Monthly Archives: September 2018

The impact of free access to the scientific literature: a review of recent research

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Abstract:  Objectives:

The paper reviews recent studies that evaluate the impact of free access (open access) on the behavior of scientists as authors, readers, and citers in developed and developing nations. It also examines the extent to which the biomedical literature is used by the general public.

Method:

The paper is a critical review of the literature, with systematic description of key studies.

Results:

Researchers report that their access to the scientific literature is generally good and improving. For authors, the access status of a journal is not an important consideration when deciding where to publish. There is clear evidence that free access increases the number of article downloads, although its impact on article citations is not clear. Recent studies indicate that large citation advantages are simply artifacts of the failure to adequately control for confounding variables. The effect of free access on the general public’s use of the primary medical literature has not been thoroughly evaluated.

Conclusions:

Recent studies provide little evidence to support the idea that there is a crisis in access to the scholarly literature. Further research is needed to investigate whether free access is making a difference in non-research contexts and to better understand the dissemination of scientific literature through peer-to-peer networks and other informal mechanisms.

The Open Access Citation Advantage: Does It Exist and What Does It Mean for Libraries? | Lewis | Information Technology and Libraries

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Abstract:  The last literature review of research on the existence of an Open Access Citation Advantage (OACA) was published in 2011 by Philip M. Davis and William H. Walters. This paper reexamines the conclusions reached by Davis and Walters by providing a critical review of OACA literature that has been published 2011, and explores how increases in OA publication trends could serve as a leveraging tool for libraries against the high costs of journal subscriptions.

The ambassadors for open access standards in the global South – SciDev.Net

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“Indian OA journals have submitted 2578 requests since 2014 to be included in the DOAJ; Brazil clocked in at 2,048 requests, while Indonesia ranks first with 3,662 requests.

But roughly half of the submissions get rejected, usually because of their low quality, Tom Olijhoek, editor-in-chief of the DOAJ, tells SciDev.Net….

A journal may be genuine but ill-informed about standards, or ill-equipped to meet them.

Another, more sinister explanation is that India is home to a growing number of predatory journals …”

A Clean House at the Directory of Open Access Journals – ACRL TechConnect

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“The work that DOAJ is doing to improve transparency and the screening process is very important for open access advocates, who will soon have a tool that they can trust to provide much more complete information for scholars and librarians. For too long we have been forced to use the concept of a list of “questionable” or even “predatory” journals. A directory of journals with robust standards and easy to understand interface will be a fresh start for the rhetoric of open access journals….”

Universalisation of Scientifc Dissemination

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“This is a presentation given on September 28th by Dr. Eric Archambault, world expert in bibliometrics and founder of 1science, during Scielo 20 Years Conference in São Paulo, Brazil.The panel was entitled ” Open Access – routes towards universalization : gold and hybrid journals, green, and others” His contribution, “Universalization of (OA) scientific dissemination”, demonstrates the limitation of traditional databases in measuring OA and shows how the 1findr product has universal discovery and inclusive measures.”

Coalition Publi.ca, a national partnership providing sustainable support for journals transitioning to open access | Public Knowledge Project

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“Created in the spring of 2017, Coalition Publi.ca aims to establish an infrastructure dedicated to the digital production and dissemination of research results in the Canadian humanities and social sciences (HSS). The project is now guided by an advisory committee with representatives from various stakeholders within academia.

 

Developed by Érudit and the Public Knowledge Project (PKP), two leading Canadian organizations focused on the digital dissemination of scholarly publications, Coalition Publi.ca is a pan-Canadian, non-commercial initiative. Its goal is to strengthen the collaboration between Canadian stakeholders (platforms and dissemination tools, journals, libraries, university presses, etc.) by means of a national infrastructure where each plays a complementary role in the scientific production chain.

Coalition Publi.ca is supported by 53 university libraries, all members of the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN). It is also funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Université de Montréal, Université Laval, Université du Québec à Montréal, Simon Fraser University and the Fonds de recherche du Québec – société et culture….”

Coalition Publi.ca

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“Coalition Publi.ca is a strategic partnership created by Érudit and the Public Knowledge Project in the spring of 2017. Coalition Publi.ca is dedicated to the advancement of research dissemination and digital publishing in the social sciences and humanities in Canada and abroad….”

Bundesminister Faßmann für Open Access | MEINUNGSBAROMETER.INFO

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Prof. Dr. Heinz Fassmann, Federal Minister for Education, Science and Research of the Republic of Austria endorses Plan S and answers some questions about it.

