News blog

Unlocking the value of medical case reports: BioMed Central launches Cases Database

Unlocking the value of medical case reports: BioMed Central launches Cases Database

BioMed Central the open access publisher today announced the launch of a valuable new medical resource, Cases Database. Cases Database is a freely accessible and continuously updated tool, developed by BioMed Central, which allows clinicians, researchers, teachers and patients to explore thousands of peer-reviewed medical case reports from multiple journal publishers, including BioMed Central, Springer and BMJ Group.

Two ways open access can radically reform science communication

Two ways open access can radically reform science communication

The traditional model for scientific publishing includes anonymous peer review. Your colleagues read and evaluate your work. They catch the problems. If you can respond to their objections in a way that satisfies them and the editor, your paper may get published. But we know there are problems with this system. One way to measure those is with retraction rates. An article that gets published might have to be retracted if a reader or editor or even the scientist herself discovers that there was a problem.

The end of journals? Open access, impact and the production of knowledge

The end of journals? Open access, impact and the production of knowledge

There are various models of open access available, but the underlying principle is that authors pay for their article to be published in a journal. The cost will generally be around £900 to £2000, which will theoretically be built into future proposals for research funding. While there is widespread support for tearing down the paywalls around research findings, changing publishing’s funding model raises some significant issues, not least for the social sciences where monographs (books) and other non-journal outputs play a more significant role than in the natural sciences (although this may be on the decline).

Blog entry on The University of Nottingham, UK.

See also this article on the discussion about the future of open access publishing.

A shift in open access policy in Canada?

A shift in open access policy in Canada?

Instead of 6 month, what gave researchers a leg to stand on when negotiating a shorter embargo period with publishers, the Canadian Institute for Health and Research (CIHR), wants scientists to publish within 12 month.

As of January, 2013, CIHR-funded researchers will be required to make their peer-reviewed publications accessible at no cost within 12 months of publication – at the latest. While the revised Policy provides researchers with clear guidance on CIHR’s minimum expectation, in the spirit of public benefits of research, CIHR continues to encourage researchers to make their publications accessible for free as soon as possible after publication. Compliance with the Open Access Policy will continue to be monitored through end of grant reporting.

See also this bog entry.

Digital Openness Index

Digital Openness Index

The do:index (digital openness index) is a new project to make visible and comparable with each other the input and contribution public corporations do to digital common property. The do:index was initiated by the German Digitale Gesellschaft e. V., the Austrian Verein Freie Netze. Freies Wissen and the swiss Digitale Allmend and got kiff-off funds through the Internet Privatstiftung Austria (IPA).

See also the video (In German).

Leading or following: Data and rankings must inform strategic decision making, not drive them

Leading or following: Data and rankings must inform strategic decision making, not drive them

At yesterday’s Future of Impact conference, Cameron Neylon argued that universities must ask how their research is being re-used, and choose to become the most skilled in using available data to inform strategic decision making. It’s time to put down the Impact voodoo doll and stop using rankings blindly.

LSE Blog. 

Open Access to scientific research can save lives

Open Access to scientific research can save lives

Peter Suber, director of the Harvard Open Access Project, and Darius Cuplinskas, director of the Information Program at the Open Society Foundations, want open access to become the default method and vote for the development of effective open-access policies.

The economic benefits of open access are estimated to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. The decision to place the results of the Human Genome Project in the public domain without delay, for example, helped ensure that scientists everywhere can use the data. The $3.8-billion investment in the project has had an estimated economic impact of $796-billion.

No hard targets for gold open access

No hard targets for gold open access

Paul Jump on the Research Council’s open access strategies:

Research Councils UK has insisted it will not punish universities that publish a lower proportion of gold open access papers than it envisaged in its allocation of block grants for article fees – provided the block grants are not misused.

See also the discussion on Implementing Finch.

Open Data Institute opens this week, today Open House

Open Data Institute opens this week, today Open House

The Open Data Institute, London, UK, opens this week. Today is ‘open house’ from 4pm - 6pm. To visit: Email required.

Address: 65 Clifton St, Shoreditch, London Borough of Hackney, EC2A, UK. 

The organisation has some pretty weighty founders, father of the web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton, created it to be independent, non-profit and non-partisan. So far the ODI has nailed down £10 million ($16m+ USD) over five years from the UK government via the Technology Strategy Board, which invests in tech research and development, and a further $750,000 from Omidyar Network, the philanthropic investment firm. The organisation is also working toward long-term sustainability through match funding and direct revenue.

Read more here and here.