Sunday, April 20, 2008
Top 5 ways for librarians to contribute to OA
Dean Giustini has just posted the Top 5 Ways for Librarians to Contribute to OA on UBC Academic Search - Google Scholar Blog.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Periodicals Price Survey 2008: Embracing Openness
The latest issue of Lee C. Van Orsdel & Kathleen Born's Periodicals Price Survey series has just been published in Library Journal.
Subtitled:
Global initiatives and startling successes hint at the profound implications of open access on journal publishing
Snippets:
Evidence for open access as an emergent, global state of mind is everywhere
The OA tsunami crested on February 12. In a move few anticipated, Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted unanimously to give the university permission to post their scholarly articles in an institutional repository.
A really big mandate (NIH)
What's next for 2009? Read the article...
Thanks to Peter Suber on Open Access News.
Subtitled:
Global initiatives and startling successes hint at the profound implications of open access on journal publishing
Snippets:
Evidence for open access as an emergent, global state of mind is everywhere
The OA tsunami crested on February 12. In a move few anticipated, Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted unanimously to give the university permission to post their scholarly articles in an institutional repository.
A really big mandate (NIH)
What's next for 2009? Read the article...
Thanks to Peter Suber on Open Access News.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
European Universities Association (EAU) urges universities to develop clear strategies to advance open access
Great news from Europe!!!
The EUA open access recommendations have now been published in the EUA Newsletter. For more details and links, please see my post on The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics.
Thanks to Bernard Rentier and Stevan Harnad.
Librarians from outside Europe: have you been thinking that maybe you should go to Europe for a conference? If so - you have a point!
The EUA open access recommendations have now been published in the EUA Newsletter. For more details and links, please see my post on The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics.
Thanks to Bernard Rentier and Stevan Harnad.
Librarians from outside Europe: have you been thinking that maybe you should go to Europe for a conference? If so - you have a point!
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
April 2008 SPARC Open Access Newsletter
The April 2008 issue of the SPARC Open Access Newsletter by Peter Suber has just been released.
Highlighted is the upcoming April 7 implementation date of the new NIH requirement policy for public access, and Peter Suber's own Three Principles of Open Access Policies.
Here are the Three Principles:
* Principles
1. Universities should provide open access (OA) to their research output.
2. Universities should not limit the freedom of faculty to submit their work to the journals of their choice.
3. Universities now pay most of the costs of peer review, through subscription fees and faculty salaries. They should continue to bear the costs of peer review, in order to assure its survival, while recognizing that the forms and venues of peer review are changing.
Highlighted is the upcoming April 7 implementation date of the new NIH requirement policy for public access, and Peter Suber's own Three Principles of Open Access Policies.
Here are the Three Principles:
* Principles
1. Universities should provide open access (OA) to their research output.
2. Universities should not limit the freedom of faculty to submit their work to the journals of their choice.
3. Universities now pay most of the costs of peer review, through subscription fees and faculty salaries. They should continue to bear the costs of peer review, in order to assure its survival, while recognizing that the forms and venues of peer review are changing.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Author's Rights video: 2 minutes explains it all!
The 2-minute Author's Rights Video by the Association of Research Libraries explains clearly and succinctly what scholars can do to make sure they retain the rights to use and share our work in the ways we would like to!
Monday, March 10, 2008
Archive of ARL-NASULGC Webcast on NIH Public Access Policy Now Online
[Forwarding from ARL. via the SPARC Open Access Forum]
For immediate release:
March 10, 2008
For more information, contact:
Karla Hahn
Association of Research Libraries
(202) 296-2296
karla@arl.org
Archive of ARL-NASULGC Webcast on NIH Public Access Policy Now Online
Washington DC - The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC) are making available an archived version of their March 7, 2008, webcast on "Institutional Compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy: Ensuring Deposit Rights."
The webcast explored options for institutional responses to the new Public Access Policy adopted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and focused particularly on the need for institutions to develop strategies for ensuring the retention of deposit rights by investigators. Effective April 7, 2008, the new policy requires investigators to deposit their articles stemming from NIH funding in PubMed Central. Institutions confront a key set of issues raised by the need to ensure that authors maintain the legal rights required to allow compliance with the new policy.
Audience
Vice presidents of research, administrators and staff in funded research and grants office, campus compliance officers, and others who will be responsible for fulfilling their organizations' compliance obligations as NIH grantees.
Presenters
Jim Siedow
Vice Provost for Research
Duke University
Kevin L. Smith, JD
Scholarly Communications Officer
Duke University
Tony Waldrop
Vice Chancellor for Research & Economic Development
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The webcast archive is freely available from
http://www.arl.org/sc/implement/nih/webcast/.
ARL also maintains a guide for research institutions on the new NIH Public Access Policy http://www.arl.org/sc/implement/nih/guide/.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
March 2008 SPARC Open Access Newsletter
Peter Suber just released the March 2008 SPARC Open Access Newsletter. The highlight this month is the Open Access Mandate at Harvard.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
IU Bloomington Libraries publish first open access journal!
See the IU Libraries Press Release for their announcement of the publication of the open access Museum Anthropology Review, using the free, open source Open Journal Systems.
Congratulations to Jason Baird Jackson, Editor, and IU Libraries!
Congratulations to Jason Baird Jackson, Editor, and IU Libraries!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Volunteer Recognition: Thomas Krichel
Christian Zimmerman on the RePEc blog, has written a very nice and well-deserved recognition of Thomas Krichel!. As Christian says, Thomas is not just a RePEc volunteer; he is RePEc.
The blogpost also notes some of Thomas' colleagues and helpers in building RePEc, among them librarians, Féthy Mili, Economics librarian at the Université de Montréal, and José Manuel Barrueco Cruz, Economics librarian at the University of Valencia.
Krichel is a library school professor at Long Island University, New York, and was previously recognized on OA Librarian in the post Thomas Krichel: a man with ideas, and drive!.
Krichel is also one of the driving forces behind E-LIS, the Open Archive for Library and Information Science.
Congratulations for this well-deserved honour, Thomas!
The blogpost also notes some of Thomas' colleagues and helpers in building RePEc, among them librarians, Féthy Mili, Economics librarian at the Université de Montréal, and José Manuel Barrueco Cruz, Economics librarian at the University of Valencia.
Krichel is a library school professor at Long Island University, New York, and was previously recognized on OA Librarian in the post Thomas Krichel: a man with ideas, and drive!.
Krichel is also one of the driving forces behind E-LIS, the Open Archive for Library and Information Science.
Congratulations for this well-deserved honour, Thomas!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
OAPEN: peer reviewed open access books
Press release, 12-02-2008
Positive evaluation from European Commission for proposal "Open Access Publishing in European Networks" (OAPEN)
The European Commission announced that the proposal from Amsterdam University Press together with five European University Presses within the eContentplus Programme, has been selected for negotiations on funding. The opening of negotiations starts in March 2008. Completion of negotiations, award decision and signature of grant agreements are expected in May 2008.
OAPEN intends to develop and implement an Open Access publication model for peer reviewed academic books in the Humanities and Social Sciences. This Open Access publication model will also serve as a model in other scientific domains and improve the spread of European research results.
The project aims to achieve a sustainable European approach to improve the quantity, visibility and usability of high quality academic research and foster the creation of new content by developing future-oriented publishing solutions, including an Online Library.
OAPEN addresses the needs of small to medium enterprises and not-for-profit publishers and seeks to offer solutions to both publishers and others stakeholders, such as authors, libraries, research funding bodies, and policy makers.
OAPEN will also aggregate content from other publishers in the Humanities and Social Sciences in order to expand the available Open Access content by achieving critical mass and building up the OAPEN European Digital Library.
The project is the first of its kind and, if funded, is intended to start in September 2008.
For more information on OAPEN please visit www.oapen.com
Thanks to Jean Kempf on American Scientist Open Access Forum
Positive evaluation from European Commission for proposal "Open Access Publishing in European Networks" (OAPEN)
The European Commission announced that the proposal from Amsterdam University Press together with five European University Presses within the eContentplus Programme, has been selected for negotiations on funding. The opening of negotiations starts in March 2008. Completion of negotiations, award decision and signature of grant agreements are expected in May 2008.
OAPEN intends to develop and implement an Open Access publication model for peer reviewed academic books in the Humanities and Social Sciences. This Open Access publication model will also serve as a model in other scientific domains and improve the spread of European research results.
The project aims to achieve a sustainable European approach to improve the quantity, visibility and usability of high quality academic research and foster the creation of new content by developing future-oriented publishing solutions, including an Online Library.
OAPEN addresses the needs of small to medium enterprises and not-for-profit publishers and seeks to offer solutions to both publishers and others stakeholders, such as authors, libraries, research funding bodies, and policy makers.
OAPEN will also aggregate content from other publishers in the Humanities and Social Sciences in order to expand the available Open Access content by achieving critical mass and building up the OAPEN European Digital Library.
The project is the first of its kind and, if funded, is intended to start in September 2008.
For more information on OAPEN please visit www.oapen.com
Thanks to Jean Kempf on American Scientist Open Access Forum
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences Adopts Open Access Policy!
Yesterday (Feb. 12, 2008), the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences adopted an open access policy. This is the first university open access policy initiated by faculty!
For background, see Robert Darnton's article The Case for Open Access in the Harvard Crimson.
Thanks to Peter Suber on Open Access News.
For background, see Robert Darnton's article The Case for Open Access in the Harvard Crimson.
Thanks to Peter Suber on Open Access News.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
We are in the midst of change
The Journal of Electronic Publishing has just released a special issue devoted to scholarly communications. The article by Karla Hahn, ARL's Director of Scholarly Communications since 2005, Talk about Talking about New Models of Scholarly Communication, is interesting and well worth reading.
One of Karla's key points about the current environment: we are no longer just anticipating change - we are in the midst of it. Another important concept: there is an emerging consensus for a need for librarians to dialogue with scholars, on a one-on-one basis. We may be in the midst of change, but there is much need to talk about what the changes are and, most importantly, where we are going.
Thanks to Peter Suber on Open Access News.
One of Karla's key points about the current environment: we are no longer just anticipating change - we are in the midst of it. Another important concept: there is an emerging consensus for a need for librarians to dialogue with scholars, on a one-on-one basis. We may be in the midst of change, but there is much need to talk about what the changes are and, most importantly, where we are going.
Thanks to Peter Suber on Open Access News.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
SPARC NIH Public Access Policy: Implementation Details, Links to Key Resources
SPARC has just published a list of NIH Public Access Policy Implementation Details, with links to key resources to assist libraries to help faculty comply with policy.
Canadian Institutes of Health Research Policy Now in Effect
The following announcement is from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research
(2008-02-04) On September 4, 2007, CIHR released its "Policy on Access to Research Outputs", which aims to improve access to research publications and biomolecular data. Under this new funding policy, recipients of CIHR grants awarded after January 1, 2008, must:
* ensure that all research papers generated from CIHR funded projects are freely accessible through the Publisher's website or an online repository within six months of publication;
* deposit bioinformatics, atomic, and molecular coordinate data into the appropriate public database (e.g., gene sequences deposited in GenBank) immediately upon publication of research results;
* retain original data sets for a minimum of five years (or longer if other policies apply); and
* acknowledge CIHR support by quoting the funding reference number in journal publications.
Currently, more than twenty research funding agencies around the world require supported research publications to be openly accessible. Most recently, the U.S. National Institutes of Health mandated open online access to its funded research through the National Library of Medicine's online archive, PubMed Central.
Rational
CIHR believes that greater access to research publications and data will promote the ability of researchers in Canada and aboard to use and build on the knowledge needed to address significant health challenges. Open access enables authors to reach a much broader audience, which has the potential to increase the impact of their research. In fact, evidence shows that open access publications are more often read and cited than closed access publications. From a Knowledge Translation perspective, this policy will support our desire to expedite awareness of and facilitate the use of research findings by policy makers, health care administrators, clinicians, and the public, by greatly increasing ease of access to research.
Adhering with the new policy - Open access publications
For journal publications, there are two ways to adhere with the policy:
1. Submit your manuscript to a journal that offers immediate open access (e.g., CMAJ, PLoS, BMC) or offers open access to the paper on its website within six months (e.g., NEJM).
2. Submit your manuscript to a journal that does not offer open access, but will permit you to archive the peer-reviewed manuscript in a central or institutional repository within 6 months of publication.
CIHR considers open access publishing fees to be an eligible grant expense.
The SHERPA/RoMEO database contains a searchable listing of journal publisher's copyright and self-archiving policies which will help researchers to determine journal's that adhere with CIHR policy.
Additional information and resources
CIHR has developed a suite of tools and resources that will help clarify this new policy and how it will affect grant recipients:
* CIHR Policy on Access to Research Outputs;
* Frequently asked questions;
* Flowchart for open access publications;
* Adhering with the CIHR Policy on Access to Research Outputs - Selected Journals.
For further information regarding this policy, please contact Geoff Hynes 613-952-8965, or e-mail: ghynes@cihr-irsc.gc.ca
Ian Graham, Ph.D.
Vice-President, Knowledge Translation
Hat tip to Peter Suber on Open Access News
(2008-02-04) On September 4, 2007, CIHR released its "Policy on Access to Research Outputs", which aims to improve access to research publications and biomolecular data. Under this new funding policy, recipients of CIHR grants awarded after January 1, 2008, must:
* ensure that all research papers generated from CIHR funded projects are freely accessible through the Publisher's website or an online repository within six months of publication;
* deposit bioinformatics, atomic, and molecular coordinate data into the appropriate public database (e.g., gene sequences deposited in GenBank) immediately upon publication of research results;
* retain original data sets for a minimum of five years (or longer if other policies apply); and
* acknowledge CIHR support by quoting the funding reference number in journal publications.
Currently, more than twenty research funding agencies around the world require supported research publications to be openly accessible. Most recently, the U.S. National Institutes of Health mandated open online access to its funded research through the National Library of Medicine's online archive, PubMed Central.
Rational
CIHR believes that greater access to research publications and data will promote the ability of researchers in Canada and aboard to use and build on the knowledge needed to address significant health challenges. Open access enables authors to reach a much broader audience, which has the potential to increase the impact of their research. In fact, evidence shows that open access publications are more often read and cited than closed access publications. From a Knowledge Translation perspective, this policy will support our desire to expedite awareness of and facilitate the use of research findings by policy makers, health care administrators, clinicians, and the public, by greatly increasing ease of access to research.
Adhering with the new policy - Open access publications
For journal publications, there are two ways to adhere with the policy:
1. Submit your manuscript to a journal that offers immediate open access (e.g., CMAJ, PLoS, BMC) or offers open access to the paper on its website within six months (e.g., NEJM).
2. Submit your manuscript to a journal that does not offer open access, but will permit you to archive the peer-reviewed manuscript in a central or institutional repository within 6 months of publication.
CIHR considers open access publishing fees to be an eligible grant expense.
The SHERPA/RoMEO database contains a searchable listing of journal publisher's copyright and self-archiving policies which will help researchers to determine journal's that adhere with CIHR policy.
Additional information and resources
CIHR has developed a suite of tools and resources that will help clarify this new policy and how it will affect grant recipients:
* CIHR Policy on Access to Research Outputs;
* Frequently asked questions;
* Flowchart for open access publications;
* Adhering with the CIHR Policy on Access to Research Outputs - Selected Journals.
For further information regarding this policy, please contact Geoff Hynes 613-952-8965, or e-mail: ghynes@cihr-irsc.gc.ca
Ian Graham, Ph.D.
Vice-President, Knowledge Translation
Hat tip to Peter Suber on Open Access News
Saturday, February 02, 2008
February 2008 SPARC Open Access Newsletter
Peter Suber has just released the February 2008 SPARC Open Access Newsletter.
January has been a remarkable month for open access mandates, with 10 developments in 8 countries (not counting mandates in the works, such as the European University Association!).
Peter analyzes the NIH and ERC developments in some depth. He points out that more publishers should probably take on the task of archiving in PMC on behalf of authors; many make back issues freely available within the 12-month embargo at any rate, so this just makes sense. The NIH policy follows the dual deposit / release approach (deposit immediately, but set a delay on release if necessary). Peter's explanation of the benefits of this approach are well worth reading.
January has been a remarkable month for open access mandates, with 10 developments in 8 countries (not counting mandates in the works, such as the European University Association!).
Peter analyzes the NIH and ERC developments in some depth. He points out that more publishers should probably take on the task of archiving in PMC on behalf of authors; many make back issues freely available within the 12-month embargo at any rate, so this just makes sense. The NIH policy follows the dual deposit / release approach (deposit immediately, but set a delay on release if necessary). Peter's explanation of the benefits of this approach are well worth reading.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Unanimous OA Recommendations from the European University Association
The 791 universities from 46 countries of the European University Association have unanimously endorsed some very strong OA recommendations, which Peter Suber has summarized as follows:
* Here's a digest of the most important of the recommendations. European universities should...
1. launch OAI-compliant institutional repositories (A2)
2. adopt OA mandates for their research output (A3)
3. educate faculty about copyright and encourage the removal of permission barriers at least for users in the author's institution (A4)
4. consider paying publication fees for faculty who publish in fee-based OA journals (A5)
5. work with public funding agencies with OA mandates to encourage deposit in institutional repositories (B1)
6. educate university rectors about the importance of OA (B2)
7. support OA mandates for publicly-funded research in the EU (C1)
Kudos especially to Lesley Wilson, Secretary General of the EUA, and Sijbolt Noorda, chair of the Working Group on Open Access. Thanks to Stevan Harnad for breaking the news, and to Peter Suber for comments and summary.
My comments: this is huge; it sets the direction for European universities. It will take some time, of course, for each university to set its own policies and procedures, and a bit longer for these policies and procedures to take effect. Other jurisdictions are likely to follow the European example, each in its own time. Even if the impact is not felt immediately, the importance of this endorsement should not be underestimated.
* Here's a digest of the most important of the recommendations. European universities should...
1. launch OAI-compliant institutional repositories (A2)
2. adopt OA mandates for their research output (A3)
3. educate faculty about copyright and encourage the removal of permission barriers at least for users in the author's institution (A4)
4. consider paying publication fees for faculty who publish in fee-based OA journals (A5)
5. work with public funding agencies with OA mandates to encourage deposit in institutional repositories (B1)
6. educate university rectors about the importance of OA (B2)
7. support OA mandates for publicly-funded research in the EU (C1)
Kudos especially to Lesley Wilson, Secretary General of the EUA, and Sijbolt Noorda, chair of the Working Group on Open Access. Thanks to Stevan Harnad for breaking the news, and to Peter Suber for comments and summary.
My comments: this is huge; it sets the direction for European universities. It will take some time, of course, for each university to set its own policies and procedures, and a bit longer for these policies and procedures to take effect. Other jurisdictions are likely to follow the European example, each in its own time. Even if the impact is not felt immediately, the importance of this endorsement should not be underestimated.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Berkeley pilot to subsidize open access fees
Congratulations to Berkeley on announcing a pilot program to pay OA fees on behalf of Berkeley authors!. The program is funded by the discretionary accounts of Thomas Leonard, University Librarian, and Beth Burnside, Vice Chancellor for Research.
Thanks to Peter Suber.
Thanks to Peter Suber.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Kudos to Nature for enlightened License for Publish
Nature Publishing Group has posted some very enlightened instructions for authors in their License to Publish. Authors retain copyright, AND NPG has included this language actively encouraging self-archiving:
When a manuscript is accepted for publication in an NPG journal, authors are encouraged to submit the author's version of the accepted paper (the unedited manuscript) to PubMedCentral or other appropriate funding body's archive, for public release six months after publication. In addition, authors are encouraged to archive this version of the manuscript in their institution's repositories and, if they wish, on their personal websites, also six months after the original publication. In all these cases, authors should cite the publication reference and DOI number on any deposited version, and provide a link from it to the URL of the published article on the journal's website (see publications A-Z index).
Kudos to Nature, and thanks to Peter Suber for the alert.
When a manuscript is accepted for publication in an NPG journal, authors are encouraged to submit the author's version of the accepted paper (the unedited manuscript) to PubMedCentral or other appropriate funding body's archive, for public release six months after publication. In addition, authors are encouraged to archive this version of the manuscript in their institution's repositories and, if they wish, on their personal websites, also six months after the original publication. In all these cases, authors should cite the publication reference and DOI number on any deposited version, and provide a link from it to the URL of the published article on the journal's website (see publications A-Z index).
Kudos to Nature, and thanks to Peter Suber for the alert.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
NIH and European Research Council OA Mandates
Some major events in open access this week:
The final text of the NIH policy has been posted:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-08-033.html
and a very interesting FAQ
The European Research Council has announced an exemplary Open Access Policy - open access to funded research within 6 months, no loopholes, and an indication that the 6-month maximum will be shortened! For links and a summary, see Peter Suber's Open Access News.
As always, the best way to keep with the latest developments is to tune into Peter Suber's Open Access News.
The final text of the NIH policy has been posted:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-08-033.html
and a very interesting FAQ
The European Research Council has announced an exemplary Open Access Policy - open access to funded research within 6 months, no loopholes, and an indication that the 6-month maximum will be shortened! For links and a summary, see Peter Suber's Open Access News.
As always, the best way to keep with the latest developments is to tune into Peter Suber's Open Access News.
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