Scholarly Communication Issues: Open Access Archives

Category Archives

August 27, 2007

An Interview with the Designer of Google Scholar

Since its inception, Google Scholar has made deep inroads within the academic community within a very short period of time and is often the first search tool used by researchers and students. While many of the traditional databases charge significant fees for their availability to the academic community, Google Scholar offers their services for free and continues to update and improve their services and the content that they make available. New features that Google Scholar has recently announced include the Google Scholar digitization project, a "key author" feature, expansion into non-English content, and the indexing of Elsevier's Science Direct collection.

Barbara Quint, of Information Today uncovers these developments in her interview with Anurag Acharya, the designer behind Google Scholar.

The complete interview can be located here.

--Posted by Robbi De Peri

Posted by colldev at 01:56 PM

February 06, 2007

ASCB supports Public Access

Major society publisher announces support for public access
to scientific literature

Washington, DC (Feb. 6, 2007) - The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), a non-profit scientific society of over 11,000 members and publisher of the high-impact monthly journal, Molecular Biology of the Cell, has announced its "Position on Public Access to Scientific Literature," calling for free public access to federally funded research within six months of publication. ASCB has provided free access (after a two-month embargo) to research published in its journals since 2001 and has experienced no adverse impact on its finances.

The ASCB statement, which was announced in a January 31, 2007 press release, reads:

ASCB Position on Public Access to Scientific Literature

The ASCB believes strongly that barriers to scientific communication slow scientific progress. The more widely scientific results are disseminated, the more readily they can be understood, applied, and built upon. The sooner findings are shared, the faster they will lead to new scientific insights and breakthroughs. This conviction has motivated the ASCB to provide free access to all of the research articles in Molecular Biology of the Cell two months after publication, which it has done since 2001. The articles are available both on the journal's website and in the National Library of Medicine's online archive, PubMed Central.
The vast majority of the biomedical research conducted at American universities and colleges is funded by taxpayers. The ASCB believes that taxpayers are best served when all scientists, educators, physicians, and members of the public - including patients and their families - have access to publicly funded research results. So long as significant access barriers remain, taxpayers are not fully benefiting from the work that they fund. With the proliferation of networked technology, we have an unprecedented and cost-effective means to overcome such barriers. For the first time, it is possible and practical to offer free access to every potential user. It is incumbent upon us, as scientists and citizens, to take full advantage of this opportunity.
Some publishers argue that providing free access to their journal's content will catastrophically erode their revenue base. The experience of many successful research journals demonstrates otherwise; these journals make their online content freely available after a short embargo period that protects subscription revenue. For example, as noted above, the content of Molecular Biology of the Cell is free to all after only two months, yet the journal remains not only financially sound, but profitable. The data clearly show that free access and profitability are not mutually exclusive.
Our goal should be to make research articles freely available as soon as feasible so that science and the public benefit from their expanded use and application. At the same time, it is important that nonprofit societies and other publishers generate sufficient revenues to sustain the costs of reviewing and publishing articles. We believe that a six-month embargo period represents a reasonable compromise between the financial requirements of supporting a journal and the need for access to current research.
For these reasons, the ASCB supports efforts to require that the results of federally funded biomedical research be made freely available to the public, no more than six months after they are published.
[statement ends]

The statement, which is available online at http://ascb.org/index.cfm?navid=10&id=1968&tcode=nws3, bolsters the case for a mandatory National Institutes of Health public access policy and for passage of The Federal Research Public Access Act, a measure that would require federal agencies that fund over $100 million in annual external research to make manuscripts of peer-reviewed journal articles stemming from that research publicly available via the Internet within six months of publication. The bill was introduced last year by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and awaiting reintroduction in the 110th Congress (For further information about the legislation, see http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/frpaa/).

The Alliance for Taxpayer Access is a coalition of patient, academic, research, and publishing entities that support open public access to the results of federally funded research, including passage of the Federal Research Public Access Act. The Alliance was formed in 2004 to urge that peer-reviewed articles on taxpayer-funded research become fully accessible and available online at no extra cost to the American public. Details on the ATA may be found at http://www.taxpayeraccess.org.

Posted by Donna Braquet at 10:12 AM

February 01, 2007

Nature Article about Open Access

PR's 'pit bull' takes on open access
Journal publishers lock horns with free-information movement
Nature
Published online: 24 January 2007; Corrected online: 25 January 2007 | doi:10.1038/445347a
Jim Giles

The author of Nail 'Em! Confronting High-Profile Attacks on Celebrities and Businesses is not the kind of figure normally associated with the relatively sedate world of scientific publishing. Besides writing the odd novel, Eric Dezenhall has made a name for himself helping companies and celebrities protect their reputations, working for example with Jeffrey Skilling, the former Enron chief now serving a 24-year jail term for fraud.

Posted by Donna Braquet at 01:38 PM

January 26, 2007

Science.world: New OA Portal of World Science

The US Department of Energy (DOE) and the British Library have agreed to build an OA portal of world science. From yesterday's announcement:

...Called 'Science.world,' the planned resource would be available for use by scientists in all nations and by anyone interested in science. The approach will capitalise on existing technology to search vast collections of science information distributed across the globe, enabling much-needed access to smaller, less well-known sources of highly valuable science. Following the model of Science.gov, the U.S. interagency science portal that relies on content published by each participating agency, 'Science.world' will rely on scientific resources published by each participating nation. Other countries have been invited to participate in this international effort.

Recognising the impact of international research efforts, [Dr. Raymond L. Orbach, Under Secretary for Science for DOE] stated, "It is time to make the science offerings of all nations searchable in one global gateway. Our goal is to speed up the sharing of knowledge on a global scale. As a result, we believe that science itself will speed up." ...

Objectives of the "Science.world" initiative are to:

Search dispersed, electronic collections in various science disciplines;
Provide direct, seamless and free searching of open-source collections and portals;
Build upon existing and already successful national models for searching;
Complement existing information collections and systems; and
Raise the visibility and usage of individual sources of quality science information....
[source: Peter Suber]

Posted by Donna Braquet at 01:41 PM

July 12, 2006

Open Access Webliography

Reshaping the World of Scholarly Communication--Open Access and the Free Online Scholarship Movement: Open Access Statements, Proposals, Declarations, Principles, Strategies, Organizations, Projects, Campaigns, Initiatives, and Related Items -- A Webliography

Compiled by Paul G. Haschak, Associate Professor and Collection Development Librarian
Linus A. Sims Memorial Library, Southeastern Louisiana University
phaschak@selu.edu

Posted by Donna Braquet at 05:50 PM

May 06, 2006

May 03, 2006

SPARC Open Access May Newsletter

SPARC Open Access Newsletter, issue #97, May 2, 2006

Posted by Donna Braquet at 11:04 PM

March 01, 2006

Open Access: Info for Researchers

From the SPARC Open Access Newsletter, issue #94
February 2, 2006

Six things that researchers should know about Open Access>>

Posted by Donna Braquet at 11:52 AM

May 11, 2005

AAAS Meeting Discusses Scholarly Communication

Slides from the "The Future of Scientific Communication" Concurrent Session at the AAAS Meeting.

Carol Tenopir, University of Tennessee-Knoxville
"What Scientists Really Need Regarding Publishing and Access" (PDF slides)

David Stern, Yale University
"Archival Issues Regarding Electronic Scientific Literature" (PDF slides)

Donald W. King, University of Pittsburgh
"The Economics of Science Publishing" (PDF slides)

[source: Open Access News]

Posted by Donna Braquet at 01:25 PM

May 01, 2005

NIH Plan Begins May 2

Implementation of Policy on Enhancing Public Access to Archived Publications Resulting from NIH-Funded Research [NIH, updated April 30, 2005]

The NIH Public Access Policy [SPARC, updated March 3, 2005]

Posted by Donna Braquet at 01:03 PM

April 20, 2005

Doing Your Part for Open Access

What can you do to promote Open Access?

Peter Suber, editor of the highly popular Open Access News, has produced an excellent, extensive list of practical steps people can take to move Open Access forwards.

Whether you are a faculty member, a librarian, student, a society, funder or government body, Suber provides many suggestions for positive contributions you can make to the Open Access movement today.

[source: BioMed Central Update]

Posted by Donna Braquet at 10:21 AM

April 11, 2005

Webcast on Open Access Now Available for Viewing

Watch the Video>>

Ownership and Access in Scholarly Publishing
The University of Maryland (UMB) Health Sciences and Human Services
Library (HS/HSL) and the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Libraries are
co-hosting a web cast to inform faculty, staff and students on
publishing trends and explain new models likely to affect their
professional communication and research.

Posted by Donna Braquet at 03:31 PM

March 16, 2005

Open Access webcast, April 6

The University of Maryland (UMB) Health Sciences and Human Services
Library (HS/HSL) and the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Libraries are
co-hosting a Web cast to inform academic faculty, graduate students, and staff on publishing trends and explain new models likely to affect their professional communication and research.

"Ownership and Access in Scholarly Publishing"
Wednesday, April 6, 2005
1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST
UM School of Nursing Auditorium
655 West Lombard Street
Baltimore, MD 21201

Additional information, including instructions on how to access the
Webcast, is available at or email

a) JHU School of Medicine Mountcastle Auditorium (Live Broadcast)
b) JHU Homewood Campus: Bloomberg Auditorium (Live Broadcast)
c) JHU Homewood Campus: SDS Room in Mattin Center (Live Broadcast)
d) From your own desktop (Web cast)

Topics of discussion include:

Emerging Issues in Scientific Publishing (1:00 to 3:00 pm EST)

Keynote Speaker: David Lipman, M.D., Director, National Center for
Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National
Institutes of Health

Panelists:
Kenneth R. Fulton, Publisher, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

John Wilbanks, Executive Director, Science Commons

Valuing New Models of Scholarship in Promotion & Tenure (3:00 to 4:30
pm
EST)

Keynote Speaker: Chi V. Dang, M.D., Ph.D., Vice Dean of Research,
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and professor of Medicine,
Oncology, Pathology, Cell Biology, and Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Panelists:
Sharon, Krag, Ph.D., Professor Biochemistry and Molecular
Biology; Associate Dean, Graduate Education and Research, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Marian J. Jackson, Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of Maryland
Biotechnology Institute and Department of Neurology, University of
Maryland, Baltimore and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, UMBI

Additional information, including instructions.

This web cast is funded by the National Library of Medicine under a
contract.

Posted by Donna Braquet at 04:00 PM

Open Access Conference presentations now online

Streaming Video and Presentations are now online:

Berlin 3 Open Access:
Progress in Implementing the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities
Feb 28th - Mar 1st, 2005, University of Southampton, UK

Posted by Donna Braquet at 03:51 PM

March 07, 2005

March Open Access Newsletter

Want a synopsis of what has happened in the world of Open Access this month? Peter Suber's SPARC Open Access Newsletter is for you!

March issue of the SPARC Open Access Newsletter is now online.

Contents:
The final version of the NIH public-access policy
Reflections on OA/TA coexistence
Top stories from February 2005
Coming up later this month
Housekeeping
Credits

Posted by Donna Braquet at 03:22 PM

February 21, 2005

Open Access Program at AAAS Meeting

TRACK: Scientific Conduct and the Doing of Science
TITLE: Changing Scientific Publishing: Open Access and Implications for Working Scientists
DATE: Saturday, February 19, 2005
TIME: 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
ORGANIZERS: Bonnie C. Carroll, U.S. CENDI; Kathleen Cass, Committee On Data for Science and Technology; Barry Mahon, International Council for Scientific and Technical Information

PARTICIPANTS: * = invited, not yet confirmed.
Bonnie C. Carroll (Moderator), U.S. CENDI
Sir John Enderby (Speaker), Institute of Physics
Overview of the Classical Publishing Model and the New Model of Open Access
Mark McCabe (Speaker), Georgia Institute of Technology
The Economics of Open Access Publishing: a Strategic Perspective
Christopher M. Snyder (Speaker), George Washington University
CO W/McCABE
Helen Doyle (Speaker), Public Library of Science
Implementing a New Model for Scientific Publishing
Pieter Bolman (Speaker), International Association of Scientific, Technical, and Medical Publishers (STM)
A Commercial Publishers Perspective on Scientific Publishing and Open Access
Lenne P. Miller (Speaker), The Endocrine Society
Publishing Model for a Not-for-Profit Publisher Per Concepts of Open Access
Barry Mahon (Discussant), International Council for Scientific and Technical Information

AVAILABLE ABSTRACTS:
Publishing Model for a Not-for-Profit Publisher Per Concepts of Open Access
The Economics of Open Access Publishing: A Strategic Perspective
Overview of the Classical Publishing Model and the New Model of Open Access
Changing Scientific Publishing: Open Access & Implications for Scientists
Implementing a New Model for Scientific Publishing
A View from STM: A Trade Association's Perspective on Scientific Publishing
SYNOPSIS:
"Open Access" to scientific publications is a technical, economic, philosophical, and political concept. It was precipitated in large measure by the economic challenges of rising journal prices and libraries� inabilities to continue to provide access to the needed array of journals for technical users. This economic reality led to questions about new models to provide access to the results of research. It led to analyzing and questioning the traditional model of the scientific publishing. At the same time, enabling information technologies have provided new options for "publishing" and disseminating research results. Open access became one rallying concept for those looking for an alternative to the traditional publishing model. People began to experiment. Ownership of copyright, how to finance publishing, and many other aspects of traditional publishing were explored. There have been movements in some disciplines for scientists to lead publishing experiments. These experiments and the increasingly informed debates have led to a better appreciation of the complexities of the publishing process. From an initially polarized discussion between publishers and libraries, the issues of new models are being tested and clarified. Whatever the future of scholarly scientific publishing, it will have to deal with issues of acquisition (or identification of appropriate material), verification and quality control, production, dissemination (location and access) and archiving. There will likely be fundamental changes in scientific publishing. The purpose of this symposium is to review open access as a publishing model and to bring the working scientist into the discussion in the AAAS context.

