Category: Scholarly Journals

"’Is the Library Open?’: Correlating Unaffiliated Access to Academic Libraries with Open Access Support"

Chloe Brookes-Kenworthy et al. have self-archived "'Is the Library Open?': Correlating Unaffiliated Access to Academic Libraries with Open Access Support."

Here's an excerpt:

This paper explores the extent to which the ideals of 'openness' are being applied to physical knowledge resources and research spaces. The study investigates the relationship between academic library access policies and institutional positions on open access/open science publishing. Analysis of library access policies from twenty academic institutions in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, Africa and the United Kingdom shows physical access to libraries for the affiliated public is often the most restricted category of access. Many libraries impose financial and security barriers on entry, limiting access to collections in print and other non-digital formats. The limits on physical access to libraries contrast with the central role institutions play in facilitating open access to research outputs through institutional repositories and open access publishing policies. Comparing library access policies and practices with open access publishing and research sharing policies for the same institutions finds limited correlation between both sets of policies. Open access policies have a direct association with narrow aspects of public access provided through online availability of publications, but are not necessarily with delivering on a broader commitment to public access to knowledge. Institutional mission statements and academic library policies may refer to sharing of knowledge and research and community collaboration, multiple layers of library user categories, privilege and fees can inhibit the realisation of these goals. This conflicts with global library and information commitments to open access to knowledge.

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"The Diverse Niches of Megajournals: Specialism within Generalism"

Kyle Siler et al. have self-archived "The Diverse Niches of Megajournals: Specialism within Generalism."

Here's an excerpt:

We analyze how megajournals (PLOS ONE, Scientific Reports) are represented in different fields relative to prominent generalist journals (Nature, PNAS, Science) and 'quasi-megajournals' (Nature Communications, PeerJ). Our results show that both megajournals and prominent traditional journals have distinctive niches, despite the similar interdisciplinary scopes of such journals. These niches—defined by publishing volume and disciplinary diversity—are dynamic and varied over the relatively brief histories of the analyzed megajournals. Although the life sciences are the predominant contributor to megajournals, there is variation in the disciplinary composition of different megajournals.

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"Scientific Sinkhole: The Pernicious Price of Formatting"

Allana G. LeBlanc et al. have published "Scientific Sinkhole: The Pernicious Price of Formatting" in PLoS ONE.

Here's an excerpt:

To our knowledge, this is the first study to analyze the cost of manuscript formatting in scientific publishing. Our results suggest that scientific formatting represents a loss of 52 hours, costing the equivalent of US$1,908 per researcher per year. These results identify the hidden and pernicious price associated with scientific publishing and provide evidence to advocate for the elimination of strict formatting guidelines, at least prior to acceptance.

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"Plan S Point–Counterpoint: Discussing the Plan Together"

Rick Anderson and Micah Vandegrift have self-archived "Plan S Point–Counterpoint: Discussing the Plan Together."

Here's an excerpt:

At the ISMTE 2019 North American Meeting, Rick Anderson, Associate Dean for Collections & Scholarly Communication at the J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah and Micah Vandegrift, Open Knowledge Librarian at North Carolina State University Libraries, discussed their different opinions regarding some of the finer points of Plan S. They prepared responses for 10 questions for the meeting but were only able to respond to some of them in person. The following is the full Q&A that they prepared for the meeting, with references added.

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Accelerating Scholarly Communication: The Transformative Role of Preprints

Knowledge Exchange has released "Accelerating Scholarly Communication: The Transformative Role of Preprints."

Here's an excerpt:

Knowledge Exchange, a group of national organisations from six European countries, commissioned and co-designed this study as part of their work on digital infrastructures to enable open scholarship. This report investigates the preprints landscape: it highlights current thinking in this dynamic area and makes recommendations for future work.

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 10 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Citation Counts and Journal Impact Factors Do Not Capture Research Quality in the Behavioral and Brain Sciences"

Michael Dougherty and Zachary Horne have self-archived "Citation Counts and Journal Impact Factors Do Not Capture Research Quality in the Behavioral and Brain Sciences."

Here's an excerpt:

Citation data and journal impact factors are important components of faculty dossiers and figure prominently in both promotion decisions and assessments of a researcher's broader societal impact. Although these metrics play a large role in high-stakes decisions, the evidence is mixed regarding whether they are valid proxies for research quality. We use data from three large scale studies to assess the degree to which citation counts and impact factors predict four indicators of research quality: (1) the number of statistical reporting errors in a paper, (2) the evidential value of the reported data, (3) the expected replicability of reported research findings in peer reviewed journals, and (4) the actual replicability of a given experimental result. Both citation counts and impact factors were weak and inconsistent predictors of research quality and sometimes negatively related to quality. Our findings impugn the validity of citation data and impact factors as indices of research quality and call into question their usefulness in evaluating scientists and their research. In light of these results, we argue that research evaluation should instead focus on the process of how research is conducted and incentivize behaviors that support open, transparent, and reproducible research.

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 10 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Independent Report and Transformative Agreement Toolkit Launched to Support Learned Society Publishers’ Transition to Immediate Open Access and Align with Plan S"

http://www.stm-publishing.com/independent-report-and-transformative-agreement-toolkit-launched-to-support-learned-society-publishers-transition-to-immediate-open-access-and-align-with-plan-s/

"How Libraries Can Support Society Publishers to Accelerate Their Transition to Full and Immediate OA and Plan S"

Alicia Wise and Lorraine Estelle have published "How Libraries Can Support Society Publishers to Accelerate Their Transition to Full and Immediate OA and Plan S" in Insights: The UKSG Journal.

Here's an excerpt:

The relationship between libraries and society publishers has not previously been a close one. While transactions have in the past been mediated by third parties, larger commercial publishers or agents, there is now an opportunity for strategic new collaborations as societies seek to transition to open access (OA) and deploy business models compliant with Plan S. Wellcome, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) commissioned Information Power Ltd to undertake to support society publishers in accelerating their transition to OA in alignment with Plan S. Outcomes demonstrate support in principle from library consortia and their members to repurpose existing expenditure to help society publishers to successfully make a full transition to OA. Principles to inform the short- and medium-term development of OA transformative agreements have been co-developed by consortium representatives and publishers to inform development of an OA transformative agreement toolkit.

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 10 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap