Tag Archives: science 2.0

A Scienceographic Comparison of Physics Papers from the arXiv and viXra Archives

A Scienceographic Comparison of Physics Papers from the arXiv and viXra Archives

by David Kelk, David Devine. Abstract:

arXiv is an e-print repository of papers in physics, computer science, and biology, amongst others. viXra is a newer repository of e-prints on similar topics. Scienceography is the study of the writing of science. In this work we perform a scienceographic comparison of a selection of papers from the physics section of each archive. We provide the first study of the viXra archive and describe key differences on how science is written by these communities.

Reputation Factor in Economic Publishing

Reputation Factor in Economic Publishing

Daniel Scott, Founder and Director of Social Sciences Directory and member of the Open Knowledge Foundation OKFN, sets a guideline by listing the next four steps to overcome reputation:

  • (…) Who needs journals? What you want is a large collection of articles that are well indexed and easily searchable, and freely available. (…) It will increase usage and reduce cost-per-download (…) whilst helping to increase citation and impact.
  • Ensure quality control of peer review by setting guidelines and adhering to them.
  • De-couple the link between publishing and tenure & department funding.
  • (…) University administrators need to take the bold decision to change, to pick an end date as a ‘cut off’ after which they will publicly state that they are switching to new policies in support of OA. (…) Editors, authors and reviewers will be encouraged to offer their services elsewhere, which will in turn rapidly build the reputation of new publications.

New crowdfunding website for open science projects

New crowdfunding website for open science projects

By removing the barriers associated with traditional finance, we will open the possibility of funding for projects which may fall outside the usual realm, including projects by schools and A-Level science students.

See also post below: a blogpost listing the current websites and platforms concerning crowdfunding for scientists (blogpost in German).

International Open Access Week 2012

International Open Access Week 2012

On Oct. 23rd 2012, 6pm, Berlin, Germany:

Panel Discussion on Open Science, Humboldt University Berlin.

On Oct. 24th 2012, 10-11:30 am, Republic of Macedonia: 

Open Access Week will be celebrated for the 3-rd time at the Faculty of Philology “Blaze Koneski”/Faculty of Philosophy. As always, the lecture will be open and public and live on the Ustream open access channel @ http://www.ustream.tv/channel/open-access

Fraud as one aspect of motivation for to retracting scientific papers

Fraud as one aspect of motivation for to retracting scientific papers

Carl Zimmer, The Loom-blog author,  writes in the New York Times:

Last year the journal Nature reported an alarming increase in the number of retractions of scientific papers — a tenfold rise in the previous decade, to more than 300 a year across the scientific literature. 

This article got corrected post published saying that fraud was not no.1- motivation for retracting an article but misconduct:

The earlier version also misstated the reason cited in the study for three-quarters of the retractions for which researchers could determine the cause. It was misconduct, not fraud. (Fraud or suspected fraud accounted for 41.3 percent of retractions; other forms of misconduct made up the rest.)

The New York Times.

Open Researcher and Contributor ID will be launched in October 2012

Open Researcher and Contributor ID will be launched in October 2012

At launch, the ORCID Registry and system will include the following features:

  • Usability: Individuals may claim and create their own record and manage their record and account, including assigning proxy access.
  • Fields & Objects: The ORCID record will include mandatory fields for Name, email, and Organization, and additional fields to capture information about Publications, Grants, Patents and Education History.
  • Privacy Management: Individuals (or proxies) may manage field-level privacy settings for the information stored in their record: Private (share with no one), Limited Access (share only with those specified), and Public (share with everyone).
  • Member Read/Write Access Interface: Authorized ORCID Members may add information to an individual’s ORCID record using an OAuth API. ORCID Members may read public, and if authorized, limited access data from the ORCID registry via the OAuth API.
  • Public Data Read Access Interface: Members and non-members may use a public API and interface to read public data from the ORCID registry.
  • Widgets & Member Site Integration: Widgets, badges, instructions, and descriptions of ORCID will be available to support integration between sites.
  • Logging & Tracking: The ORCID system will log key information on system performance and record changes.  

Researchers of Tomorrow: Findings show that open access can be confusing to young researchers

Researchers of Tomorrow: Findings show that open access can be confusing to young researchers

U.K.: The JISC ( ‘Joint Information Systems Committee’) publishes the report Researchers of Tomorrow about the research behaviour of Generation Y doctoral students.

“Researchers of Tomorrow” is the UK’s largest study to date on the research behaviour of Generation Y doctoral students (born between 1982 and 1994). JISC and the British Library jointly commissioned the three year study in 2009, which involved 17,000 doctoral students from 70 universities at various stages in the project.

Open Science & Research Funding: Write collaboratively in this blog.

Open Science & Research Funding: Write collaboratively in this blog.

The advent of Open Science paradigms leads to new interdependences between Research Funding and Open Science. On one hand Research Funders require projects to make more than just text publications available according to the Open Access principles, on the other hand it is to be discussed how Researching Funding itself could be more open (or reach the next level as Research Funding 2.0). This contribution focusses on the both aspects: How Research Funding is promoting Open Science and how an innovative and open Research Funding could look like.

Call for Papers: Berlin Colloquium for Internet and Society 2012

Call for Papers: Berlin Colloquium for Internet and Society 2012

The Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) invites early stage researchers to a colloquium in Berlin, 25./26. October 2012. Within transdisciplinary discussion forums, post-docs and Ph.D. candidates are offered the opportunity to discuss and further develop their research in the field of Internet and society with other experts. The focus of the Berlin Colloquium for Internet and Society 2012 are the following topics: Patterns of Participation, Global Rules and Regulation, Transformation of the Public Sphere, Open Science, Business Models and Internet-enabled Innovation.

Call for Entries: AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards

Call for Entries: AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards

Deadline: All entries must be postmarked on or before 1 August 2012.

Entries are now being accepted for the 2012 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards. The awards program was established in 1945 and recognizes outstanding reporting for a general audience in the sciences, mathematics and engineering. The contest is administered by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and endowed by the Kavli Foundation.