“Critics argue that in the case of an open access obligation, publishers could no longer perform the quality reviews to the same extent – how do you see that?

I can not understand this argument. In any case, I have no empirical evidence for it. Quality assurance is always carried out by scientists without any remuneration. Either the subscribing author or the author of the article pays an Article Processing Charge for publication. I do not see a financial problem there. But one thing is the peer review, which, however, is not related to the cash flow, but to the number of experts who have to evaluate an increasing number of publications. With such divergent quantitative developments, qualitative problems can arise. Incidents from the past have shown that. There are, however, indications that quality assurance in OA journals sometimes works better than with classic journals. Incidentally, the question of quality not only arises with the submissions, but also with the publishers. Therefore, initiatives are to be welcomed that try to introduce quality criteria here as well. One of these is the Directory of Open Access Journals….”

Open Access, Open Data und Open Science als wesentliche Pfeiler einer (nachhaltig) erfolgreichen digitalen Transformation der Kulturerbeeinrichtungen und des Kulturbetriebes

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From Google’s English: Abstract:  The cultural sector is the same as any other social Areas affected by digital transformation and needs to reorganize itself to keep up with the rapid developments digital technologies and their interconnectedness. The special with regard to the cultural area exists in that the target audience is very heterogeneous, whereas digital offers due to their specific needs only meet fewer users. Do not want cultural heritage facilities lose touch with the general public that they give to the audience cultural policy claim to ensure the data underlying the digital offers and Infrastructures can be designed to be accessible at any time which address one as well as the other audience layer, with In other words, they have to meet heterogeneous needs can. If cultural heritage institutions fail to the exclusionary effects that contradict their social mission in the digital space, that will be Potential for Enabling Cultural Participation in Large Parts remain undeveloped, even if they are in constant competition for ever newer and more attractive digital offers maybe can exist (cutting edge). Prerequisite for the sustainable digital opening of the cultural sector is that this, without having to reinvent oneself, it starts to think digitally and the principles of Open Access, Open Data and Open Science integrated into the cultural business. 

Creators of tools for open data? Steal this – The ODI

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“One of the goals of our data innovation programme is to support the creation of a healthier open data ecosystem. Our hypothesis was that the first step towards this healthier ecosystem is to look at the barriers people face when publishing data: technical, cultural and organisational.

Our report, What data publishers need: synthesis of user-research, formed the basis of what we know about the needs and problems of data publishers. Our team listened and talked to dozens of people to learn how we can help open data publishers do their job better, faster and more competitively.

We uncovered a range of open data publishers’ needs, and the issues keeping those needs unmet. For tools, these needs are:

  1. tools that are easier to use, especially for novices
  2. better tools for checking and ensuring quality of the published data
  3. better integration between tools in the publishing workflow.

We then used these insights to help develop resources to address some of those needs:

  1. a register of tools for people starting their open data publishing journey,
  2. and a range of new or improved tools for open data publishers (in collaboration with Open Knowledge International and Lintol).

As we do not want to compete with other tool makers, we made sure that every output of this work is openly licensed in the hope that tool makers would sweep in, adopt our good ideas, learn from our mistakes and integrate some of our insights – and some of our open source code – into their offering….”

[GOAL] SCOSS calls on the Open Science community to help identify field of potential applicants for second funding cycle

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“A year into an important initiative to help shore up vital, non-commercial services within the Open Science community; the Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services (SCOSS) is now beginning our search for new potential candidates to help fund. If you are a non-profit essential infrastructure for Open Access or Open Science of international significance and are concerned about your sustainability, this mail is for you….

To be considered, all pre-applications must be submitted at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdsRiVAKvM85RIFvVqxVi0AOCgWpP8B-nvp5QojBfLiGUkp_A/viewform by 31 October….”

SCOSS Funding — Call for Expression of Interest

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“A year into an important initiative to help shore up vital, non-commercial services within the Open Science community; the Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services (SCOSS) is now beginning our search for new potential candidates to help fund. 

In short, this is how the initiative works: SCOSS provides the framework and funding structure, vetting potential candidates based on a defined set of criteria. The most eligible of those that pass the vigorous evaluation are then presented to the global OA/OS community of stakeholders with an appeal for monetary support in a crowdfunding-style approach.

At this point, the board is seeking to identify a field of such potential candidates to vet; among the basic qualifications: the organisation must be well-established but concerned about sustainability; eligible services must have a non-profit status in the country in which they are based and/or be affiliated with or owned by a research or educational institution; the service must be available regionally and globally (i.e. extend beyond national relevance). …”