Category: Open Access

"Ready for the Future? A Survey on Open Access with Scientists from the French National Research Center"

Joachim Schöpfel et al. have self-archived "Ready for the Future? A Survey on Open Access with Scientists from the French National Research Center."

Here's an excerpt:

The CNRS senior research managers (laboratory directors) globally share the positive opinion towards OA revealed by other studies with researchers from the UK, Germany, the USA and other countries. However, they are more supportive of open repositories (green road) than of OA journal publishing (gold). The response patterns reveal a gap between generally positive opinions about OA and less supportive behaviours, principally publishing articles with article processing charges (APCs). A small group of senior research managers does not seem to be interested in green or gold OA and reluctant to self-archiving and OA publishing.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Open Data, [Open] Access: Linking Data Sharing and Article Sharing in the Earth Sciences"

Samantha Teplitzky has published "Open Data, [Open] Access: Linking Data Sharing and Article Sharing in the Earth Science" in the Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication.

Here's an excerpt:

INTRODUCTION The norms of a research community influence practice, and norms of openness and sharing can be shaped to encourage researchers who share in one aspect of their research cycle to share in another. Different sets of mandates have evolved to require that research data be made public, but not necessarily articles resulting from that collected data. In this paper, I ask to what extent publications in the Earth Sciences are more likely to be open access (in all of its definitions) when researchers open their data through the Pangaea repository. METHODS Citations from Pangaea data sets were studied to determine the level of open access for each article. RESULTS This study finds that the proportion of gold open access articles linked to the repository increased 25% from 2010 to 2015 and 75% of articles were available from multiple open sources.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Transitioning from a Conventional to a’‘Mega’ Journal: A Bibliometric Case Study of the Journal Medicine"

Simon Wakeling et al. have published "Transitioning from a Conventional to a'‘Mega' Journal: A Bibliometric Case Study of the Journal Medicine" in Publications.

Here's an excerpt:

This study compares the bibliometric profile of the journal Medicine before and after its transition to the OAMJ model. Three standard modes of bibliometric analysis are employed, based on data from Web of Science: journal output volume, author characteristics, and citation analysis. The journal’s article output is seen to have grown hugely since its conversion to an OAMJ, a rise driven in large part by authors from China. Articles published since 2015 have fewer citations, and are cited by lower impact journals than articles published before the OAMJ transition.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

Open Data: The Researcher Perspective

Elsevier and the Centre for Science and Technology Studies have released Open Data: The Researcher Perspective .

Here's an excerpt:

Combining information from a bibliometric analysis, a survey and case studies, this report examines how researchers share data, the attitudes of researchers toward sharing data, and why researchers might be reticent to share data.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Initiative for Open Citations (I4OC) Launches with Early Success"

ARL has released "Initiative for Open Citations (I4OC) Launches with Early Success."

Here's an excerpt:

Six organizations today announced the establishment of the Initiative for Open Citations (I4OC): OpenCitations, the Wikimedia Foundation, PLOS, eLife, DataCite, and the Centre for Culture and Technology at Curtin University. The Association of Research Libraries is among 33 stakeholder projects and organizations—including the California Digital Library, the Center for Open Science, the Internet Archive, Mozilla, and the Wellcome Trust—that have formally put their names behind I4OC in support of openly accessible citations.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Openness as Social Praxis"

Matthew Longshore Smith and Ruhiya Seward have published "Openness as Social Praxis" in First Monday.

Here's an excerpt:

The paper "Fifty shades of open" by Pomerantz and Peek (2016) highlighted the increasing ambiguity and even confusion surrounding this term. This article builds on Pomerantz and Peek’s attempt to disambiguate the term by offering an alternative understanding to openness —that of social praxis. More specifically, our framing can be broken down into three social processes: open production, open distribution, and open consumption. Each process shares two traits that make them open: you don’t have to pay (free price), and anyone can participate (non-discrimination) in these processes.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Organization and Delivery of Scholarly Communications Services by Academic and Research Libraries in the United Kingdom: Observations from Across the Pond"

Christine Fruin has published "Organization and Delivery of Scholarly Communications Services by Academic and Research Libraries in the United Kingdom: Observations from Across the Pond" in the Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication.

