Contribute to the link list of open access sites
This blog tries via a growing link list to enable users and readers to contribute to unfold the variety of open access publishing sites.Open repository includes books
The Open Knowledge Repository and World Bank have launched the site for open access books published online in 2013.Open Research Data Handbook Sprint – 15th & 16th Feb
A report from last years CoData conference has suggested that 75% of research data is never made openly available. This represents both a challenge to the principles of open science, and a massive loss of the opportunities and value that could come from re-use of research data.
Three Things Students Can Do Now to Promote Open Access
The open access movement is a long-standing campaign in the world of research to make scholarly works freely available and reusable. One of its fundamental premises is that the progress of knowledge and culture happens scholarly works of all kinds are widely shared, not hidden in ivory towers built with paywalls and shorn by harsh legal regimes.
A new initiative: Open Library of Humanities (OLH)
“Welcome to the initial ideas hub for the Open LIbrary of Humanities (OLH): a project exploring a PLOS-style model for the humanities and social sciences. This site aims to give the background to and rationale for such a project along with an initial call for participants so that we can put a team together in Spring 2013. As a preliminary statement: we are not affiliated in any way with PLOS. This website will be used for the preliminary stages of developing the organisational structure of OLH, as we launch as a not-for-profit company, and in the run-up to launching the actual journal and database.”Bertelsmann launches open access platform
The focus is on publications in education, sociology and career development.
In German.
Open Access: journey without end?
The Science and Technology Committee of the House of Lords, the second chamber in the UK parliament, met this week to hear evidence from various stakeholders on the implementation of government’s policy on open access.Stephen Curry relates.
Turning point: Carl Boettiger
While working towards his PhD in mathematical ecology at the University of California, Davis, Carl Boettiger launched a kind of career experiment. He started keeping an open lab notebook online, aiming to find new ways to communicate science and to seed collaborations. As he begins a postdoc at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Boettiger explains the pros and cons of sharing his work on the Internet.Nature Q&A.
ScienceOnline Conference 13
Watch it online. Right now.figshare will host data for PLOS
The new functionality on PLOS allows the files to be discovered through a portal on figshare that will go live in the coming weeks. This, combined with figshare’s API functionality, should allow easier linking of research outputs and the potential to build on previous research.Read also this entry on PLoS Blogs.
Making the web work for science
Kaitlin Thaney, manager of external partnerships for Digital Science in an interview with Nat Torkington, chair of many conferences and initiatives dealing with open source.75% of research data is never made openly available.
A report on the CODATA Conference Open Data and Information for a Changing Planet in Taipei last autumn is now online.TODAY! Citizen science workshop online
It’s our pleasure to invite you to join the Citizen Science Open Technical Workshop to be held Wednesday 30th January 16:00 CET virtually using Google Hangout. You can attend the meeting and send all your comments in this Youtube channel or this twitter account.The workshop is organized by the Open Knowledge Foundation.
How librarians can help widen access to research
Librarians play an important role in helping to change the ways research is disseminated.Librarians explain how libraries can help to advance to open access. The Guardian.
Why open access is better for scholarly societies
In fact, a general move to open access would be the best outcome for scholarly society publishers. If the entirety of journal publishing magically metamorphosed somehow to an open-access system, scholarly society publishers would be much better off. From a strategic point of view then, the best course of action for scholarly societies and for the faculty and researchers who support them would be to promote a shift to open access as widely and as quickly as possible.Blog entry.
Peer review – Pitfalls, possibilities, perils, promises
With all its merits, the traditional model of anonymous peer review clearly has flaws; (…). In the world of open science and science blogging, all these flaws can be – and have been – potentially addressed. The question, “How on earth did the reviewers and editors allow this paper to be published?” has appeared in blogs on more than one occasion. On the other hand, research that is consistently rejected by journals can be self-published on blogs. (…) In addition, responses from reviewers that seem unscrupulous or conspiratorial can also be aired out into the open.
Open access (seriously) – Part 1 & 2
Dirk Steinke, Director of Education and Outreach, Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph, Canada, on the recent debate on open access strategies.World wide web creator sees open access future for academic publishing
Activists pushing for free, open access to academic papers will eventually defeat publishers who seek to lock scholarly findings behind paywalls, the founder of the world wide web said today. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who revolutionised the way we access information on the internet through the creation of the world wide web over 20 years ago, has been a vocal proponent for making data freely available while also protecting people’s privacy.
House of Lords Science & Technology committee discusses open access
Follow the discussion via stream.
Document here.
UK.
Data Publication: generating trust around data sharing
The question remains though; how can we be sure that enough checks are in place on data quality through the peer review processes carried out by Journals or in research groups?
Open access information – The Finch Report – urgent call for evidence
Urgent feedback from colleagues working in the Higher Education sector is sought on the implications of the Finch Report. Please submit your evidence before 5pm on 31st January 2013 topolicy@cilip.org.uk or by submitting a comment on the CILIP Information & Advice Blog where further information is also available.
Pay Nothing? Easier Said Than Done
Providing college students with free textbooks is no easy task. That seems to be the major lesson from several efforts to produce e-books that are low-cost or free to help reduce students’ costs. Money pressures, slow adoption by professors, and quality concerns stand in the way as these projects hope to rival traditional publishing.The Chronicle.
Academics revolt over open access
They bodies blamed lack of consultation on the policy and said the “author processing charge” institutions will now pay to publish their academics’ work increased financial burden on British universities. The letter also argued that the policy had been formed in response to the science, technology and engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, and more consultation and “far fuller scrutiny” was needed by the government for the social sciences, arts and humanities (HSS) sector.
Create better PDFs for the use in academic research and repositories
AMI2 is a project to turn PDFs into fully semantic computable, searchable, executable documents with human intervention.A project by Peter Murray-Rust, advocating the liberation of knowledge, Department of Chemistry, Univeristy of Cambridge.