Category Archives: oa.collaboration

TRIPLE Conference 2023: Improving Discovery and Collaboration in Open Science – Sciencesconf.org

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“Since 2019 the TRIPLE project has been developing the multilingual discovery platform GoTriple, aiming to facilitate interdisciplinary research and foster collaboration. The platform provides a central access point for users to explore, find, access and reuse Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) materials at European scale (data and publications, researcher’s profiles, projects). Users can find appropriate resources to support their own research and develop collaborative and interdisciplinary projects: different innovative tools are plugged to the platform to enhance the overall user experience. Data are automatically and continuously harvested with the active support of a vocabulary containing 11 languages for both resources and classification capabilities. GoTriple is part of the EOSC catalogue powered by the OPERAS Research Infrastructure.

GoTriple is dedicated to addressing pressing challenges that Social Sciences and Humanities face: data and research results are scattered along the lines of various disciplines, languages, catalogues and repositories, and collaboration – among researchers, enterprises, and citizens alike – is hindered. The service and its features are intended to soften and, eventually, overcome the borders that separate disciplines and researchers from each other. 

By providing a multilingual vocabulary, the creation of an open source API to enrich data and thereby offering an interdisciplinary, multilingual discovery service, GoTriple is intended to work as an intersection between various stakeholders in academia and society, enhance the low visibility of SSH results and improve their impact….”

New report provides insights into global OA landscape — and with a focus on China

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A new report released today provides insights into the complex and evolving global Open Access landscape — and with a particular focus on China. The report is a product of a collaboration between STM Association and the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) focused on the bilateral sharing of ideas and best practices in OA publishing.

 

Open Science for Ukraine: the Case for International Cooperation

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“The war in Ukraine and resulting destruction of research institutions have severely affected Ukrainian scientists. Almost 100,000 scientists still reside in Ukraine and require international support to continue their work. Ukrainian scientists would strongly benefit from an organized effort to support them through open science policies. As a result of the ongoing invasion, academic and research institutions in Ukraine have been physically damaged, and researchers face significant obstacles in trying to continue their work. This year, the International Science Council and an international collective of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine called on the scientific community to assist Ukraine by providing free access to archives, licensed software, and databases. International scientific societies and organizations such as UNESCO can use their resources to encourage collaboration and facilitate remote access to scientific resources for Ukrainian scientists. Open science policies will be key for preserving Ukrainian science and helping rebuild in the future.”

Open research is a tough nut to crack. Here’s how

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“Investment, training and incentives are required if the sector is going to rise to the challenge of truly embracing open research…

But despite enthusiasm from funders, appropriate support for researchers is often lacking, perhaps because of the incentives that act against institutions finding shared solutions. Open research requires digital infrastructure combined with appropriate training. This is a team challenge – researchers, technicians and professional services staff (such as those working in library teams but also in staff development) need to work together to deliver this effectively….

The solution, in our view, is collaboration.

 

Training in open research practices, for example, can (and should) be coordinated. To a degree it can even be centralised, in a similar way to how digital infrastructure can be centralised where that is appropriate (such as with Jisc). For example, train-the-trainer courses allow institutions to send trainers (perhaps drawn from both academic and professional services staff, and across career stages) to work together to develop individual workshops that are tailored to the local audience but share common elements that maximise interoperability. This, of course, will require institutions to contribute to a common effort – a very different approach to the local approach to training that is typical, but one that is ultimately likely to be both more effective and more cost-effective.

 

Similarly, incentives such as promotion criteria, open research prizes and so on can also be harmonised across institutions. Aligned promotion criteria will also serve to promote researcher mobility, if what is good for a researcher’s career (and for research) at one institution will also benefit them when they move to another. Offering open research prizes across multiple institutions – perhaps taking advantage of existing regional clusters – will reduce costs for individual institutions and also foster the sharing of effective and innovative approaches to open research across institutions, to mutual benefit. Plus, the impact of this training and these incentives can be monitored through targeted evaluation across all participating institutions, allowing for ongoing evaluation and benchmarking….”

Strategy 2023-2027 – LIBER Europe

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“Our strategy for the period 2023-2027 focuses on leading developments to get ahead of radical changes happening in the research landscape.

We have identified top driving factors that will affect research libraries and LIBER, and formulated strategic undertakings to maintain our strong position in enabling world-class research….

By 2027, in collaboration with researchers, research libraries stimulate, facilitate, co-develop and manage infrastructures and practices designed to take Open Science to the next level….”

A workflow for Combinatorial Books | Community-led Open Publication Infrastructures for Monographs (COPIM)

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Adema, J., Bowie, S., Hall, G., & Kiesewetter, R. (2022). A workflow for Combinatorial Books. Community-Led Open Publication Infrastructures for Monographs (COPIM). Retrieved from https://copim.pubpub.org/pub/workflow-for-combinatorial-books

How Open Science can revolutionize global knowledge cooperation

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“Knowledge needs to be globally accessible in order to combat the crises of our times, from climate and energy to health and food security. Technological advances such as cloud server storage and satellite-based internet connectivity could provide solutions for ubiquitous access. Yet, political will is needed to re-calibrate the regimes that prevent the free flow of knowledge….

What are the reasons why almost two decades after the Berlin Declaration the promises of the Open Science have not been met?

 

 

First, market and innovation-based regimes for privileging knowledge, such as intellectual property rights (IPR), patents, and subscriptions to journals and libraries, are structured that makes knowledge exclusive. IPR are an obstacle for communities to localise knowledge and benefit from products. COVID-19 vaccine patents remain a contentious debate as they disallow the free passing on of vaccine production knowledge. Gatekeeping extends to general scientific publishing, with the UNESCO Science Report 2021 noting that “five commercial publishers are responsible for more than 50% of all published articles and about 70% of scientific publications are still unavailable in open access.” This fact is despite there being more open access journals and repositories than ever before.

 

 

Second, access to knowledge needs suitable infrastructure. The fact that cutting edge science is mostly disseminated online, while only 63% of the world population had access to the internet in 2021, means that too many are excluded from the ideas, repositories and publications which are shaping our societies and from the civic participation that provides them representation.

 

 

Third, if servers and repositories of open data sets are following a restrictive logic of data localisation while cross-border arrangements for free-flow of data are missing, other countries are beholden to the infrastructure and jurisdiction of those who have accumulated and centralised knowledge and its products. This continues existing asymmetries in knowledge access and production and can turn into a severe problem when governments restrict access to the internet or when they default to nationalism in a global crisis….”

Amplifying research influence through the social network, open access publishing, and international collaboration: A mediation analysis on nursing studies literature – Tang – Journal of Nursing Scholarship – Wiley Online Library

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Abstract:  Introduction

Research impact and influence are commonly measured quantitatively by citation count received by research articles. Many institutes also use citation count as one of the factors in faculty performance appraisal and candidate selection of academic positions. Various strategies were recommended to amplify and accelerate research influence, particularly citation counts, by bringing research articles to a wider reach for potential readers. However, no prior empirical study was conducted to examine and valid effects of those strategies on nursing studies.

This study examines and verifies the direct effects and mediation effects of some strategies, namely, the use of Twitter, international collaboration, the use of ResearchGate, and open access publishing, for amplifying the citation of research and review articles in nursing studies.

Design

Cross-sectional study design.

Methods

Articles published in top nursing journals in 2016 were identified in PUBMED and the citation metrics for individual articles until 2021 were extracted from Scopus. The primary outcome was the citation count of the article, while the tweet count on Twitter of the article was considered a mediator. The predictors included paper type, the total number of authors, the proportion of authors with a ResearchGate account in the article, funding support, open-accessed article, and the number of different countries stated in the authors’ affiliation. A mediation analysis was conducted to examine the predictors’ direct and indirect effects (i.e., via tweet count) on the citation count of the article.

Results

A total of 2210 articles were included in this study, of which 223 (10.1%) were review articles. The median (IQR) number of Scopus citations, tweets, countries, and percentage of authors with ResearchGate accounts were 12 (6–21), 2 (0–6), 1 (1–1), and 75% (50%–100%) respectively. In the mediation analysis, tweet count, article type, number of countries, percentage of authors with a ResearchGate account, and journal impact factors in 2014 were positively associated with the Scopus citation count. The effects of article type, open access, and journals’ impact factors in 2014 on Scopus citation count were mediated by the tweet count.

Conclusion

This study provides empirical support for some strategies researchers may employ to amplify the citation count of their research articles. The methodology of our study can be extended to compare research influence between entities (e.g., across countries or institutes).

Clinical Relevance

The citation refers to the research work cited by peers and is one of the indicators for research impact. Higher citations implied the research work is read and used by others, therefore, understanding the associated factors with higher citations is critical.

Ten simple rules for improving communication among scientists | PLOS Computational Biology

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Abstract:  Communication is a fundamental part of scientific development and methodology. With the advancement of the internet and social networks, communication has become rapid and sometimes overwhelming, especially in science. It is important to provide scientists with useful, effective, and dynamic tools to establish and build a fluid communication framework that allows for scientific advancement. Therefore, in this article, we present advice and recommendations that can help promote and improve science communication while respecting an adequate balance in the degree of commitment toward collaborative work. We have developed 10 rules shown in increasing order of commitment that are grouped into 3 key categories: (1) speak (based on active participation); (2) join (based on joining scientific groups); and (3) assess (based on the analysis and retrospective consideration of the weaknesses and strengths). We include examples and resources that provide actionable strategies for involvement and engagement with science communication, from basic steps to more advanced, introspective, and long-term commitments. Overall, we aim to help spread science from within and encourage and engage scientists to become involved in science communication effectively and dynamically.

 

 

Octopus: The New Primary Research Record for Science

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“Octopus is a new platform, launching in spring 2022, which is designed to be the new primary research record for science. Instead of being a platform for the publication of papers, it is designed for easy and rapid sharing and assessing of work, in smaller units. Octopus will be where researchers can record every piece of work that they have done, as they do it, to assert their priority and for it to be assessed and critiqued by their peers. Octopus has a unique structure to encourage a collaborative approach to the scientific process, with publications building on each other over time, regardless of authorship. In this talk, its creator will explain more about how it will work, and why it was designed the way it was.”

Building Data Resilience Through Collaborative Networks | Educopia Institute

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“The aim of this symposium is to share information and best practices on the opportunities, challenges, models, methodologies, successes, and collaborative strategies concerning data sharing for digital scholarship, science, and community formation more broadly. The broad audience addressed will include faculty, librarians, technologists, and university administrators interested in these topics….”

Octopus: creating a new primary research record for science | Jisc

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“Octopus will create a new ‘primary research record’ for recording and appraising research ‘as it happens’.

It breaks down the publication of scientific research into eight elements, unlike a traditional journal article.

The eight elements are:

Problem
Hypothesis/rationale
Methods/protocol
Data/results
Analysis
Interpretation
Real-world implementation
Peer review

These elements will be linked together to form chains of collaborative work.

These smaller units of publication encourage faster sharing, and credit can be given to individual work at all stages of the research process, including peer review.

This will encourage a new culture of collaboration, constructive critique and fast sharing of work by resetting the incentive structure in research to reward best practice in every aspect of the scientific process.

The platform will be free for researchers to publish their work, free for anyone to read and embeds the principles of openness and transparency throughout….”