Saturday, May 30, 2015

OATP primary

OATP primary

How can open access support research development? A HHuLOA OA Good Practice Pathfinder project event | Open Access Good Practice

Posted: 30 May 2015 09:29 AM PDT

"The HEFCE REF Open Access policy is seeking to make open access an embedded part of research dissemination within institutions.  This driver has been valuable in raising awareness of open access amongst academic staff, and provided a real impetus to getting open access processes and workflows established.  As we work towards the implementation date in April 2016, there is a clear focus on the process detail of what needs to be put in place, and contrasting concerns around how the cultural change this deadline requires can be brought about, in both cases to ensure compliance. The Jisc Open Access Good Practice Pathfinder projects have been exploring the full range of issues related to rolling out open access for the HEFCE policy.  HHuLOA has brought together three institutions that have a particular view on this.  Hull, Huddersfield and Lincoln all carry out research, but would like to grow this capability over time.  Given that open access is promoted as a means of increasing awareness of research outputs, and generate greater interest in the research of an institution, how might open access be able to contribute to the development of research?  Where does open access sit in within research strategy, and what place does it have in growing research income and reputation? This event will encompass two parts: dissemination of the work carried out by the HHuLOA project to date, and a workshop to explore how open access can support research development that is building on this work.  Please join us to learn about how the HEFCE open access stick can also be a strategic carrot for the research development of the institution and share your own experiences of this relationship. More information and registration here: : http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hhuloa-oa-good-practice-project-open-access-and-research-development-tickets-17144349210"

Is there a place for specialized open access journals? | Open Science

Posted: 30 May 2015 09:25 AM PDT

"Can a journal in the era of digital, global communication, still be backed by a relatively small but devoted community? Over the past three years, De Gruyter Open has launched 14 new open access journals in mathematics, all of which are addressed to very specific research communities. This has been in contrast with the main publishing trend of recent years, which was set by open access mega-journals, designed to meet the needs of authors and readers from very broad thematic backgrounds. Journals of this kind, according to a very recent estimation, publish up to 20% of all open access articles, and have become a flagship of open access publishing. On the other hand, De Gruyter Open's journals are dedicated to 'emerging' fields, which means that they have not yet peaked in momentum but currently look promising. So can new, narrow scope, open access journals become successful? The journals were launched as a part of the Emerging Science Journals program. 'The aim of the program is to create open access serials in the fields of science that will shortly become popular. So we were trying to find interesting scientific communities with high potential and offer them the possibility to set up a professional open access journal.' – describes Aleksandra Nowacka-Leverton, Product Manager of Open Access Journals at De Gruyter Open ..."

VSNU: Open access newsletter

Posted: 30 May 2015 09:17 AM PDT

Use the link to access the newsletter.

Library publishing services: An investigation into open access publishing in academic libraries - E-LIS repository

Posted: 30 May 2015 09:14 AM PDT

[Abstract] The aim of this research is to investigate whether it is feasible for a UK university to publish its research output itself through an open access library publishing service. It achieves this by undertaking a qualitative study at one institution, Anglia Ruskin University. It identifies the scholarly communication needs of the institution and its academics, and evaluates whether a library publishing service meets these needs. It also assesses the potential level of support for such a service within the university and recommends actions to take. The literature review explores the idea of library publishing and places this research in a wider context. Given that the policy context in the UK is putting increasing pressure on researchers to publish open access, this dissertation examines whether creating a library publishing service is a good way for an institution to facilitate this. This is a qualitative study consisting of five semi-structured interviews which were transcribed, coded and analysed. The results show mixed support for open access because although researchers support it in principle, they are unwilling to change their practices if they think that doing so might harm their reputation. One of the primary needs that they have from the scholarly communication process is to perform well in the REF. Other needs identified by this research include: being seen by one's peers; having access to an appropriate range and scope of publication outlets; a strong quality control process governed by peer review; and support with managing the publication and post-publication process. A library publishing service can meet these needs as long as it is designed with them in mind. Existing library publishing services can be used as a guide to best practice. In answer to the aim of the research: creating a library publishing service at Anglia Ruskin University is feasible and could provide a valuable service to the university and its researchers. The question of whether there is sufficient support for such as service among academics at Anglia Ruskin University is still uncertain and requires further research to answer. The recommendations for Anglia Ruskin University are: to create a research support post in the library, to conduct a survey of academic staff to further investigate the level of support for library publishing, and to initiate a journal hosting service.

