Saturday, January 31, 2015

OATP primary

OATP primary

Government response to the consultation on reducing the duration of copyright in certain unpublished works

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 08:13 AM PST

" ... This document provides a summary of the responses received to each of the questions asked by the consultation on reducing the duration of copyright in certain unpublished works. The questions aimed at uncovering the possible effects of the policy, including the number of potentially affected works, how such works are currently used, and the scope for controlling the impact of any changes. The Government received a range of responses from various interested parties. Although many respondents were supportive of the Government's proposed measures, a number of respondents
raised some concerns with the policy and its potential negative impact on owners of copyright works. The Government recognises these concerns and as a result has decided not to take action in this area at this time, but will instead seek further views from affected parties. In the interim, a number of recent reforms have sought to make access and use of copyrightworks, including unpublished works, easier ..."

ETDs freed here (U.S. Institutions Respecting Student Choice in Disseminating their ETDs) | Free US ETDs (FUSE)

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 08:08 AM PST

"The following American institutions of higher education have adopted policies that allow doctoral students to decide whether or not to submit their dissertations to the commercial reseller, ProQuest ... This type of policy represents a significant break from the status quo established in the Microfilm Era of the mid-20th Century, recognizing the possibilities and power of the Digital Era of the 21st Century. Note that these are all heavy-hitters in terms of graduate research, as reflected by their common Carnegie Classification as Comprehensive Doctoral degree granting institutions (either CompDoc/MedVet or CompDoc/NMedVet). Many are also members of the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU) with top-tier research libraries belonging to the Association of Research Libraries. This list continues to grow — in fact, a number of additional institutions have alerted this blogger of their intentions to change policies soon. So please stay tuned and feel free to add a comment to let us know of any schools we've missed! ..."

22 ideas win Knight News Challenge: Libraries - Knight Foundation

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 08:04 AM PST

"In September we launched the 12th Knight News Challenge, on libraries, asking the question, 'How might we leverage libraries as a platform to build more knowledgeable communities?' Today we're announcing 22 winners of that challenge, awarding the recipients a share of $3 million for their ideas ..."

Open Data to Open Knowledge - Knight Foundation

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 08:03 AM PST

"Turning Boston's open data collection into an accessible resource by working with Boston Public Library to catalog it and introduce it to the public."

The Monograph Crisis Revisited | OPEN REFLECTIONS

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 07:58 AM PST

"Last week, on the 22nd of January, the report Monographs and Open Access, written by Geoffrey Crossick for HEFCE, was released. I would like to respond to the specific way in which the monograph crisis is described and represented in this report. I want to do so by emphasising the multiple dimensions as well as the political aspects of this crisis, which, arguably, have been downplayed in this report to HEFCE. In this report and in the news items that emerged out of it (such as this article in Times Higher Education, and this blog post by Crossick) it is stated that the monograph crisis is 'somewhat of a myth' (from the report), it is 'hard to sustain' (from the blog post), and even more, 'claims that monograph publishing is in crisis are exaggerated' (from the THE article). The report comes to this conclusion based on a very specific and, I would argue, one-dimensional description of the crisis (dismissing it mainly based on the growth in monograph title output of 4 large commercially operating British publishers). I would like to offer a different vision on what the monograph crisis is; a crisis that I—and, as I will show, many with me—would argue is unfortunately still very much a reality ..."

Open Access (OA) Literature

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 07:55 AM PST

" ... SAGE Publications is the world's largest independent academic publisher and is committed to global dissemination of research. SAGE supports both Gold, Green, and Hybrid OA. SAGE has made significant investment in OA, currently publishing 37 Gold OA journals (eg, Global Pediatric Health, Global Qualitative Nursing Research, Health Service Research and Epidemiology, SAGE Open Medicine) with plans to introduce another 40 journals over the next several years. SAGE firmly believes OA journals can and must be held to the same standards of ethics, research integrity, and methodological soundness as other traditional journals ..."

SHARE Partner Center for Open Science Featured in Washington Post | Association of Research Libraries® | ARL®

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 07:50 AM PST

"The Center for Open Science (COS), a Charlottesville, Virginia–based nonprofit technology start-up that is the development partner of SHARE (SHared Access Research Ecosystem), is highlighted on the front page of today's Washington Post in an article by Joel Achenbach about the growing push for transparency and data sharing in science to facilitate the reproduction of experiments.  The mission of the COS is to foster openness, integrity, and reproducibility of research and, to this end, the center develops code that helps researchers share their data. The COS is working with SHARE to build the SHARE Notification Service, which will inform interested individuals and organizations of the availability of research—including publications, data sets, and other research outputs. The Notification Service, SHARE's first project, is expected to enter beta this spring and be released this fall. The COS's mission is well aligned with SHARE's objectives to ensure the preservation of, access to, and reuse of research outputs. SHARE is a collaborative initiative of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the Association of American Universities (AAU), and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), who partnered to develop SHARE with significant input from the three associations' member institutions and their broader communities. SHARE is funded, in part, by grants from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) ..."

Charles Townes Papers Made Open Access in SPIE Digital Library

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 07:37 AM PST

"Research papers published by visionary laser pioneer Charles Townes are being made available via open access in the SPIE Digital Library, in a tribute to the Nobel Laureate's work. Professor Townes died Tuesday, 27 January at the age of 99. The papers cover technologies and systems used to unlock the secrets of the universe through astronomical measurement and image modeling, and are accessible through 31 March 2015 at http://spiedigitallibrary.org/SS/Charles_Townes.aspx. The library is published by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. Townes, who at the time of his death was Professor Emeritus of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, shared the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics with Aleksandr Prokhorov and Nicolai Basov, who independently came up with the idea for a maser. The prize recognized their work toward the invention of the laser ..."

Sunlight Foundation calls on volunteers to gauge open data impact - FierceGovernmentIT

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 07:35 AM PST

"Although advocates for municipal open data claim such policies improve the quality of life for urban residents, quantifying such an impact has proven difficult. A new volunteer program by the Sunlight Foundation seeks to take on that blind spot. Last week, the organization called for fellow supporters of open data initiatives to provide it with 'illustrative examples of how open data and transparency projects are having impact on our societies.' Working with the Open Data for Development Research Fund, a project of the Open Government Partnership, the Sunlight Foundation will build a database from submissions outside of the United States that can provide examples of open data policies resulting in a specific social impact ..."

Sharing Older Clinical Trial Data Remains a Problem for Pharma - Pharmalot - WSJ

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 07:26 AM PST

"With considerable fanfare, the Institute of Medicine released a long-awaited report last month praising the virtues of sharing clinical trial data. This is an important, but also contentious issue because without access to such information it can be virtually impossible for independent researchers to verify results that can lead to improved treatments, better health care and lower costs. Although the report is nothing more than a set of recommendations, the IOM effort is, nonetheless, seen as a needed step toward prodding industry and academia to release detailed data. Many drug makers, in particular, have been reluctant to grant much, if any, access over concerns about relinquishing trade secrets and compromising patient privacy, among other things. But some have taken steps to do so. There is, however, one area where some experts say the report falls short and underscores ongoing difficulties in sharing trial information. While the IOM offers specific suggestions for releasing data from future trials, the institute did not provide a framework for obtaining retrospective data. This remains an unresolved issue for the pharmaceutical industry, especially in light of various safety scandals and ensuing litigation that revealed data for some products were never fully published or disclosed ..."

Ask The Chefs: What Do You Think Will Have The Biggest Impact On Scholarly Publishing In 2015? | The Scholarly Kitchen

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 07:21 AM PST

"2015 has already started with a bang and we think there's more to come, as you'll see from the Chef's responses to the question: What do you think will have the biggest impact on scholarly publishing in 2015? According to the Chefs, we're looking at a year of mergers and acquisitions, the continuing growth of open access both in number of opportunities and in scale, the publication of data and objects (like multimedia, application code, etc.), and more start-ups. What do YOU think will shape scholarly publishing in 2015? ..."

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 07:18 AM PST

"John Wiley and Sons, Inc., today announced the launch of Advanced Science, a new premium, interdisciplinary open access journal. Advanced Science publishes cutting-edge research, selected through a rigorous and fair reviewing process and is presented using the highest quality production standards to create a premium open access journal. 'Top science enjoying maximum accessibility' is the motto of this vibrant and innovative research publication. Advanced Science is the latest addition to Wiley's portfolio of Advanced Materials journals and benefits from relationships with widely respected titles including, Advanced Materials, Advanced Energy Materials and Small.  Advanced Science covers fundamental and applied research in materials science, physics and chemistry, medical and life sciences, as well as engineering ..."

Cresco Online Publishing

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 07:16 AM PST

"Cresco is the international platform for researchers who can access the content online through our open access journals from any part of the world without any barrier of charges. Cancer Research and Oncology: Open Access (CROOA) publishes research related to oncology which became the current trend of most of the researchers. Cancer Research and Oncology: Open Access (CROOA) publishes peer-reviewed articles in the field of cancer; we accept all types of papers that are eligible for publication. The articles published will be appearing in our online versions. There is extensive research happening in the field of oncology worldwide and our journal focuses upon the fields of research in cancer such as Breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, Blood cancer and the treatment therapies developed so far."

The importance of open aid data to open governance | Governance for Development

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 07:13 AM PST

"Open governance is about ensuring that citizens are able to engage with their governments and that those governments are then willing and able to respond to citizen demands. This, in turn, should lead to socially-inclusive economic development and more effective and efficient service delivery, improving the lives of citizens. But how can citizens fully hold their governments accountable without access to—and comprehension of—government data? The real challenge for fostering open governance lies in promoting transparency among the various sources of funding that make up a country's public investment portfolio. Without a clear breakdown of their governments' resources, citizens cannot engage in informed policy or decision-making discussions. As foreign aid plays an outsized role in the budgets of many developing countries (see below), a crucial component to open governance is the opening up of international development assistance data to public scrutiny. Given the multiple sources and types of foreign aid—e.g., bilateral vs. multilateral, on-budget vs. off-budget—it is this category of funding that is most elusive to greater transparency. It is also the most important ... Since aid constitutes such a significant portion of the budget in many countries around the world, the Open Aid Partnership (OAP) has been working with governments and development partners to ensure that aid is spent effectively and efficiently. To achieve this objective, OAP supports aid-recipient countries in publishing and making available development assistance data. Opening up this data fosters a more active dialogue between governments and their citizens, allowing citizens to become active stakeholders in development strategies ..."

An Open Science Peer Review Oath - F1000Research

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 07:12 AM PST

"One of the foundations of the scientific method is to be able to reproduce experiments and corroborate the results of research that has been done before. However, with the increasing complexities of new technologies and techniques, coupled with the specialisation of experiments, reproducing research findings has become a growing challenge. Clearly, scientific methods must be conveyed succinctly, and with clarity and rigour, in order for research to be reproducible. Here, we propose steps to help increase the transparency of the scientific method and the reproducibility of research results: specifically, we introduce a peer-review oath and accompanying manifesto. These have been designed to offer guidelines to enable reviewers (with the minimum friction or bias) to follow and apply open science principles, and support the ideas of transparency, reproducibility and ultimately greater societal impact. Introducing the oath and manifesto at the stage of peer review will help to check that the research being published includes everything that other researchers would need to successfully repeat the work. Peer review is the lynchpin of the publishing system: encouraging the community to consciously (and conscientiously) uphold these principles should help to improve published papers, increase confidence in the reproducibility of the work and, ultimately, provide strategic benefits to authors and their institutions."

Hacking Agriculture | The Daily Meal

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 06:55 AM PST

"For farmers in parts of Asia, where open access to knowledge is limited, a new wave of agriculture information and resources is aimed at making their jobs easier and more profitable. Wellsprings of information exist internationally and within places like China, but because of language and lack of structural support, some of this knowledge has yet to reach the people who need it most. The Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), partnering with the Agricultural Information Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), has strengthened the information capacity of Chinese forestry and agriculture institutions through workshops, conferences, and even hackathons. As a result of GFAR's work in China, a new movement of knowledge sharing has reached this former blip on the knowledge share map. The ability of agriculture professionals and service providers to share expertise and research is crucial to fulfilling development goals in places like China ... The Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD) is a web-based movement directing open, specific agricultural information to development organizations in an effort to reduce poverty and hunger. CIARD has expanded its program to include a bank of services offered by registered institutions. This network, known as the CIARD RING, collects a wealth of information, makes it searchable, and right at the fingertips of those who need it most ..."

Decoding the meaning of language | MIT News

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 03:27 AM PST

"In addition to conducting his own research, von Fintel is also a founding co-editor of Semantics and Pragmatics, an open-access, peer-reviewed journal that is now one of the top four journals in the discipline. Last year, it officially became the second official publication of the Linguistics Society of America, which has published the journal Language since 1925. 
Interestingly, when von Fintel launched the publication in 2008 (with David Beaver of the University of Texas at Austin), the idea of open access was still novel. "Before the Web, people communicated in informal networks, so it was hard to find out what was going on," von Fintel says. "I felt an obligation to help people get access to what was going on."
An early and passionate advocate for open access, von Fintel helped launch the MIT linguistics department's first website in the early 1990s, and soon thereafter started his academic blog, "semantics etc.," to build connections among linguists and disseminate ideas throughout the field. He also served on the Institute's Open Access Working Group, which proposed the open access policy adopted by MIT in 2009. 
"One point of the scientific method is quick and open communication," von Fintel says. "You can build on results as soon as they happen. It accelerates the way science gets done. We're changing the culture in our discipline in a big way."..."

Fears about further research selectivity dampened by grant letter | News | Times Higher Education

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 02:30 AM PST

"Hefce is also asked to "consider how to reward open data as part of future REF assessments", and to work with Jisc to minimise the cost of the government's commitment to open access. The government has been criticised by some in the sector for the potential cost of its preference for journal-based gold open access, which often involves the payment of a fee, to repository-based green open access. However, although papers submitted to the next REF must be open access, the funding councils have not expressed such a preference...."

Open Access Advocacy Librarian 14344

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 02:02 AM PST

"The Information Services Directorate (ISD) wishes to appoint an Open Access Advocacy Librarian. It is intended that the Open Access Advocacy Librarian, assisted by an Open Access Senior Library Assistant, will engage in particular with RCUK-funded research-active academic staff in order to encourage them to reshape their publication habits, thus ensuring their compliance with the Gold/Author Pays Open Access objectives set by the Research Councils UK. The post holder will provide training, advice and support to units/departments based on a combination of practical and theoretical knowledge of the field of open access publishing and repository work. Thus, the role will involve financial responsibilities such as the management of RCUK and other Open Access funds but will also embrace responsibilities for managing and/or supporting staff within the relevant sections of the University Library, while working in liaison with the University's Research and Knowledge Exchange Services to achieve full open access compliance. The post holder will need to understand the full range of contemporary OA compliance environments, for example, being able to explain how RCUK and/or Wellcome Foundation compliance relates to other compliance regimes, including HEFCE's separately articulated Open Access requirements. The Open Access Advocacy Librarian will take specific responsibility for training and supervising a Senior Library Assistant, while working closely with the Head of Acquisitions in the Library to ensure that Open Access procedures embed with existing Acquisitions workflows."

Home - Europeana Tech 2015

Posted: 31 Jan 2015 12:06 AM PST

"We are happy to announce that the second international EuropeanaTech conference will be held on February 12th and 13th 2015 in Paris, France. The Europeana Tech community has grown tremendously since the first EuropeanaTech conference in 2011. Not only in the number of active network members, but also in its impact. Europeana is uniting hundreds of experts from across the EU to share knowledge and jointly shape the future of memory organisations in a networked environment. Specifically on the technology front, Europeana has developed into a point of reference in various areas, including data modelling, innovative reuse of cultural heritage assets, semantic enrichment and –discovery. Several innovations proposed by Europeana's 'TECH' Community have now been adopted by others. Notably, metadata application profile used by the Digital Public Library of America is based on the Europeana Data Model. Many of the applications and tools developed in the context of Europeana are made available through the Europeana Labs that's buzzing with activity since it was launched earlier this year."

[press release] Technical, cultural and creative sectors unite to open up digital cultural heritage

Posted: 30 Jan 2015 11:49 PM PST

"The answer to these and future challenges of storing and exposing our digital cultural heritage in cost effective and innovative ways will be shared by leading technical experts, developers and researchers in Paris at the 2nd EuropeanaTech Conference at the National Library of France on 12-13 February 2015.  These experts come together as the EuropeanaTech community which comprises operators from the cultural sector, developer and IT architecture communities, and the creative industries. Bringing together these sectors offers a unique opportunity for collaboration on key issues from data modelling, multilingualism, discovery, content re-use and open source development, to Cloud and workable funding models. The community, which has grown steadily since the first EuropeanaTech conference in 2011 in Austria, and EuropeanaTech 2015 will showcase the developments that have taken place and open up more collaboration and advancement as experts try to predict the future relationship between technology and cultural heritage ..."

Innovating in the Open | Cyberlaw Clinic

Posted: 30 Jan 2015 11:47 PM PST

"INNOVATING IN THE OPEN | Harvard Law School, Wasserstein Hall, Room WCC 1010 | January 29, 2015, 3:30pm – 4:30 pm | Efforts to innovate and promote innovation often proceed in black boxes, out of concern for intellectual property protection and first-mover advantage.An alternative model, however, prioritizes engagement with users, consumers, competitors, and the general public throughout the creative process. Devotees of this more open approach to innovation view the risks of early disclosure as outweighed by the benefits of drawing on the wisdom of the crowd. The Cyberlaw Clinic and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society — along with the Harvard Innovation Lab, the HLS Food Law and Policy Clinic, and the Harvard Business School Digital Initiative — are pleased to present this panel discussion. The event will feature Matt Tucker from the HBS Digital Initiative (talking about the Open Forum platform), Hila Lifshitz-Assaf from NYU's Stern School of Business, Jeff Warren from Public Lab, and Emily Broad Leib from the HLS Food Law and Policy Clinic, in a discussion moderated by the Cyberlaw Clinic's Chris Bavitz. Panelists will address the topic of open innovation and how it can be used to improve development of everything from consumer products and services to software code to policy proposals. The event will cover the topic from theoretical and practical perspectives and will inform the audience about ways to get involved in open innovation at Harvard, including through the Deans' Food System Challenge (share ideas here; apply here) ..."

#ShareMyThesis competition

Posted: 30 Jan 2015 11:45 PM PST

"Are you currently studying for or have you completed a PhD degree? Do you want to tell the world why your research is important? Enter this competition and win a 15 inch MacBook Pro. Closing date: 9 February 2015 10.00 ... The #ShareMyThesis competition challenges PhD students past and present to summarise why your PhD research is important in 140 characters or less. The competition is open worldwide and to entries from all subject areas.  First, tweet why your PhD research is important using the hashtag #ShareMyThesis. Your tweet should convey why your research is important (not just what your research is about). Make sure your tweet is self-contained and understandable to a non-specialist.  Tweets must be received by 9 February 2015 at 10.00. Our judging panel will then select the top eight tweets.  Next, the eight shortlisted entrants will be asked to write a short article (up to 600 words) elaborating on your tweet and explaining why your PhD research is important. Full details can be found here. The judging panel will select a winner and two runners up by 20 March 2015 ..."

The implementation of the European Commission recommendation on open access to scientific information: comparison of national policies

Posted: 30 Jan 2015 11:39 PM PST

Use the link to access the full rext article from HAL. "Two years after the publication of the European Commission recommendation on open access to scientific information, the critical threshold of accessibility to fifty percent of papers has been crossed. However, this figure is an average and the implementation of the EC recommendation varies from one country to another. The topical issue now is to observe the different steps of implementation and to wonder about the reaseons of such a disparity. In order to suggest many elements of the response, this research compares the different levels of implementation in the EU28. "
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