications

The study concludes that due to the low coverage of journal articles, altmetrics should be used cautiously for research evaluation keeping in mind the disciplinary differences. The study also suggests that altmetrics can function as complementary to citation-based metrics.

Originality/value

The study is one of the first large scale altmetrics studies dealing with research in Physics. Also, Indian research has not been attended to in the altmetrics literature and the present study shall fill that void.

New Read & Publish Open Access agreement between The Company of Biologists and the IISER Consortium India | STM Publishing News

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“Corresponding authors at participating IISER institutions in India can publish an uncapped number of research articles immediately Open Access (OA) in our hybrid journals (Development, Journal of Cell Science and Journal of Experimental Biology) plus our fully Open Access journals (Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open) without paying an article processing charge (APC). Researchers at participating institutions also benefit from unlimited access to our hybrid journals, including their full archives dating back to 1853….”

Indian PhDs, professors are paying to publish in real-sounding, fake journals. It’s a racket

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This newspaper article describes the publishing behavior of a large section of Indian researchers who publish their research in predatory journals. Pressure to publish, lack of awareness, and career progression are some of the reasons.

Open Science Left in the Dust

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“But, while open resources are becoming more widely used, there is still a significant barrier to achieving open science. According to an Open Science India report, a survey conducted among researchers revealed that only 36.74% of those who relied on openly available publications on the internet for their research shared their findings through open access repositories. Similarly, for data, the percentage of researchers who shared their findings openly was even lower, at 31.78%….

Besides the communitarian notion that open source will help advance science, there is an ethical reason given to it. “Majority of research is still funded by public funds. I think if the government is funding research, and most of the government research funding money comes from taxpayer money, it’s not unfair to say that there should be a requirement that whatever you produce should be released as open source,” he said. 

The realm of science is currently experiencing a crisis of reproducibility, wherein a significant number of published studies fail to withstand the test of replication when conducted with the same datasets. The push for open science will help counteract the “publish or perish” mentality of academic institutions which has led to journals printing embellished, flashy, positive results….”

 

First Meeting of the G20-Chief Science Advisers Roundtable Held at Ramnagar, Uttarakhand | 29 MAR 2023

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“…Under the theme Synergizing Global Efforts to Expand the Access to Scholarly Scientific Knowledge, we discussed that the access should be free, immediate, and universal, high subscription and Article Processing Charges levied by journals must be reduced, the establishment of Interoperable inter-linking of national repositories with international repositories/ archives, and having Open Access mandate to make knowledge outputs of public-funded scientific research widely available.

The third theme was on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in Science & Technology (S&T). The participating countries shared their work in advancing access to the under-represented, under-privileged, marginalized, minority as well as tribal/ native communities in the larger scientific enterprise. In the session, the Inclusion of Traditional Knowledge Systems (TKS) in formal system of knowledge through due scientific validation process, and Recognizing the potential of language diversity and addressing the bottlenecks in accessing scientific knowledge were also discussed. 

It was agreed upon that the scientific advisers play a critical role in shaping policy choices by providing evidence-driven science advice and that the in the spirit of cooperation and dialogue, it is the responsibility of chief science advisers to collaborate and engage in international dialogue to address transboundary issues affecting the entire scientific enterprise so that the science and technology can benefit all. The deliberations and engagement on the topics discussed today will continue until August 2023, when the next meeting is scheduled, in which a Science Policy Communiqué will be released….”

In controlled digital lending, the issue of public interest – The Hindu

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“Also, irrespective of the number of physical copies of that book that libraries participating in the IA’s digitisation project own, for the purpose of digital lending it counts as only one additional copy per library. For example, if libraries of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the Indian Institute of Science, and the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) were partners in the IA’s digitisation project and each of these institutions had six physical copies of a particular book on health law, the CDL model would ensure that readers could borrow no more than three copies of that book at a time….

Though India is yet to have a major CDL initiative, some universities such as the NLSIU have initiated major digitisation projects that can facilitate CDL in future. The outcome in the IA litigation will in turn have considerable ramifications for such initiatives, in India and elsewhere. In addition, even current lending practices in physical libraries could be threatened if other courts followed the SDNY district court’s logic, in prioritising the economic interests of just one of the stakeholders over the broader public interest.

It is high time to remind ourselves that the copyright system is not just about protecting the interests of copyright holders, but, equally, about protecting the rights of the users of copyrighted works, and thus the broader public interest.”

Factors influencing the adoption and use of open access scholarly communication among researchers in India | Emerald Insight

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Abstract:  Purpose

The present study aims to examine the use of open access (OA) scholarly communication in India and investigate the factors affecting the adoption and use of OA scholarly communication among researchers.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopted a quantitative research approach using a survey method. Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) of Web of Science database was selected as a source for identifying potential researchers and researchers’ contact details. A web-based questionnaire was designed using Google Forms, and a link to the questionnaire was sent by email to 4,237 researchers belonging to Science and Technology. Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) is the primary basis for formulating the present study’s conceptual model. Hierarchical multiple regression (HMR) was applied for identifying the factors that influence the adoption and use of OA scholarly communication.

Findings

The study found that researchers have limited knowledge of different OA concepts, initiatives and resources, resulting in a deficient level of participation in OA publishing. The HMR analysis authenticates that attitude, facilitating conditions, Internet usage self-efficacy, article processing charge (APC) and researchers’ working experience significantly influence the adoption and use of OA scholarly communication. Based on the findings, the study proposed a validated model to investigate the adoption and use of OA scholarly communication in different institutions, research disciplines and developing countries with similar conditions.

