This the OMICs response to the FTC lawsuit for defrauding researchers. Undated (!) but apparently released in late August 2016.
Monthly Archives: August 2016
Internet Method, Process and System for Publication and Evaluation – Google Patents
An application (2006-2009) from Frontiers for a US patent on a method of peer review. Excerpt: “A technical method for evaluation, publication and distillation of information, such as scientific articles and other similar work, said method, process and system comprising at least the following technical process steps (1) an interactive online reviewing process of said information before it is published; (2) a publication process of said information if accepted; (3) an evaluation process of said information once published; (4) a distillation process of said published information in a tier filtering system based on said evaluation process….”The invention laid out is a “mutation” that allows the next step in the evolution of an emerging knowledge society where knowledge is sorted for reliability in an objective manner and freely accessible to all….”
PLOS Computational Biology invites you to a Symposium
We are pleased to invite you to attend a PLOS Computational Biology Symposium at the National Institutes of Health. The details of the event are as follows: “Computational Biology: Past, Present, and Future” Friday, 16th
Open Science Pilot Projects | Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
” PCORI intends to use this pilot as an opportunity to learn which repository features and services are most valuable/critical for its funded studies, to understand the time and effort required of Research Awardees to prepare and deposit their data and data documentation, and to understand the PCORI resources required to support data sharing.”
A politics of cooperation: Caroline Woolard on free culture, fine art, and everyday life – Creative Commons
“I define “the commons” as shared resources that are managed by and for the people who use those resources. Creative Commons does an excellent job of bringing the Free Culture Movement to everyday life, as image rights are now understood in relationship to the commons. That said, I believe Silvia Federici when she writes that most things we call “commons” today are in fact “transitional commons” because in a true commons, the collective management of resources would be respected by, and even surpass, state and federal law.
Can you discuss the use of political economies in your work and how it relates to the concept of the commons?
If “the commons” refers to the ways in which people share and manage resources together, then the commons is always a political, and economic, concept. Historically, the commons have been enclosed upon by state governance and by privatization. Today, the commons are enclosed upon by neoliberalism, what cultural theorist Leigh Claire La Berge describes as “the private capture of public wealth”. It is my hope that my art and design work can support existing commoning practices like the gifting, lending, borrowing, and sharing of land, labor, and capital. While artists who represent commoning in paintings or photographs might provide necessary space for reflection about the commons, in my work I employ one of two strategies: 1) co-creating living spaces for commoning, or 2) making objects and artworks for existing commons-based organizations. In other words, I try to support the commons, rather than represent the commons….
The Queer Rocker is an example of what I call a Free/Libre/Open Source Systems and Art project….”
A politics of cooperation: Caroline Woolard on free culture, fine art, and everyday life – Creative Commons
“I define “the commons” as shared resources that are managed by and for the people who use those resources. Creative Commons does an excellent job of bringing the Free Culture Movement to everyday life, as image rights are now understood in relationship to the commons. That said, I believe Silvia Federici when she writes that most things we call “commons” today are in fact “transitional commons” because in a true commons, the collective management of resources would be respected by, and even surpass, state and federal law.
Can you discuss the use of political economies in your work and how it relates to the concept of the commons?
If “the commons” refers to the ways in which people share and manage resources together, then the commons is always a political, and economic, concept. Historically, the commons have been enclosed upon by state governance and by privatization. Today, the commons are enclosed upon by neoliberalism, what cultural theorist Leigh Claire La Berge describes as “the private capture of public wealth”. It is my hope that my art and design work can support existing commoning practices like the gifting, lending, borrowing, and sharing of land, labor, and capital. While artists who represent commoning in paintings or photographs might provide necessary space for reflection about the commons, in my work I employ one of two strategies: 1) co-creating living spaces for commoning, or 2) making objects and artworks for existing commons-based organizations. In other words, I try to support the commons, rather than represent the commons….
The Queer Rocker is an example of what I call a Free/Libre/Open Source Systems and Art project….”
U.S. government agency sues publisher, charging it with deceiving researchers – Retraction Watch at Retraction Watch
“The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has charged a publisher of hundreds of academic journals with deceiving readers about reviewing practices, publication fees, and the nature of its editorial boards….If successful, the FTC suit could result in the court asking OMICS to return money to some researchers, among other penalties….We have attempted to contact OMICS for comment, and will update with anything we learn.”
FTC Charges Academic Journal Publisher OMICS Group Deceived Researchers | Federal Trade Commission
“The Federal Trade Commission has charged the publisher of hundreds of purported online academic journals with deceiving academics and researchers about the nature of its publications and hiding publication fees ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars.
The FTC’s complaint alleges that OMICS Group, Inc., along with two affiliated companies and their president and director, Srinubabu Gedela, claim that their journals follow rigorous peer-review practices and have editorial boards made up of prominent academics. In reality, many articles are published with little to no peer review and numerous individuals represented to be editors have not agreed to be affiliated with the journals….”
Quantum – the open journal for quantum science
“We propose the launch of an arXiv overlay journal for quant-ph. Quantum is a free and open access peer-reviewed journal that provides high visibility for quality research on quantum science and related fields. It is an effort by researchers and for researchers to make science more open and publishing more transparent and efficient….”
Épijournal de Géométrie Algébrique – Homepage
“Épijournal de Géométrie Algébrique is a peer-reviewed mathematical journal founded in 2015. The selection of articles follows a usual editorial process: the submissions are evaluated by the editorial board after reception of the referee reports. Articles are published in english or in french (with an abstract in english)….Épijournal de Géométrie Algébrique also aims at promoting the Épisciences platform among the mathematical community. This platform (a new tool devoted to scientific edition) enables to publish peer-reviewed research articles submitted from an open repository. Developed by the CCSD (a common service of CNRS, INRIA and University of Lyon), it consists of a high-quality technical interface and it benefits from a long-term institutional support. Its evolution (development of the interface and creation of new tools) is carried out in close colaboration with the scientific community….”
Leaked Impact Assessment on the copyright reform recommends an ancillary copyright on steroids! | IGEL –
“Yesterday, Statewatch leaked a draft version of the Impact Assessment (IA) report for the upcoming copyright reform. Concerning the area of publisher’s rights it leaves a devastating impression. The authors of the IA suggest introducing a new ancillary/neighbouring right for news publishers with a broad scope. And they make it sound like this would be an obvious and particularly good choice….
Informed readers will notice very quickly that the IA sounds in most parts like it was copied from lobbying papers of the publisher’s associations. The broad and highly elaborated expert’s criticism in the German and Spanish debate is totally ignored. Same is obviously true for potentially thousands of critical statements that were filed at the Commission’s own “public consultation”. …
That the new right “would not change the legal status of hyperlinks in EU law” (see p. 147) is nothing but a lip service. Even if turned out that setting a mere hyperlink without description is not covered, any kind of described link (i.e. useful link) that includes a small excerpt of the linked source would be made subject to a license. This would mean the end of the Internet, as we know it….”
Dataverse 4.5 is here! | The Dataverse Project – Dataverse.org
“Harvesting allows the dataset metadata from another site to be imported so that these files appear to be local, though data files remain on the remote site. This allows Dataverse installations and other repositories to share metadata with each other to create a data sharing community and to provide more access to the datasets stored in each repository. Harvesting is implemented using the standard OAI-PMH protocol – any Dataverse installation can be configured as an OAI client and server….”
Europe targets open access by 2020 – IOPscience
Not even an abstract is free online.
Want to improve access to research on glyphosate? Try harder than the Glyphosate Task Force.
“To improve access to research on glyphosate, the Glyphosate Task Force (GTF) gathered print copies of 71 research reports. Each report is owned by a member of the GTF and could presumably have been digitized, if not made #openaccess. The GTF put the print copies in a room in Brussels, requires registration to use the room, and plans to close the room at the end of October….”
The Costs of Flipping our Dollars to Gold | The Scholarly Kitchen
“I spoke with the UC study’s co-principal investigators, MacKenzie Smith and Ivy Anderson, about the findings of their study and how these fit into wider prospects and challenges for accelerated moves towards OA.”