Category Archives: oa.saudi_arabia

Saudi universities entice top scientists to switch affiliations — sometimes with cash

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“Research institutions in Saudi Arabia are gaming global university rankings by encouraging top researchers to change their main affiliations, sometimes in exchange for cash, and often with little obligation to do meaningful work. That’s the conclusion of a report that shows how, over the past decade, dozens of the world’s most highly cited researchers have switched their primary affiliations to universities in the country. That, in turn, has boosted the standing of Saudi Arabian institutions in university ranking tables, which consider the citation impacts of an institution’s researchers….”

Saudi Arabia jails two Wikipedia staff in ‘bid to control content’ | Wikipedia | The Guardian

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“Saudi Arabia has infiltrated Wikipedia and jailed two administrators in a bid to control content on the website, weeks after a former Twitter worker was jailed in the US for spying for the Saudis.

One administrator was jailed for 32 years, and another was sentenced to eight years, the activists said.

An investigation by parent body Wikimedia found the Saudi government had penetrated Wikipedia’s senior ranks in the region, with Saudi citizens acting or forced to act as agents, two rights groups said….”

SPIE announces three-year Read and Publish agreement with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

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“SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, is pleased to announce a three-year Read and Publish agreement with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).

The new agreement began on 1 January 2021. The agreement includes unlimited, open-access publishing in SPIE journals with no article-processing fees for affiliated authors. It also incorporates read access to all SPIE journals, proceedings, and eBooks in the SPIE Digital Library which comprises more than 530,000 publications covering topical areas ranging from biomedical optics and neuroscience to physics and astronomy-related technology….”

SPIE announces three-year Read and Publish agreement with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

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“SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, is pleased to announce a three-year Read and Publish agreement with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).

The new agreement began on 1 January 2021. The agreement includes unlimited, open-access publishing in SPIE journals with no article-processing fees for affiliated authors. It also incorporates read access to all SPIE journals, proceedings, and eBooks in the SPIE Digital Library which comprises more than 530,000 publications covering topical areas ranging from biomedical optics and neuroscience to physics and astronomy-related technology….”

More Open Access Publishing at KAUST | University Library

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“KAUST is proud to be a pioneer in open access movement and to be aligned with global initiatives. KAUST’s University Library is happy to announce more open access publishing agreements at KAUST during 2020. These agreements will allow KAUST’s corresponding authors to publish their accepted articles in open access mode (in the journals of publishers listed below) and thus made openly available at no cost to the author.

Institute of Physics (IOP) : Read and Publish Model – coverage 2020-2022

American Chemical Society (ACS): Read and Publish Model –   coverage 2020-2022

American Institute of Physics (AIP): Read and Publish Model – coverage 2020-2022

Oxford University Press (OUP): Read and Publish Model – coverage 2020

These come in addition to the existing agreements negotiated in partnership with KAUST’s Office of Sponsored Research (OSR);

Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) : Read and Publish Model – coverage 2019-2021

Cambridge University Press (CUP) : Read and Publish Model – coverage 2019-2021…”

Popular preprint servers face closure because of money troubles

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“The rise of preprint repositories has helped scientists worldwide to share results and get feedback quickly. But several platforms that serve researchers in emerging economies are struggling to raise money to stay afloat. One, which hosts research from Indonesia, has decided to close because of this funding shortfall.

INA-Rxiv, which was set up in 2017, was one of the first repositories to host studies from a particular region. Previous platforms served specific disciplines: for example, arXiv, the original preprint repository, hosts physical-sciences research, and bioRxiv is a popular repository for biology studies. Other region or language-specific repositories followed, including ArabiXiv, which hosts Arabic-language research; AfricArxiv and IndiaRxiv. Managers of these repositories say they increase exposure for research from the regions, and facilitate collaborations.

INA-Rxiv, ArabiXiv, AfricArxiv and IndiaRxiv are run by volunteers around the world, but the servers are hosted online by the non-profit Center for Open Science (COS), based in Charlottesville, Virginia. The centre’s platform hosts 26 repositories, including more than a dozen that are discipline-specific.

In December 2018, the COS informed repository managers that from 2020, it would be introducing fees, charged to repository managers, to cover maintenance costs. The charges, which were finalized last December, start at about US$1,000 a year, and increase as repositories’ annual submissions grow….”

New Open Access publishing models at KAUST | University Library

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“KAUST University Library is happy to announce new open access publishing agreements with 3 STEM publishers, in collaboration with KAUST Office of Sponsored Research (OSR). These agreements will allow KAUST corresponding authors to publish their accepted articles open access mode (in the journals of publishers listed below) and made openly available under creative common license, at no cost to the author.

  • Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) : Read and Publish Model coverage 2019-2021
  • Cambridge University Press (CUP) : Read and Publish Model coverage 2019-2021
  • Institute of Physics (IOP) : Off-set Publishing Model coverage 2019

The first of its kind in the region, these publishing models aim over time to reduce the proportion of pay-walled scholarly articles, as library subscription funding shift to open access publishing. University Library, with the support of OSR, is taking a proactive role of negotiating with other publishers on similar agreements in the coming years, and expecting to be aligned with global open access and open science movements. This new initiative will support KAUST open access policy and supplement KAUST research repository, aimed to increase the impact of KAUST research publications through its availability to the world without locking them behind publisher’s paywalls.

 

More details of this initiative can be read from the guide, and you can also contact us via library@kaust.edu.sa …”

Digital Repository Coordinator-Architect

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“The Repository Coordinator/Architect provides key technical support and direction in KAUST’s Institutional Repository, the university’s repository of research outputs. The primary responsibilities of the position are: developing tools and methods for depositing or assisting users with deposit of works into the repository; supporting and enhancing the technology platform(s) for the university’s repository; developing and supporting automated solutions for data interchange between KAUST systems of records relating to its scholarly output; and providing oversight and quality control of the metadata and the completeness/functionality of deposited items. This position is an integral part of KAUST’s internationally recognized repository team….”

A librarian’s journey: from America to Saudi Arabia | OUPblog

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“Can you tell us about some of the projects you’re working on at the moment?

We’re working very hard on the issues of Article Processing Charges (APCs) and Open Access (OA). Faculty will often ask to pay to have their articles Open Access to get their research out there while the library is subscribing to the same content. We’re an OA campus, so we’re working on APC and OA language for our licensing….”

KAUST goes open access

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“I’m proud to announce that as of today, KAUST [King Abdullah University of Science and Technology] has officially adopted an open access policy! In short, the policy ensures that KAUST has non-exclusive rights to distribute all research done at KAUST. This right precedes any publishing or copyright agreement terms. It also places a responsibility on KAUST faculty to provide a pre-print of each paper to the library. The policy has nothing to do with publishing in open access journals (so-called Gold OA). Authors continue to publish in the same manner as before. KAUST’s OA policy is based closely on the text recommended by the Harvard Open Access Project (HOAP). HOAP was an extremely valuable resource for us in developing a policy and convincing the faculty, administration, and legal team to approve it….Here’s the full text of the policy, which at the moment is only available on an internal site. I’ll post a link here when a public announcement is made….”