Practical implications

The findings have several practical and policy implications for improving OA publishing in India, formulating OA policies and providing directions for further research.

Originality/value

This is the first study focusing on adopting and using OA scholarly communication in India. Findings may be helpful in planning and implementing OA initiatives. The influencing factors and the relative importance identified in the present study offered empirical evidence to demonstrate the researchers’ attitudes and perceptions for adopting and using OA scholarly communication.

Current Status of Open Access Journals in India: A Bird’s Eye View: The Serials Librarian: Vol 0, No 0

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Abstract:  The present study aims to determine the current status of open access journals published in India in terms of numbers, yearly growth, funding organizations, major subject area, indexing, and abstracting status, publication charges, and open access licensing models of such journals. The study used the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) as the source database and retrieved the bibliographic records of selected 306 Open Access (OA) journals published in India from 2003 to May 20, 2021. Further, the study referred to other web sources such as Web of Science, and Scopus to examine the indexing status of 306 open access journals and Journal Citation Report (JCR) database was referred to know the impact factor (IF) status of these journals. As per DOAJ database records, India ranks 16th as an OA journal publishing country across the globe. The yearly growth of open access journals in India was found to be 22.36%. Among these 306 open access journals, about 44.11% of journals are indexed in Scopus, 34.96% of journals are indexed in Web of Science, and 7.18% of journals with impact factor (IF) are indexed in JCR. Almost 74% of open access journals published in India do not charge Article Processing Charges (APC). The quality and quantity of OA journals published in India will surely attract authors, researchers, and academicians to rethink open access journals and their extensive use will boost the impact of research in India.

 

Wiley Manipal Academy Of Higher Education Inks Open Access Agreement – BW Education

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“Today, Wiley, global publisher has signed an open access agreement with Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE). Beginning in 2023, this agreement will be in effect with MAHE, an institute of eminence.

The agreement, which represents Wiley’s first in India, provides authors affiliated with the Manipal Academy of Higher Education with access to Wiley’s journal portfolio and enables participating researchers to publish articles open access in nearly 2,000 hybrid and gold open access journals, including those published by Hindawi….”

Exploring open infrastructure needs in Latin America, Africa, and Asia: a new research project | Invest in Open Infrastructure | March 2023

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“…During the months of March and April, we will conduct initial exploratory research focusing on three regions: Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Our research team has conducted desk research to identify key stakeholders to reach out to each of the world regions and are in the process of setting up interviews and designing a conversation guide for this work. You can find out more on our Regional Research project webpage. We’re prioritizing research on Africa and Latin America in particular. Later this month, members of the IOI team will be in Ghana to learn more about open infrastructure needs and funding and to connect with key stakeholders in the region. Similarly, next month, we’ll be in Argentina, joining csv,conf,v7 and the “Accelerating Open Science in Latin America” workshop hosted by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to learn more about needs and funding in Latin America.. At the same time, we’ve started a virtual listening tour of India. We hope to later expand the tour to include other countries in the vast Asian continent. This exploration is fundamental in informing and shaping key pieces of work that we’re looking to advance this year, including the next phase of the collective funding pilot, funding trends research, the Catalog of Open Infrastructure Services (COIs), and the fund we’re aiming to launch in 2024….”

Community radio: A case of knowledge democracy in action

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“Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) and the UNESCO Co-Chair on Community-Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education, with support from the Asia Democracy Research Network, organised a seminar on “Knowledge Democracy: Bridging knowledge cultures” in February in New Delhi, India.

A total of 57 participants, from academia, grassroots organisations and civil society sectors, attended the seminar. It was an opportunity for them to share their perspectives and experiences of identifying practical ways in which authentic bridging may be practised and taught to the next generation….”

Assessing Open Access Friendliness of National Institutes of Technology (NITs) A Data Carpentry Approach | DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology, 2022-10

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“Abstract: This research study aims to measure the Open Access (OA) friendliness of National Institutes of Technology (NITs) of India that are listed in the overall category of NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework), 2021 by taking into consideration four important OA parameters – i) OA publication share; ii) OA licensing scenario; iii) citation impact of OA publications; and iv) altmetric scores of OA publications. It deals with 64,485 publications of the selected 11 NITs during the period from 2012 to 2021 (10 years), citations received by these publications (5,42,638 citations), and altmetric attention scores of the documents (5,213 publications) during the period under study. A data carpentry tool, namely OpenRefine, and open access bibliographic/citation data sources such as Unpaywall, Dimensions, and Altmetric.com have been deployed to accomplish this large-scale study for ranking NITs by their Open Access Friendliness (OAF). The OAF indicator, as applied in this study, is a distributed weightage based 100-point scale built on top of the aforesaid OA parameters. The ranking framework shows that Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat (est. in 1961) has achieved the top position with a score of 52.12 (out of 100), but in totality only 3 NITs (out of the selected 11 NITs) crossed the 50 per cent mark in the adapted OAF scale.”

Roy, A., & Mukhopadhyay, P. (2022). Assessing Open Access Friendliness of National Institutes of Technology (NITs) A Data Carpentry Approach. DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology, 42(5), 331-338. https://doi.org/10.14429/djlit.42.5.18263