Here's an excerpt:

There are three primary takeaways from the experience of U.K. scholarly communication practitioners for U.S. librarians: increase collaboration with offices of research, reconsider current organization and delegation of scholarly communication services, and increase involvement in legislative and policy-making activity in the U.S. with respect to access to research.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"European Commission Considering Leap into Open-Access Publishing"

Martin Enserink has published "European Commission Considering Leap into Open-Access Publishing" in Science.

Here's an excerpt:

The European Commission, which spends more than £10 billion annually on research, may follow two other big league funders, the Wellcome Trust and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and set up a “publishing platform” for the scientists it funds, in an attempt to accelerate the transition to open-access publishing in Europe.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

Towards a Competitive and Sustainable Open Access Publishing Market in Europe

OpenAIRE has released Towards a Competitive and Sustainable Open Access Publishing Market in Europe.

Here's an excerpt:

Without intervention, immediate OA to just half of Europe's scientific publications will not be achieved until 2025 or later. Readers in academia have greater access, to more content, than ever before. Despite this, the majority of publications arising from public investments in research remain in accessible to the public, and the growth of OA appears to be slowing.

This study considers the economic factors contributing to the current state of the open access publishing market, and evaluates the potential for European policymakers to enhance market competition and sustainability in parallel to increasing access.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

PubMed Launches LinkOut to Institutional Repository Full-Text Publications and Other Resources

PubMed has launched LinkOut.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

PubMed users can now see the icon that links to the full text deposited at an institutional repository (IR) using LinkOut. The LinkOut service allows you to link to full text, library holdings, and other relevant external resources from PubMed and other NCBI databases.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"An Exploration of Faculty Experiences with Open Access Journal Publishing at Two Canadian Comprehensive Universities"

has published "An Exploration of Faculty Experiences with Open Access Journal Publishing at Two Canadian Comprehensive Universities" in Partnership The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research.

Here's an excerpt:

This exploratory study was intended to shed light on Canadian academics’ participation in, knowledge of and attitudes towards Open Access (OA) journal publishing. The primary aim of the study was to inform the authors’ schools’ educational and outreach efforts to faculty regarding OA publishing. The survey was conducted at two Canadian comprehensive universities: Brock University (St. Catharines, Ontario) and Wilfrid Laurier University (Waterloo, Ontario) in 2014.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Who Support Open Access Publishing? Gender, Discipline, Seniority and Other Factors Associated with Academics’ OA Practice"

Yimei Zhu has published "Who Support Open Access Publishing? Gender, Discipline, Seniority and Other Factors Associated with Academics' OA Practice" in Scientometrics.

Here's an excerpt:

This paper presents the findings from a survey study of UK academics and their publishing behaviour. . . . The results are based on a survey study of academics at 12 Russell Group universities, and reflect responses from over 1800 researchers. . . . The results suggest that there were differences in the extent of OA practice between different universities, academic disciplines, age and seniorities. Academics’ use in OA publishing was also related to their awareness of OA policy and OA repositories, their attitudes towards the importance of OA publishing and their belief in OA citation advantage.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

AAU, ARL, and AAUP Will Launch Open Access Monograph Publishing Initiative

AAU, ARL, and AAUP will launch the Open Access Monograph Publishing Initiative this spring.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The universities and colleges directly participating in this initiative will incorporate three components into their digital monograph publishing projects: provide a baseline university publishing grant of $15,000 to support the publication of an open access, digital monograph of 90,000 words or less (with additional funding for works of greater length or complexity to be negotiated by the author, institution, and publisher); set a target of awarding at least three publishing grants per year; and commit to participating in this initiative for five years.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Open Access to Scientific Information in Emerging Countries"

Joachim Schöpfel has published "Open Access to Scientific Information in Emerging Countries" in D-Lib Magazine.

Here's an excerpt:

Access to information plays a critical role in supporting development. Open access to scientific information is one solution. Up to now, the open access movement has been most successful in the Western hemisphere. The demand for open access is great in the developing world as it can contribute to solving problems related to access gaps. Five emerging countries, called BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — play a specific and leading role with a significant influence on regional and global affairs because of their large and fast-growing national economies, their demography and geographic situation. In order to better understand open access in each of the five countries, in this paper we take a look at specific conditions in each country, relying on data from information professionals and scientists from BRICS, with an empirical approach focused on country-specific characteristics and challenges. The paper is an updated and enriched synthesis of a recent work on open access in the BRICS countries published by Litwin, Sacramento CA.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"’Just Google It’—The Scope of Freely Available Information Sources for Doctoral Thesis Writing"

Vincas Grigas et al. have published "'Just Google It'—The Scope of Freely Available Information Sources for Doctoral Thesis Writing" in Information Research.

