“The Harvard-China Project on Energy, Economy and Environment is pleased to announce that the Project’s faculty, researchers, and staff have adopted an open-access policy. They unanimously endorsed the policy on September 21, 2017 to grant Harvard a nonexclusive and worldwide right to distribute “the fruits of [their] research and scholarship as widely as possible.”
Monthly Archives: October 2017
Open Access is for life and not just for compliance – Medically speaking…
“In deciding where to publish our research, we have to consider why we do research. While some of us would probably undertake research for the intellectual challenge or excitement of discovery alone, for many of us it is important that our research will impact society in some way. This may be from contributing to the advance of our scientific discipline, or through the use of our research by the public, policymakers or industry. For all of these to come to pass, there is a basic premise that our publications can be found and accessed by those who can make use of the information they contain. Hence one of the key decisions around choice of where to publish is to think of the audience that reads the journal, and whether to make your paper Open Access.”
About oaDOI | MIT Libraries
“This link to an open access version of an article comes through oadoi.org, which indexes millions of articles and delivers open-access full-text versions over an open API. The MIT Libraries are excited to offer this new path to access scholarly content. oaDOI is a contribution to an open access infrastructure that, by taking readers to versions of articles that are not behind paywalls, supports MIT’s aim of democratizing access to information. …”
The future of open access is…discovery. Who’s leading the way?
Selections from David A. Pendlebury’s blog articles – ‘Easing the Path to Access OA Content for Researchers – Part 1‘ and ‘That was then but this is now… #OAWeek – Part 2′
David Pendlebury presents a look into the future of Open Access discovery, and how Clarivate Analytics is leading the way.
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‘This week marks the 10th anniversary of ‘International Open Access Week,’ and this year’s observance carries a thought-provoking theme: “Open in order to….” This is in itself an open-ended statement which urges us all to focus on what Open Access (OA) really enables, and how we can further enable OA.
Clarivate Analytics is not a publisher, but we are a valued and long-standing part of the scholarly ecosystem, partnering with scholars, and authors, with publishers, and editors and reviewers, so all the hats a researcher wears.
At a time when debate is raging in Europe about OA and the costs associated with access to scholarly research, we are proud to be easing the path to access OA content for researchers.’
‘Clarivate Analytics, which now produces Garfield’s Web of Science, carries his legacy forward and continues to be aligned first and foremost with the interests of researchers.’
‘Like Eugene Garfield, we value what scientists and scholars do and we honor their commitment and dedication to their institutions and their colleagues. A vital research activity that has been undervalued historically is peer review, a truly unselfish and “under-rewarded” service.
That is why, earlier this year, we acquired Publons, a pioneering enterprise that will document and provide data on the review activities of researchers. We also want to enable them to validate their contribution to the quality of published content through their reviewer activities.’
To learn more about how Clarivate Analytics is maximizing the free availability of new research findings and other scholarly output, please follow this link to download our white paper on ‘Opening the way to Open Access’.
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If you wish to read the full articles, you will see what is in store for the future of open access discovery and links to other sources of valuable information on open access – ‘Easing the Path to Access OA Content for Researchers – Part 1‘ and ‘That was then but this is now… #OAWeek – Part 2′
Happy International Open Access Week!
African Open Science Platform
“The Science International Accord on ‘Open Data in a Big Data World’ presents an inclusive vision of the need for and the benefits of Open Data for science internationally, and in particular for Lower and Middle Income Countries. A major outcome is the African Open Science Platform initiative, supported by the South African Department of Science and Technology, directed by CODATA and implemented by ASSAf.
The development of an open science and innovation platform depends not only on the physical infrastructure for acquiring, curating and disseminating data and information, but also on protocols, policies and procedures in the science system that provide the structure and support to ensure that science objectives are achieved….”
Week of Free OA Resources from Scholastica
Amid the daily hubbub, we don’t always get the opportunity to have deep discussions about all of the information swirling around concerning the present and future state of OA. OA Week is a time to come together to do so, and this year’s theme, “open in order to…” is a great place to start.
In celebration of OA Week, and to help facilitate discussions surrounding OA, Scholastica has put together a list of our top 7 OA Resources. Throughout the week, we’re sharing an OA resource of the day via social media as well as resources others are talking about.
We’re thrilled to be a part of this OA Week and the greater OA movement and hope these resources will serve as tools and conversation starters that will extend beyond this week to aid you in current and future OA endeavors.
You can access the full Week of OA Resources here.
Open in order to… drive positive change
Hello everyone,
By way of an introduction my name’s Aimee Nixon, and I’m Head of Open Access publishing at Emerald Publishing. I’m currently leading a programme that focused on how open access work for our communities and can help to inform and drive change.
Why are we doing this?
At a UN Summit in September 2015, the UN launched the 17 sustainable development goals of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development (www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment). These goals – which were developed to mobilize efforts to ‘end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change[1]’ – call for action by all countries, irrespective of income status, to promote prosperity while also protecting the planet.
Academic research plays a fundamental role in informing and driving change. Across our journals and book programmes, we publish a wealth of research that supports the themes outlined in the sustainable development goals, focussing on areas such as decent work and economic growth, industry innovation and infrastructure, sustainable cities and communities and climate action – all key themes aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As publishers, we’re passionate about disseminating research that can be applied in practice, and publishing outcome-focused research remains a key part of our identity.
What are some of the benefits of open access to academic communities?
Aside from the benefits as outlined in the UN’s SDGs and the potential to improve the world around us and make it a better-managed place to live in, open access also offers academics choice in terms of routes to publish and the ability to publish quickly. And, perhaps even more importantly, the ability to disseminate their research far-and-wide to audiences that academic research can find it difficult to reach; and, with that being the case, the ability to make an impact in the real world.
How can open support change?
In keeping with the UN’s desire that the goals be universal, inclusive and indivisible, we understand the importance of insuring that research output in these vital areas reaches a truly globally audience. Of course, maximizing the visibility and dissemination of all of the research we publish remains our ultimate goal; but, in areas of such vital public interest, it’s paramount that we’re able to place that research into the hands of policymakers and practitioners who are able to implement change and ultimately improve lives.
What are we doing?
As part of Emerald Reach, our new open access programme, over the next 12 months we will publish 12 supplements in line with the Sustainable Development Goals themes. We’re delighted to be publishing these supplements as open access, ensuring that the articles are freely available to access and reuse from anywhere in the world. All costs typically associated with making the issues open access will be covered by Emerald, with no cost to our authors.
And, look out for more developments in the coming months… watch this space!
Open Access supplements: supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals
As part of our commitment to extend impact within and beyond academia, we are publishing a number of special, open access issues in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
These include:
An International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management special issue on: ‘Managing organizations for climate change mitigation and adaptation: moving the agenda forward’.
In regards to the Decent Work and Economic Growth SDGs, an International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy special issue on: ‘Integrating Perspectives in the Informal Economy’, and an Employee Relations special issue on: ‘Low Pay and the Living Wage’.
Read these and find out more by visiting:
http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/openaccess/oa_supplements.htm
Some questions for you to consider
Open Access continues to be a hotly debated and divisive topic that has both its fair share of evangelists, sceptics and people with a foot in either camp – and, of course, a lot of people in the middle.
How would you like to see open access develop in the coming years? And what challenges do you think lie in its way?
We’d love to hear from you on any of these topics, or in terms of feedback on our new open access programme, which launched in September 2017.
Aimee Nixon – Head of Open Access, Emerald Publishing
1. www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/
Day 5: USGS Publications Warehouse and OPEN ACCESS
USGS Publications Warehouse is an online citation index for USGS-authored publications managed by the USGS Library that serves as the authoritative source for information and access to USGS publications. This includes official publications such as USGS-authored journal articles, series reports, book chapters, other government publications, and conference proceedings.
Each publication has its own descriptive citation page that is dynamically generated based on information stored in a database. The Publications Warehouse cataloging team builds and maintains records based on data derived from a variety of sources, including the USGS Information Product Data System (IPDS), USGS Science Publishing Network pages and announcements and other bibliographic databases.
The Publications Warehouse site is built in such a way to allow easy indexing by web search crawlers, and provides both basic and advanced search capabilities. The site also provides a number of different Web services, including a customizable RSS feed and a MODs XML service. Many of these services are helpful to outside developers, and can be used as an alternate way to access the data available in Pubs Warehouse. In support of the USGS Public Access Plan, Publications Warehouse also provides information about the embargo dates for publications that will become freely available 12 months after publication beginning October 1, 2016.