Open data could save the NHS hundreds of millions, says top UK scientist | Media Network | The Guardian

Posted: 30 May 2015 02:09 AM PDT

"The UK government must open up and highlight the power of more basic data sets to improve patient care in the NHS and save hundreds of millions of pounds a year, Nigel Shadbolt, chairman of the Open Data Institute (ODI) has urged. The UK government topped the first league table for open data (paywall) produced by the ODI last year but Shadbolt warns that ministers' open data responsibilities have not yet been satisfied. Basic data on prescription administration is now published on a monthly basis but Shadbolt said medical practitioners must be educated about the power of this data to change prescribing habits across the country. Other data sets, such as trusts' opening times, consultant lists and details of services, that are promised to make the NHS more accessible are not currently available in a form that is machine-readable ..."

Video: How to Clear Roads with Open Data - Nextgov.com

Posted: 30 May 2015 02:05 AM PDT

"For many of us, summer is fast approaching and thoughts of dangerous winter roads are far away. For Vennard Wright, the chief information officer of Maryland's Prince George's County, tackling problems like snow removal and other ways to improve neighborhoods are always on his mind. Wright's goal as CIO is for Prince George's County to have two main data sets: one external to show members of the public where their tax dollars are being spent, and one internal for those in government to make informed decisions.  As an example, snow on the roads affects several departments of the local government. Wright says open data helps all of them come together and make creative and effective decisions about snow removal ..."

How open data can return consumer trust to brands

Posted: 30 May 2015 02:02 AM PDT

"Marketers generally have a one-sided relationship with data, using it to target customers more effectively and sell more products. But one start-up entrepreneur believes brands should be making data work harder for the customer, giving them more insight into where products come from and how they are made. British entrepreneur Jessi Baker has founded Provenance, which allows customers to track exactly how a product was made and where. Provenance enables brands to disclose the 'lifetime' of a product, such as the materials used, where it was manufactured and granular details of their supply chain. Its system hinges on the Blockchain, the verification technology that underpins bitcoin transactions. The Blockchain can ensure that some supply chain information is anonymous - something that will be reassuring to bigger brands - and keeps it secure ..."

USDA Blog » Using Open Data in Creative Ways to Solve Problems

Posted: 30 May 2015 01:58 AM PDT

"Want to make better use of forest, park and trail datasets? Try a hackathon. A hackthon is an event in which computer programmers and others involved in software development and hardware development, including graphic designers, interface designers and project managers, collaborate intensively on software projects. Hackathons typically last between a day and a week. Some hackathons are intended simply for educational or social purposes, although in many cases the goal is to create usable software. This popular forum for collaborative innovation has become an important method for developing modern solutions for government interactions.  This particular hackathon occurred on April 11-12 in Washington, D.C., and involved the USDA and the Department of Interior (DOI) for the myAmerica Developers Summit. The summit is an initiative supporting the National Travel and Tourism Strategy by improving access to information about federal lands and waters so it's easier for people to discover and experience America's natural and national treasures. The objective of the myAmerica Developer Summit is to develop technological products, services and other resources that promote and protect America's public lands and waters. myAmerica reached out to federal agencies, private industry, academics, entrepreneurs, and others to develop trip-planning tools, enhance current online resources and cultivate methods for sharing data more easily; all in the name of improving access to America's federal lands.  The Tourism Policy Council working group sponsored myAmerica and continues to support and help drive this effort. This event brought together approximately 100 technologists, developers, outdoor enthusiasts, government, academia and industry to build products that enhance our appreciation, utilization and protection of our federal lands and waters. Hosting this hackathon is part of USDA and DOI's commitment to providing open data and collaboration with the digital entrepreneurs of today.  This was a tremendous opportunity to expand the availability of open data and to demonstrate our willingness to work with private industry to innovate ..."

Announcing the beta launch of the Open Data Impact Map | International Open Data Conference 2015

Posted: 30 May 2015 01:50 AM PDT

"Today, we are proud to announce the beta launch of the Open Data Impact Map a project of Center for Open Data Enterprise, as part of the Open Data for Development (OD4D) network. The Map is a searchable centralized database of hundreds of open data use cases from over 50 countries. The Map includes examples from the Center's research, previous studies, and a growing network of 18 Regional Supporters in 18 countries who are helping to collect use cases. The Map visualization allows you to view the world of open data use cases in a way that has not been possible before. You can begin with a global view showing the location of different organizations and zoom in to see how open data is being used in a particular region, country, or city. You can also use the Map's filters to visualize the organizations that use open data to help improve agriculture, or education, or operate in any number of other sectors. Other filters let you view these use cases by type of organization (for-profit, nonprofit, or developer group for example), by the type of data they use, and so on. The Map is designed to support other researchers' work and analysis. You can view all of the data in tabular form and sort by each column. However you use the filters, the stats tab will show you the total number of countries and organizations that you are viewing. And of course, all of this data is available for download as a CSV or JSON file. The Open Data Impact Map gives policy makers, international organizations, open data advocates, researchers, and entrepreneurs a central place to search through the many ways open data is being used around the globe. Through collaboration and information sharing, we can not only create this Map together – we can also identify and share different experiences, examples, and best practices in open data use ..."

“I’m not an academic, but …”: The day at the Open Data Research Symposium | International Open Data Conference 2015

Posted: 30 May 2015 01:46 AM PDT

"The first international Open Data Research Symposium pre-Open Data Con proved to be successful beyond our wildest expectations, with around 150 people attending and almost 40 papers discussed in eight twin-track panels. In this guest post Savita Bailur and colleagues reflect on the day ..."

Publishers' Unnecessary Services - Open Access Archivangelism

Posted: 30 May 2015 01:43 AM PDT

" ... 1. PLOS (like other publishers) seems to be charging a hefty price for 'services that are unnecessary.' ;>) 2. I agree completely that we should get rid of publishers' unnecessary services and their costs. But how to do that, while publishers control what is bundled into subscriptions in exchange for publication and access (or into pre-Green Fools-Gold in exchange for 'publication' and OA)? My answer is the one Mike calls 'parasitic': Institutions and funders worldwide mandate Green OA (with the "copy-request" Button to circumvent publisher OA embargoes). The cancellations that that will make possible will force publishers to drop the unnecessary services and their costs and downsize to post-Green Fair-Gold for peer review alone.. 3. But I disagree with Mike about peer-review: it will remain the sole essential service. And the (oft-voiced) notion that peer-review can be replaced by crowd-sourcing, after 'publication' is pure speculation, supported by no evidence that it can ensure quality at least as well as classical peer review, nor that is it scalable and sustainable ..."

We are getting better at ingesting metadata. Until then: give us your metadata! | News Service

Posted: 30 May 2015 01:40 AM PDT

"I just saw a tweet about an article published on PeerJ called 'For 481 biomedical open access journals, articles are not searchable in the Directory of Open Access Journals nor in conventional biomedical databases'. The article concludes: 'DOAJ is the most complete registry of biomedical OA journals compared with five conventional biomedical databases. However, DOAJ only indexes articles for half of the biomedical journals listed, making it an incomplete source for biomedical research papers in general.'  This made me very happy, especially when I read that the authors compare DOAJ with Medline, PubMed Central, EMBASE and SCOPUS to reach their conclusion. Those are some impressive databases to be ranked alongside. Of course, the authors' conclusion has a very large BUT in it: DOAJ contains article metadata for only half of the journals it indexes. Why is this and what are we doing about this? ..."

For 481 biomedical open access journals, articles are not searchable in the Directory of Open Access Journals nor in conventional biomedical databases [PeerJ]

Posted: 30 May 2015 01:37 AM PDT

Use the link to access the full text article from PeerJ.  [Abstract] Background. Open access (OA) journals allows access to research papers free of charge to the reader. Traditionally, biomedical researchers use databases like MEDLINE and EMBASE to discover new advances. However, biomedical OA journals might not fulfill such databases' criteria, hindering dissemination. The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is a database exclusively listing OA journals. The aim of this study was to investigate DOAJ's coverage of biomedical OA journals compared with the conventional biomedical databases. Methods. Information on all journals listed in four conventional biomedical databases (MEDLINE, PubMed Central, EMBASE and SCOPUS) and DOAJ were gathered. Journals were included if they were (1) actively publishing, (2) full OA, (3) prospectively indexed in one or more database, and (4) of biomedical subject. Impact factor and journal language were also collected. DOAJ was compared with conventional databases regarding the proportion of journals covered, along with their impact factor and publishing language. The proportion of journals with articles indexed by DOAJ was determined. Results. In total, 3,236 biomedical OA journals were included in the study. Of the included journals, 86.7% were listed in DOAJ. Combined, the conventional biomedical databases listed 75.0% of the journals; 18.7% in MEDLINE; 36.5% in PubMed Central; 51.5% in SCOPUS and 50.6% in EMBASE. Of the journals in DOAJ, 88.7% published in English and 20.6% had received impact factor for 2012 compared with 93.5% and 26.0%, respectively, for journals in the conventional biomedical databases. A subset of 51.1% and 48.5% of the journals in DOAJ had articles indexed from 2012 and 2013, respectively. Of journals exclusively listed in DOAJ, one journal had received an impact factor for 2012, and 59.6% of the journals had no content from 2013 indexed in DOAJ. Conclusions. DOAJ is the most complete registry of biomedical OA journals compared with five conventional biomedical databases. However, DOAJ only indexes articles for half of the biomedical journals listed, making it an incomplete source for biomedical research papers in general.

Have we reached Peak Megajournal? | Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week

Posted: 30 May 2015 01:33 AM PDT

"Bo-Christer Björk​'s (2015) new paper in PeerJ asks the question "Have the "mega-journals" reached the limits to growth?", and suggests that the answer may be yes. (Although, frustratingly, you can't tell from the abstract that this is the conclusion.) I was a bit disappointed that the paper didn't include a graph showing its conclusion, and asked about this (thanks to PeerJ's lightweight commenting system). Björk's response acknowledged that a graph would have been helpful, and invited me to go ahead and make one, since the underlying data is freely available. So using OpenOffice's cumbersome but adequate graphing facilities, I plotted the numbers from Björk's table 3 ... As we can see, the result for total megajournal publications upholds the conclusion that megajournals have peaked and started to decline. But PLOS ONE (the dark blue line)enormously dominates all the other megajournals, with Nature's Scientific Reports the only other publication to even be meaningfully visible on the graph. Since Scientific Reports seems to be still in the exponential phase of its growth and everything else is too low-volume to register, what we're really seeing here is just a decline in PLOS ONE volume ..."

Have the “mega-journals” reached the limits to growth? [PeerJ]

Posted: 30 May 2015 01:29 AM PDT

Use the link to access the full text articel from PeerJ.  [Abstract] A 'mega-journal' is a new type of scientific journal that publishes freely accessible articles, which have been peer reviewed for scientific trustworthiness, but leaves it to the readers to decide which articles are of interest and importance to them. In the wake of the phenomenal success of PLOS ONE, several other publishers have recently started mega-journals. This article presents the evolution of mega-journals since 2010 in terms of article publication rates. The fastest growth seems to have ebbed out at around 35,000 annual articles for the 14 journals combined. Acceptance rates are in the range of 50–70%, and speed of publication is around 3–5 months. Common features in mega-journals are alternative impact metrics, easy reusability of figures and data, post-publication discussions and portable reviews from other journals.

Stuiveling Open Data Award | PM.nl

Posted: 30 May 2015 01:26 AM PDT

[From Google's English] "Yesterday, Saskia Stuiveling retired as President of the Court of Audit. In appreciation for her years of dedication to transparency and innovation of the government, the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations Stuiveling Open Data Award created. The prize is awarded starting next year to a public or private party that open data in innovative ways commitment to social issues. The Court will sit on the jury ..."

KALRO (KAINET) Open Data and Open Science in Agriculture Workshop, Kenya | Agricultural Information Management Standards (AIMS)

Posted: 30 May 2015 01:23 AM PDT

"The Kenya Agricultural and Information Network (KAINet) partner institutions Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), Ministry of Agriculture (MoA-AIRC), Kenya Forestry and Research Institute (KEFRI) and Jomo Kenya University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO),  is pleased to announce the 'KAINET Open Data and Open Science' Workshop to be held in Jacaranda Hotel, Nairobi, from 15-18th June, 2015 ..."

Wikidata Meets the Google Knowledge Graph

Posted: 30 May 2015 01:07 AM PDT

" ... While Google has never explicitly revealed the source from which it pulls the data for the Knowledge Graph, it is widely understood that Freebase is a highly regarded source of information for Google and its Knowledge Graph.  Freebase is a massive database of information curated and organized online. It includes people, places, things, and concepts. Freebase helps search engines understand the nature of a given entity, and any associations it may have with another entity. As companies have begun to learn about the critical role that Freebase plays in shaping the Knowledge Graph, many are dedicating time and resources towards entering as much relevant data as possible into Freebase.  owever, back in December 2014, Freebase released a dramatic announcement on Google+, which, among other things, stated: 'When we publicly launched Freebase back in 2007, we thought of it as a 'Wikipedia for structured data.' So it shouldn't be surprising that we've been closely watching the Wikimedia Foundation's project Wikidata since it launched about two years ago. We believe strongly in a robust community-driven effort to collect and curate structured knowledge about the world, but we now think we can serve that goal best by supporting Wikidata – they're growing fast, have an active community, and are better suited to lead an open knowledge base.  So we've decided to help transfer the data in Freebase to Wikidata, and in mid-2015 we'll wind down the Freebase service as a standalone project. Freebase has also supported developer access to the data, so before we retire it, we'll launch a new API for entity search powered by Google's Knowledge Graph'  In a word, as of March 31, Freebase began to shut down, and will soon be migrating its data to Wikidata, an open-source project of the Wikimedia Foundation designed to collect structured data ..."

Opening science to the world; opening the world to science | iSGTW

Posted: 30 May 2015 01:00 AM PDT

"Last week, iSGTW attended the EGI Conference 2015 in Lisbon, Portugal. The event's theme was 'engaging the research community towards an Open Science Commons' and featured much discussion about the road to realizing this vision. Tiziana Ferrari, technical director of EGI.eu, publicly launched the EGI-Engage project in the opening session of the conference. This project, which has been funded through the EU's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, aims to accelerate progress towards the implementation of the Open Science Commons. It seeks to do so by expanding the capabilities of a European backbone of federated services for computing, storage, data, communication, knowledge, and expertise, as well as related community-specific capabilities ..."

Open-access books slowly on the rise, says PCG - Research Information

Posted: 30 May 2015 12:51 AM PDT

"Publishers and libraries are increasingly experimenting with open access (OA) books, according to a new survey by Publishers Communication Group (PCG).  Books published under the gold open access model with no paywall for readers are expected to slowly grow in importance, with funding derived from a variety of sources including library budgets, the study reported.   Following PCG's 2014 survey into library adoption and funding of OA journals, the Open Access Monographs Survey sought input from both publishers who are active in and considering OA book programs, and librarians around the world who contend with new institutional OA mandates and emerging acquisition models ..."

Developing an open access journal about ‘engaged research’: Summary of workshop discussions

Posted: 30 May 2015 12:47 AM PDT

"This report captures some of the key thinking from an event to explore a new open access international journal: Research for All. As a partnership between the Institute of Education, IOE Press and the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) this journal is an opportunity for researchers and those they work with to share and critically reflect on their work together, across the full range of disciplines, sectors, and engagement practices that are involved. This two day event in October 2014 brought together a range of people interested in exploring the value, potential content and approach of this new academic journal. All event participants completed a survey which informed the design of the event and the discussions that we had. Thirty people, representing community based and other Third Sector organisations, cultural organisations, funders of research, researchers and knowledge brokers, came together to discuss the opportunities, challenges and potential for a new journal. This report summarises our key findings, highlighting where decisions were made, and where tensions still exist, as we tackle the challenge of developing an academically credible journal that represents and connects to all those involved in engaged research processes. The journal is an experiment which we hope will catalyse new thinking and more effective practice, ensuring research is informed by and relevant to all stakeholders. We are still inviting comments, reflections, and ideas about how to make this a valued intervention in supporting engaged research, and welcome comments and feedback." 

FACETS a multidisciplinary open access journal

Posted: 30 May 2015 12:37 AM PDT

"This multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary journal will primarily feature research articles, but may also include review articles, editorial commentaries, and policy analysis. FACETS will initial­ly focus on six research areas, including Biomedical and Health Sciences; Biological and Life Sciences; Earth and Environmental Sciences; Physical Sciences; Engineering, Technology, and Mathematics; and Integrative Sciences (including topics such as science policy and science communication). Although not officially covering Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) topics, we expect that the Integrative Sciences section will include intersections of science and the social sciences. Additional subject categories will be added as the journal evolves in conjunction with emerging scientific advances. FACETS will appeal to researchers studying in a variety of fields looking to publish and read multidisciplinary and interdisci­plinary research, particularly of a Canadian nature."

Exciting new Canadian open access journal FACETS to launch, with Dr. Jules Blais as Editor -- OTTAWA, May 28, 2015

Posted: 30 May 2015 12:26 AM PDT

"The development team at Canadian Science Publishing (CSP), publisher of the award-winning NRC Research Press suite of journals, is hard at work building a new open access platform for the publication of research.  FACETS—a new multidisciplinary open access journal led by Dr. Jules Blais and to be published as part of CSP's open access initiatives—will encompass a broad range of scientific areas and provide a high-quality, affordable Canadian open access option that well serves the publishing and dissemination needs of researchers in Canada and beyond. A community-supported effort, spurred by a shift toward public access to science, FACETS will appeal to researchers studying in a variety of fields looking to publish and read multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research, particularly of a Canadian nature. Set to begin accepting submissions this summer and publish its first papers in the fall of 2015, FACETS development is well underway. A state-of-the-art publishing portal is currently in the works and the manuscript submission system will go online as early as July.  FACETS will initially focus on six research areas: Biomedical and Health Sciences; Biological and Life Sciences; Earth and Environmental Sciences; Physical Sciences; Engineering, Technology, and Mathematics; and Integrative Sciences (including topics such as science policy and science communication). Additional subject areas will be added as the journal evolves in conjunction with emerging scientific advances ..."

Walt at Random » Blog Archive » The Open Access Landscape: 14. Language & Literature

Posted: 30 May 2015 12:22 AM PDT

"Language and literature includes linguistics and a number of other fields, as well as author-specific journals and the like. The group includes 262 journals, which published a total of 6,243 articles in 2013 and 5,816 articles in 2014 ..."

How to get your favorite journals for free

Posted: 30 May 2015 12:06 AM PDT

"Many journals offer their own apps as well, providing a streamlined way to browse and read the articles from just that journal. If you are an individual subscriber or a member of an institutional community with library subscriptions, you may think you can access these journals through their apps. However, we have found that there is a great variety in access and pricing for these apps. To add to the complexity, the various models are not mutually exclusive.  We have covered various apps for browsing across multiple academic health journals in the past. Here's a walk through on options for accessing your favorite journals directly – with a trick that folks with institutional access can use to access their favorite journals directly, even when they are off network ..."

Help rename our repository! | Open Access at UT

Posted: 29 May 2015 11:56 PM PDT

"We are upgrading the UT Digital Repository (UTDR) and as part of the upgrade we want to rename it. We're looking for a name that will be easy to remember and reflect the amazing work being done by faculty, students, and staff all over campus. We want your help in deciding what UTDR should be called! The UTDR is an online archive that provides open access to the scholarly work being done at UT Austin. The UT Libraries manage the repository and are committed to the long-term preservation of deposited items ..."
Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)