Here's an excerpt:

Library collections and subscribed databases could cover up to 80 per cent of all information resources used in doctoral theses. Among the most significant findings to emerge from this study is the fact that on average more than half (57 per cent) of all utilised information resources were freely available or were accessed without library support. We may presume that the library as a direct intermediator for information users is potentially important and irreplaceable only in four out of ten attempts of PhD students to seek information.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Open-Access Mega-Journals: The Future of Scholarly Communication or Academic Dumping Ground? A Review"

Valerie Spezi, et al. have published "Open-Access Mega-Journals: The Future of Scholarly Communication or Academic Dumping Ground? A Review" in the Journal of Documentation.

Here's an excerpt:

This paper represents the first comprehensive review of the mega-journal phenomenon, drawing not only on the published academic literature, but also grey, professional and informal sources. The paper advances a number of ways in which the role of OAMJs in the scholarly communication environment can be conceptualised.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Copyright Compliance and Infringement in ResearchGate Full-Text Journal Articles"

Hamid R. Jamali has self-archived "Copyright Compliance and Infringement in ResearchGate Full-Text Journal Articles."

Here's an excerpt:

This study aims to investigate the extent to which ResearchGate members as authors of journal articles comply with publishers' copyright policies when they self-archive full-text of their articles on ResearchGate. . . . The key finding was that 201 (51.3%) out of 392 non-OA articles infringed the copyright and were non-compliant with publishers' policy. While 88.3% of journals allowed some form of self-archiving (SHERPA/RoMEO green, blue or yellow journals), the majority of non-compliant cases (97.5%) occurred when authors self-archived publishers' PDF files (final published version).

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Public Funding and Open Access to Research: A Review of Canadian Multiple Sclerosis Research"

Caitlin Bakker et al. have published "Public Funding and Open Access to Research: A Review of Canadian Multiple Sclerosis Research" in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

Here's an excerpt:

Objective: The goal of the study was to determine the open access (OA) cost implications and repository policies of journals frequently used by a sample of MS researchers. This study benchmarked current publishing preferences by MS Society of Canada researchers by examining the OA full-text availability of journal articles written by researchers funded between 2009 and 2014. . . .

Results: There were 758 articles analyzed in this study, of which 288 (38.0%) were OA articles. The majority of authors were still relying on journal policies for deposit in PubMed Central or availability on publisher websites for OA. Gold OA journals accounted for 10.2% of the journals in this study and were associated with significantly lower APCs (US $1900) than in hybrid journals (US $3000). Review of the journal self-archiving options highlighted the complexity of stipulations that authors would have to navigate to legally deposit a version of their article.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"A ‘Gold-Centric’ Implementation of Open Access: Hybrid Journals, the ‘Total Cost Of Publication,’ and Policy Development in the UK and Beyond"

Stephen Pinfield, Jennifer Salter, and Peter A. Bath have published "A 'Gold-Centric' Implementation of Open Access: Hybrid Journals, the 'Total Cost Of Publication,' and Policy Development in the UK and Beyond" in the Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology.

Here's an excerpt:

This paper reports analysis of data from higher education institutions in the UK on their experience of the open-access (OA) publishing market working within a policy environment favoring "Gold" OA (OA publishing in journals). It models the "total cost of publication"—comprising costs of journal subscriptions, OA article-processing charges (APCs), and new administrative costs—for a sample of 24 institutions. APCs are shown to constitute 12% of the "total cost of publication," APC administration, 1%, and subscriptions, 87% (for a sample of seven publishers). APC expenditure in institutions rose between 2012 and 2014 at the same time as rising subscription costs.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Web Interface Security Vulnerabilities of European Academic Repositories"

Matus Formanek and Martin Zaborsky have published "Web Interface Security Vulnerabilities of European Academic Repositories" in LIBER Quarterly.