Here’s a list of other USGS and external systems that include Pubs Warehouse:
- IPDS
- CrossRef
- ORCID
- CHORUS
- FundRef (extramural publications)
- ScienceBase
- Science Data Catalog
- DataCite
- Updated / WRET USGS “Publications” content (usgs.gov)
- GoogleScholar
- Science.Gov
» How universities can support open-access journal publishing The Occasional Pamphlet
“As a university administrator or librarian, you may see the future in open-access journal publishing and may be motivated to help bring that future about.1 I would urge you to establish or maintain an open-access fund to underwrite publication fees for open-access journals, but to do so in a way that follows the principles that underlie the Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity (COPE). …”
Stencila
“The office suite for reproducible research
The calls for research to be transparent and reproducible have never been louder. But today’s tools for reproducible research can be intimidating – especially if you’re not a coder. We’re building software for reproducible research with the intuitive, visual interfaces that you and your colleagues are used to….”
Open Access and Net Neutrality
“It’s a complicated topic, but one that may impact open access – and impact you too. Stay tuned!”
PLUTO Decentralized Communication Platform: White Paper
“PLUTO, just as all the academics around the world would do, craves to solve these absurdities, by creating a fair, transparent, reasonable, and efficient communication platform for scholars, decentralized from the present too much power of publishers. Using blockchain technology, PLUTO decentralizes the way academics share, evaluate, and reuse their research outputs. The scope of these outputs is extended beyond the present narrow definition confined to published papers to a broader sense of various information occurring midresearch. The values arising in the cycle of the system, both in financial and reputational terms, are credited rightfully to the ones who contribute to them. The reputational compensations, in the long-term, will work as an alternative metric for academics. By creating a decentralized, transparent, and reasonable system of records for academic activities, PLUTO makes the global scholarly communication efficient than ever. The whole cost savings will be greater than 80 billion USD throughout entire research industry. Besides being efficient, the paradigm of scholarly communication shifts with PLUTO. As all kinds of mid-research outputs are empowered and promoted to be shared, the lifetime value of researches will be fully utilized, making the number of digits for current global R&D industry at more than 2 trillion USD outdated. Along with the practice of validating researches, the alternative, objective performance indicator for researches, and a new system for allocating resources, there will be extraordinary advances in current challenges like incurable diseases or sustainable energy. Ultimately, the decentralized academia initiated by PLUTO will advance the way the knowledge of humanity itself advances. …”
Pluto | Home
“”Scholarly Communication is a circulating system where academic contents are created, evaluated, shared, and reused. PLUTO makes a decentralized platform by putting this process onto blockchains….Through PLUTO, research achievements are totally owned and managed by original authors, not publishers….Researchers independently creates, evaluates, and disseminates the contents, without third party involvement….PLUTO eliminates possibility of any fabrication, manipulation, or fraud in scholarly communications….”
Open access week: ResearchGate and the violation of copyright agreements | Times Higher Education (THE)
“I have been warning junior and senior researchers for the past four years, when promoting open access publishing, that sites such as ResearchGate and Academia.edu and the like should not be considered repositories – and that most of the content offered on these platforms is in violation of copyright agreements.”
Vernehmlassungsantwort zum Entwurf des Urheberrechtsgesetzes – Parldigi – Digitale Nachhaltigkeit
From Google’s English: “The Parliamentary Group on Digital Sustainability (Parldigi) is committed to the sustainable and innovative use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and calls for unrestricted public access to knowledge….The open access strategies of the universities serve not only to science, but also to the general public, and enable access and the long-term preservation of knowledge. However, Open Access can only be implemented in a targeted manner if (scientific) works can actually be published freely accessible. The Swiss Code of Obligations (OR) provides that the rights of the copyright holder are only transferred to the publisher for as long as it is necessary for the execution of the publishing contract (Article 381 para 1 OR). However, this provision may be amended by contract. As a rule, the publishers make use of this possibility by transferring copyrights in standard contracts or general terms and conditions (GTC) in full. In order to prevent this in the future and thus ensure that scientific publications can be made freely accessible to the interested public, a new, compelling provision is to be introduced in the framework of the revision of the URG. Concretely, we propose to supplement Art. 381 OR with the following paragraph:
Art. 381 para. 2 OR (new):
The right to make a publicly funded contribution for a scientific journal or a scientific collection free of charge may be made available to the publisher. …”