Posted by Donna Braquet at 05:14 PM

GreyNet

G r e y T e x t
An Inhouse Archive of Documents on Grey Literature

GreyText is a bibliographic archive of e-documents in the field of
information studies known as Grey Literature. All documents are indexed in
alphabetical order by name of (first) author followed by the title, source,
date of publication and length in printed pages. Free access to the first
page of each document is readily available for browsing. The full-text of
all documents listed in GreyText are accessible via email.

If you have authored of one or more documents on the topic of Grey
Literature and would like them listed in GreyText, please contact us today!

GreyNet
Grey Literature Network Service
Beysterveld 251
1083 KE Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Tel/Fax +31(0)20-672.1217
info@greynet.org
http://www.greynet.org

Posted by Donna Braquet at 04:50 PM

February 15, 2005

Open Access Story on NPR

NIH to Deliver Free Access to Research [listen]
by David Malakoff

All Things Considered, February 3, 2005 � The National Institutes of Health unveils a plan to offer a Web site giving consumers free access to published government health studies. The plan comes after pressure from patient advocacy groups and Congress.

Posted by Donna Braquet at 03:47 PM

February 03, 2005

NIH Policy: Press Release

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced today a
new policy designed to accelerate the public's access to
published articles resulting from NIH-funded research. The
policy - the first of its kind for NIH - calls on
scientists to release to the public manuscripts from
research supported by NIH as soon as possible, and within
12 months of final publication.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, February 3, 2005

CONTACTS:
Don Ralbovsky
OD Office of Communications and Public Liaison
301-496-5787

NIH CALLS ON SCIENTISTS TO SPEED PUBLIC RELEASE OF RESEARCH
PUBLICATIONS
Online Archive Will Make Articles Accessible to the Public

These peer-reviewed, NIH-funded research publications will
be available in a Web-based archive to be managed by the
National Library of Medicine (NLM), a component of NIH. The
online archive will increase the public's access to health-
related publications at a time when demand for such
information is on a steady rise.

"With the rapid growth in the public's use of the Internet,
NIH must take a leadership role in making available to the
public the research that we support," said NIH Director
Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D. "While this new policy is
voluntary, we are strongly encouraging all NIH-supported
researchers to release their published manuscripts as soon
as possible for the benefit of the public. Scientists have
a right to see the results of their work disseminated as
quickly and broadly as possible, and NIH is committed to
helping our scientists exercise this right. We urge
publishers to work closely with authors in implementing
this policy."

"In developing this policy, we made a concerted effort to
balance the importance of this archive to NIH's public
health mission, with the need to provide flexibility for
authors, their institutions, and publishers in those cases
where immediate release is not possible," Zerhouni added.
"NIH recognizes the importance of preserving quality peer
review and the viability of a diversity of publishing
models. Nevertheless, we expect that only in limited cases
will authors deem it necessary to select the longest delay
period."

The NIH policy will achieve several important goals,
including:

(1) creating a stable archive of peer-reviewed research
publications resulting from NIH-funded studies to ensure
the permanent preservation of these vital research
findings;

(2) securing a searchable compendium of these research
publications that NIH and its awardees can use to manage
more efficiently and to understand better their research
portfolios, monitor scientific productivity, and,
ultimately, help set research priorities; and

(3) making published results of NIH-funded research more
readily accessible to the public, health care providers,
educators, and scientists.

Beginning May 2, 2005, the policy requests that NIH-funded
scientists submit an electronic version of the author's
final manuscript, upon acceptance for publication,
resulting from research supported in whole or in part by
NIH. The author's final manuscript is defined as the final
version accepted for journal publication, and includes all
modifications from the publishing peer review process.

The policy gives authors the flexibility to designate a
specific time frame for public release - ranging from
immediate public access after final publication to a 12
month delay - when they submit their manuscripts to NIH.
Authors are strongly encouraged to exercise their right to
specify that their articles will be publicly available
through PubMed Central (PMC) as soon as possible.

PMC a part of the NIH's
National Library of Medicine (NLM), is the agency's digital
repository of full-text, peer-reviewed biomedical,
behavioral, and clinical research journals. It is a
publicly-accessible, stable, permanent, and searchable
electronic archive.

The release of this policy follows months of intensive
deliberations with representatives of patient and
scientific organizations, researchers, and publishers. NIH
posted the draft policy for public comment in September,
and received and reviewed over 6,000 public comments.

As part of on-going efforts to implement this new policy,
NIH plans to establish a Public Access Advisory Working
Group, as a subgroup of the NLM's Board of Regents. The
Working Group will include representatives of the patient
advocacy, scientific, library, and publishing communities,
and will provide advice on implementation issues and assess
progress in meeting the new policy's stated goals.

Additional information on the new policy and related
documents, including a "Questions and Answers" fact sheet.
<>.

The NIH comprises the Office of the Director and 27
Institutes and Centers. The Office of the Director is the
central office at NIH, and is responsible for setting
policy for NIH and for planning, managing, and coordinating
the programs and activities of all the NIH components. The
NIH, the Nation's medical research agency, is a component
of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is
the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting
basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and
investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both
common and rare diseases.

Posted by Donna Braquet at 05:30 PM

January 28, 2005

Open Access Forum Presentations now Online

Presentations from the ALA Midwinter 2005: SPARC/ACRL Forum
In the Public Interest: Open Access and Public Policy

Over 300 ALA MidWinter attendees attended the SPARC-ACRL forum to hear stakeholders talk about the proposed National Institutes of Health (NIH) public access policy, endorsed by both houses of the U.S. Congress.

Columbia University Librarian James Neal, who serves as chairman of the SPARC steering committee, presented a panel of three speakers. The first speaker, representing NIH's National Library of Medicine, discussed the motivations that led NIH to propose giving taxpayers enhanced access to results from federally funded biomedical research via the NLM's online resource, PubMed Central. The rest of the panel represented scientists and patients, some of whom formed alliances to support the NIH initiative. The speakers considered the array of economic, social, and scientific benefits this breakthrough policy will help establish in biomedical research and more broadly throughout our healthcare system.

Posted by Donna Braquet at 06:31 AM

January 27, 2005

Cornell Library publishes report on Open Access

Report of the CUL Task Force on Open Access Publishing Presented to the Cornell University Library Management Team August 9, 2004.
Authors: Davis, Phil
Ehling, Terry
Habicht, Oliver
How, Sarah
Saylor, John M
Walker, Kizer
Publisher: Cornell University Library
Citation: Cornell University Library. Technical Reports and Papers.
Series/Report no.: Library Papers and Preprints;2004-3
Abstract: The Task Force on Open Access Publishing was convened by Ross Atkinson in January 2004.The purpose of the Task Force is to study the information available on Open Access publishing and to provide the CUL Library Management Team with a report that addressed specific questions. Alternative publishing models that would offer free and unimpeded access to scholarship promise both a more affordable system for academic institutions and their libraries and a more democratic one for readers and authors. The present Report examines both aspects of the Open Access promise and offers recommendations for CUL's involvement in the arena of Open Access publishing.

Posted by Donna Braquet at 05:27 PM

January 18, 2005

Conference on Open Access

Berlin 3 Open Access:
Progress of Implementation of the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities
Feb 28th - Mar 1st, 2005, University of Southampton, UK

Posted by Donna Braquet at 02:00 PM

NIH Open Access Plan on Hold

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) abruptly cancelled a teleconference with director Elias A. Zerhouni scheduled for Tuesday (January 11), at which he was to announce "a new policy designed to accelerate the public's access to published articles resulting from NIH-funded research."
continue reading the article in The Scientist>>

Posted by Donna Braquet at 01:57 PM

January 13, 2005

Journal issue focuses on Open Access

The issue is available at
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00987913
It is vol.30 no.4, and marked "Complimentary" The contents are:
SERIALS REVIEW VOL.30 NO.4

SPECIAL ISSUE: OPEN ACCESS 2004

2. Special Focus on Open Access: Issues, Ideas, and Impact
Page 257
David Goodman and Connie Foster

3. The Criteria for Open Access
Pages 258-270
David Goodman

4. Open Access Is Only Part of the Story
Pages 271-274
Richard Gedye

5. The Shifting Sands of Open Access Publishing, a Publisher's View
Pages 275-280
John Regazzi

6. A Not-for-Profit Publisher's Perspective on Open Access
Pages 281-287
Martin Frank, Margaret Reich and Alice Ra'anan

7. Author disincentives and open access
Pages 288-291
Rick Anderson

8. Open Access: A Review of an Emerging Phenomenon
Pages 292-297
Adam Chesler

9. Delivery, Management and Access Model for E_prints and Open Access
Journals
Pages 298-303
Fytton Rowland, Alma Swan, Paul Needham, Steve Probets, Adrienne Muir,
Charles Oppenheim, Ann O'Brien and Rachel Hardy

10. Open Access: How Are Publishers Reacting?
Pages 304-307
Sally Morris

11. Open Access: Science Publishing as Science Publishing Should Be
Pages 308-309
Jan Velterop

12. The Access/Impact Problem and the Green and Gold Roads to Open Access
Pages 310-314
Stevan Harnad, Tim Brody, Fran�ois Valli�res, Les Carr, Steve
Hitchcock, Yves Gingras, Charles Oppenheim, Heinrich Stamerjohanns,
Eberhard R. Hilf, Tim Brody et al.

13. The Green and Gold Roads to Open Access: The Case for Mixing and
Matching
Pages 315-328
Jean-Claude Gu�don

Posted by Donna Braquet at 11:15 AM

January 05, 2005

Brief Introduction to Open Access

Have you been wanting to learn more about Open Access, but haven't had the time? Read Puter Suber's excellent (and BRIEF) Introduction to Open Access.

Once you have the basics down, you can read the daily postings on the Open Access News blog.

Posted by Donna Braquet at 01:25 PM

December 07, 2004

SPARC Open Access Newsletter

The December issue of the SPARC Open Access Newsletter, written by Peter Suber is now available. This newsletter is a summary of the more important issues and developments occuring during the month prior to its publication.

Posted by Donna Braquet at 12:29 PM

Highwire Free Journal Archive

Highwire Press now hosts more than 3/4 million free online peer-reviewed research articles. (Press Release)

Posted by Donna Braquet at 11:39 AM

December 01, 2004

Open Access Forum video (Cargenie Mellon)

Open Access Forum [videorecording]
Held in conjunction with the Cargenie Mellon University Libraries Advisory Board Visit, October 2004.
PANEL: Carnegie Mellon's Mark Kamlet and Mary Jo Dively, with Clifford Lynch (CNI) and Daviess Menefee (Elsevier).

Posted by Donna Braquet at 02:12 PM

ATA comment on NIH plan approval

The Alliance for Taxpayer Access has posted thier comments concerning the approval of the NIH public access plan.
Exerpt: "I am writing on behalf of the Alliance for Taxpayer Access (ATA) in support of the NIH proposed guidance, Notice Number NOT-OD-04-064, Enhanced Public Access to NIH Research Information. This timely proposal will make a substantial and highly useful resource of biomedical research far more widely available to many new and existing stakeholders.

The alliance is composed of universities, libraries, voluntary health agencies, and other entities seeking the benefits of greater access to research results. We believe American taxpayers are entitled to open access to the peer-reviewed scientific articles on research funded by the NIH. Open access to these reports will lead to usage by millions and will deliver an accelerated return on the taxpayers' investment in NIH. Widespread dissemination of these reports is an essential, inseparable component of our nation's investment in science."
[Source: Open Access News]

Posted by Donna Braquet at 01:20 PM

NIH policy on public open access--APPROVED

The House-Senate conference committee has approved the NIH public access plan. Here's the official language, quoted in an ARL/SPARC press release.
[Source: Open Access News]

Posted by Donna Braquet at 12:43 PM

November 17, 2004

NIH Public Access Policy Comments

Comments on the NIH Public Access Proposed Policy:
Elsevier
Insternational Association of Science, Technology and Medical Publishers
American Library Association
SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition)

Posted by Donna Braquet at 11:51 AM

November 15, 2004

NIH Public Access Proposed Policy (powerpoint)

The NIH NIH Public Access Proposed Policy (powerpoint presentation).

Posted by Donna Braquet at 12:07 PM

November 10, 2004

Pre-print of article on Open Access

Mark J. McCabe and Christopher M. Snyder, A Model of Academic Journal Quality with Applications to Open-Access Journals
Abstract: "Previous research modeled academic journals as platforms connecting authors with readers in a two-sided market. This research used the same basic framework also used to study telephony, credit cards, video game consoles, etc. In this paper, we focus on a key difference between the market for academic journals and these other markets: journals vary in terms of quality, where a journal's quality determined by the quality of the papers it publishes. We provide a simple model of journal quality. As an illustration of the value of the model, we use it to address issues that have arisen in the recent debate concerning whether, in the Internet age, journals should become \open access" (freely available to readers, financed by author rather than subscriber fees). Among other issues, we examine (a) whether open-access journals would tend to publish more articles than traditional journals, moving further down the quality spectrum in order to boost revenue; (b) whether journal quality affects the profitability of adopting open access; and (c) whether submission fees or acceptance fees are better instruments to extract surplus from authors."
[source Open Access News]

Posted by Donna Braquet at 12:08 PM

Open Access to Biodiversity Information

On November 20, the third IUCN World Conservation Congress (Bangkok, November 17-25) will adopt the Conservation Commons Statement of Principles. Read more atOpen Access News

Posted by Donna Braquet at 11:59 AM

November 03, 2004

LANL Library gets funds to study research repository system

See summary at the Open Access News blog.

Posted by Donna Braquet at 10:03 AM

November 01, 2004

ARL releases comment on NIH Open Access Plan

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL)[University of Tennessee Libraries has membership] has publicly released its comment on the NIH OA plan. The comment, written by Prue Adler, endorses the plan for six reasons. It "[1] reflects the way scientists conduct research and discovery; [2] allows some libraries to provide additional resources to their users; [3] creates an archival resource for biomedical literature funded by NIH; [4] provides significant protections to commercial and not-for-profit publishers; [5] follows congressional and administration policy; and [6] expands and improves public access to biomedical information....ARL commends the NIH for crafting a measured and incremental step within long-standing NIH policy that does not impinge on grantees' or publishers' copyright and intellectual property nor interfere with the private, commercial marketplace. The proposal is designed to accelerate the pace of discovery, provide additional capabilities to NIH to manage its research portfolio, and enhance public access to biomedical literature."
Info found at Open Access News blog.

Posted by Donna Braquet at 03:45 PM

October 26, 2004

NIH and Access to Research- FAQ

A FAQ page has been created about Enhanced Public Access to NIH Funded Research. By Prue Adler, Associate Executive Director, Federal Relations and Information Policy

Additionally, another NIH and Open Access FAQ has been created by Peter Suber, editor of Open Access News Blog and Newsletter.

Background information and comment form. Comments Deadline is November 16, 2004.

Posted by Donna Braquet at 11:20 AM

October 22, 2004

Copyright Book

Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity, by Lawrence Lessig

A print copy is also in Hodges Library. Read reviews at Amazon.

Posted by Donna Braquet at 02:15 PM

October 14, 2004

Open Access to 928.6 Million WorldCat Records

"Excited by the 'resounding success' of the Open WorldCat pilot program, the management of OCLC, the world's largest library vendor, has decided to open the entire collection of 53.3 million items connected to 928.6 million library holdings for harvesting by Google and Yahoo! Search," reports Barbara Quint in the October 14 edition of Information Today.

Click here to read the entire Information Today story.

Posted by at 05:19 PM

October 04, 2004

10 years of Open Access in the Making

Ten Years After, an article in Information Today discusses Open Access over the years.
*found on Open Access News blog.

Posted by Donna Braquet at 03:01 PM

Major Open Access Developments

Major developments during September are available in Octobers's issue of SPARC's Open Access Newsletter.

Posted by Donna Braquet at 02:56 PM

September 22, 2004

Interview with DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals) Creator

BioMed Central's Open Access Now newsletter features DOAJ creator, in article "One Stop Shop for Open Access Journals"
"There are an increasing number of Open Access journals. But tracking down all the ones that interest you on the Internet can be time-consuming. The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) was created to provide a comprehensive database of Open Access scientific and scholarly journals. The DOAJ project has now entered a new phase and aims to provide article-level records for articles in Open Access journals1."
Continue reading the article>>

Posted by Donna Braquet at 11:15 AM

NAS endorses NIH Open Access Plan

See our SciTech Blog for the statement.

Posted by Donna Braquet at 10:50 AM

August 13, 2004

Action Alert: Public Funded Research

Find out how you can help the NIH and its recommendation for open access to tax-payer funded research. Visit SPARC's (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) page on the issue.

Posted by Donna Braquet at 12:36 PM

August 06, 2004

BioMed Central to consult funders and librarians over Open Access payment model

BioMed central press release:

"In this new environment of Open Access publishing our business model is still evolving. At BioMed Central we believe we need the advice and involvement of the community to help us with important issues such as payment models to ensure the continued success of Open Access publishing. We hope that this consultation will allow us to explore how to channel funds to pay for Open Access publishing in the future - in a way that truly fits the needs of the community."

Posted by admin at 10:50 PM

July 26, 2004

Open Access and Tax-payer funded research

Learn what you can do to be an advocate for Open Access.

Read the report titled, Access to Biomedical Research Information, created by the National Library of Medicine, a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Posted by Donna Braquet at 01:17 PM

July 22, 2004

OA to NIH Research

The Scientist
By Alison McCook

"A US House of Representatives committee has recommended that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) provide free access to all research it funds and asked the NIH to submit a plan by December 1, 2004 for how to implement the new policy in fiscal year 2005."
Continue reading the article>>

Posted by Donna Braquet at 11:17 AM

May 12, 2004

Finland: First country to make OA commitment

Finland is the first country to make a nationwide commitment to support
Open Access publishing with BioMed Central. All universities, polytechnics and research institutes in Finland have become BioMed Central members. The membership agreement covers the cost of publication, in BioMed Central's 100+ Open Access journals, for all 25000 publicly funded researchers and teachers in Finland.

BioMed Central agreed the membership with FinELib, the National Electronic
Library of Finland. A consortium of universities, polytechnics, research
institutes and regional libraries, FinELib is part of the National
Library's services for libraries. FinELib acquires Finnish and
international resources to support teaching, learning and research. 86
institutions from the consortium will take part in the membership deal,
adding 80 new institutions to BioMed Central's membership program.

Kristiina Hormia-Poutanen, Head, National Electronic Library Services,
explained why the National Electronic Library took the decision,

"The aim of FinELib is to promote access to information. Open access is an
important movement to improve access to information all over the world.
Open access enables the most effective distribution of research results
and can have significant impact to the Finnish innovation system.

FinElib is also interersted in the developments in new business models
which are evolving."

Finland's decision represents a landmark in the move towards Open Access
for all biomedical research. BioMed Central, the largest Open Access
publisher, has seen their membership program go from strength to strength.
Over 300 institutions worldwide became members in 2003. These included the
NHS in England and all UK universities, all institutions in Ohio, USA, 18
institutions in Australia, and the Max Planck Society. BioMed Central now
has 500 member institutions in 39 countries.

Natasha Robshaw, Head of Marketing and Sales at BioMed Central, said:

"We are very excited to welcome FinELib on board as members. Finland is
leading the world in its nationwide commitment to Open Access, and this is
a huge boost for the Open Access movement. We look forward to other
nations making the same strides to support making research findings freely
available."

For more information:
Press Office Contacts:
Grace Baynes for BioMed Central
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7323 2988
E-mail: grace.baynes@biomedcentral.com

About BioMed Central

BioMed Central is an independent online
publishing house committed to providing immediate access without charge to
the peer-reviewed biological and medical research it publishes. This
commitment is based on the view that open access to research is essential
to the rapid and efficient communication of science. In addition to
open-access original research, BioMed Central also publishes reviews and
other subscription-based content.

BioMed Central's business model is based on charging authors to publish,
and then making the content free to readers. Under the agreement,
article-processing charges are waived - for all publicly funded
researchers in Finland - for publication in any of BioMed Central's 100+
peer-reviewed journals. Upon acceptance, the article becomes available
online without charge to readers worldwide. Many researchers from Finnish
institutions have already published in BioMed Central journals.

BioMed Central's Institutional Membership Program was launched in January
2002 and now has well over 400 members, including some of the world's most
prestigious academic institutions. NHS England, Cancer Research UK, the
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, and the World Health Organization are all
BioMed Central Institutional Members.

Posted by Donna Braquet at 11:24 AM

May 03, 2004

Will They Find My Online Publication?

One of the issues related to online publishing concerns the ability of potential readers to discover the content. In a May 1, 2004 liblicense-l posting about citations of online publications, Stevan Harnad writes:

That providing Open Access to an article dramatically increases its
citations has already been tested, and it begins immediately (with
downloads, which correlate with and predict downloads 6-24 months later.

He provides a link to the Correlation Generator, a tool that generates a graph (or table) of the correlation between citation impact and usage impact* ("hits") from the Citebase database.

Harnad et al have written two articles about web citation linking and discovery:

Hitchcock, Steve, Tim Brody, Christopher Gutteridge, Les Carr, Wendy Hall, Stevan Harnad, Donna Bergmark, Carl Lagoze, Open Citation Linking: The Way Forward. D-Lib Magazine. Volume 8 Number 10. October 2002. http://www.dlib.org/dlib/october02/hitchcock/10hitchcock.html

Hitchcock, Steve; Woukeu, Arouna; Brody, Tim; Carr, Les; Hall, Wendy and Harnad, Stevan. (2003) Evaluating Citebase, an open access Web-based citation-ranked search and impact discovery service http://opcit.eprints.org/evaluation/Citebase-evaluation/evaluation-report.html

Posted by at 05:00 PM





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