Here's an excerpt:

The given analysis summarizes the status quo of the level of security of web interfaces of selected European academic repositories in the field of library and information science. It focuses on the presence and qualities of the secure HTTPS protocol via SSL/TLS protocols. The security of the transmitted data is particularly important in the network environment of the Internet, especially if log-in user data is transmitted. Disclosure may have a direct impact on saved digital objects and their metadata which together represent the most valuable parts of systems of digital libraries and repositories. Furthermore, the paper points to the most noticeable vulnerabilities of protocols of web interfaces and presents practical recommendations for the expert public. These may contribute to the increase of the level of security of the discussed systems.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

Emory University Gets $1.2 million Grant for Open Access Humanities Publishing Program

Emory University has received a $1.2 million grant for an open access humanities publishing program.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Emory College of Arts and Sciences has launched a $1.2 million effort that positions it to be a national leader in the future of scholarly publishing. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is funding the multiyear initiative to support long-form, open-access publications in the humanities in partnership with university presses. . . .

Led by the Bill and Carol Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry, the endeavor will bring together efforts in Emory College, Emory Libraries, the Center for Faculty Development and Excellence and the Emory Center for Digital Scholarship.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

Indiana University Bloomington Faculty Unanimously Adopt Open Access Policy

The Indiana University Bloomington faculty have unanimously adopted an open access policy.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The Scholarly Communication staff will be available to help authors deposit their work—usually the final version of an article that has gone through peer review—in IUScholarWorks or another repository for archival purposes. Indeed, as Nazareth Pantaloni, Copyright Librarian for the IU Libraries, observed: "The Indiana University Libraries are delighted that the Bloomington Faculty Council has joined the over 300 U.S. colleges and universities who have decided to make their faculty’s scholarship more freely available under an Open Access policy. We look forward to working with them to accomplish that goal." Faculty members may also contact us to opt-out of the policy, a process that will be incorporated into a one-click form once the policy is fully implemented.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"The Forbidden Forecast: Thinking About Open Access and Library Subscriptions"

Rick Anderson has published "he Forbidden Forecast: Thinking About Open Access and Library Subscriptions" in The Scholarly Kitchen.

Here's an excerpt:

In light of all this, it's difficult to avoid the conclusion that those who advocate for Green OA as the preferred mode, and as the more or less universal solution towards which we should all be working, have simply failed to think through the implications of this goal. You cannot make something freely and easily available without undermining the commercial market for that thing.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Copyright: The Immoveable Barrier That Open Access Advocates Underestimated"

Richard Poynder has published "Copyright: The Immoveable Barrier That Open Access Advocates Underestimated."

Here's an excerpt:

In calling for research papers to be made freely available open access advocates promised that doing so would lead to a simpler, less costly, more democratic, and more effective scholarly communication system. To achieve their objectives they proposed two different ways of providing open access: green OA (self-archiving) and gold OA (open access publishing). However, while the OA movement has succeeded in persuading research institutions and funders of the merits of open access, it has failed to win the hearts and minds of most researchers. More importantly, it is not achieving its objectives. There are various reasons for this, but above all it is because OA advocates underestimated the extent to which copyright would subvert their cause.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Scholarly Journal Publishing in Transition—From Restricted to Open Access"

Bo-Christer Björk has self-archived "Scholarly Journal Publishing in Transition—From Restricted to Open Access."

Here's an excerpt:

This article asks the question why Open Access (OA) to the output of mainly publicly funded research hasn’t yet become the mainstream business model. OA implies a reversal of the revenue logic from readers paying for content to authors paying for dissemination in form of universal free access. The current situation is analyzed using Porter’s five forces model. The analysis demonstrates a lack of competitive pressure in this industry, leading to so high profit levels of the leading publishers that they have not yet felt a strong need to change the way they operate. OA funded by article publishing charges (APCs) might nevertheless start rapidly becoming more common. The driving forces of change currently consist of the public research funders and administrations in Europe, which are pushing for OA by starting dedicated funds for paying the APCs of authors from the respective countries. This has in turn lead to a situation in which publishers have introduced "big deals" involving the bundling of (a) subscription to all their journals, (b) APCs for their hybrid journals and (c) in the future also APCs to their full OA journals.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap