Developing countries are investing more in research and higher education and it should be no surprise that publishers are building commercial relationships to expand access and services. But prices are often still too high. Jonathan Harle argues now is a good time for the research community to reflect on what we can do to bring the cost of access down. If we […]
Jon Tennant takes a look at the transformations underway aimed at tackling the widespread dissatisfaction with the system of peer review. He provides further background on the platform ScienceOpen, which seeks to enable a process of transparent, self-regulating, peer review, where knowledge sharing is encouraged, valued, and rewarded. By adopting a more transparent process of research evaluation, we move one step […]
There is a growing availability of free tools and software for academic publishing. How might libraries leverage existing platforms? Anna R. Craft describes one experience of an academic library hosting locally-produced open access journals through Open Journals Systems (OJS). But even “free” software is not without costs in relation to time and expertise. Care should be taken in facilitating a […]
Publishing companies such as Elsevier are facing increasing criticism from scientists. And yet they do not only pursue antiquated models such as traditional journals – they are also working towards creating tomorrow’s “operating system of science”. For Lambert Heller the essential question is whether science will be capable of developing open alternatives to such a system.
This is an English version […]
In a recent interview conducted by OpenAire, open science veteran Ulrich Herb shares the main findings of his research on the extent of open research practices in the discipline of sociology, as well as his wider thoughts on the history and future of the Open Science movement. This interview originally appeared on the OpenAIRE portal here.
How do you understand the term “Open Science”? […]
What does Academia_edu’s success mean for Open Access? The data-driven world of search engines and social networking
With over 36 million visitors each month, the massive popularity of Academia.edu is uncontested. But posting on Academia.edu is far from being ethically and politically equivalent to using an institutional open access repository, argues Gary Hall. Academia.edu’s financial rationale rests on exploiting the data flows generated […]
The resignation of the editorial board of an Elsevier-owned linguistics journal and its open access reorganization could get the ball rolling for other journals to follow suit. Benedikt Fecher and Gert Wagner argue this case is a reminder that open access means more than just providing access to an article; it means rethinking the whole process of publishing. Open access also raises important questions about who owns the […]
With over 36 million visitors each month, the massive popularity of Academia.edu is uncontested. But posting on Academia.edu is far from being ethically and politically equivalent to using an institutional open access repository, argues Gary Hall. Academia.edu’s financial rationale rests on exploiting the data flows generated by the academics who use the platform. The open access movement is in danger of being […]
Discussions about open access are currently dominated by considerations of business models. Kathleen Fitzpatrick reflects on the wider OA movement and whether the singular focus on making publications freely available has prematurely foreclosed a set of larger discussions about the broader circulation of scholarship in general. What will be required in order to motivate scholars to take the lead in forming collective, cooperative, scholar-organized […]
Professor Sonia Livingstone shares her thoughts on the LSE’s institutional repository, LSE Research Online (LSERO). Since 2010, content in LSERO has received over six million downloads. For 2015, it has already received over one million downloads. LSERO is a rich resource containing a variety of LSE research, including journal articles, reports, book chapters, working papers, conference papers, datasets and video.
Do you […]
Open Access Week starts this Monday 19th October. In the run-up, Stephen Pinfield provides an overview of eighteen propositions on open access identified through an extensive analysis of the discourse. Key elements remain controversial. Particularly in relation to quality, researchers continue to view open access publishing with disinterest, suspicion and scepticism. It is clear that whilst OA has come a long […]
Academia.edu, the online academic network for sharing research papers, appears to be expanding its user base within the academic community and drawing interest from the wider public. Alistair Brown looks at what might happen as the lines between researchers and public audiences on the network become blurred. For example, academic users of the network are trained to appreciate what a […]
This week marks the launch of the greatly anticipated open access mega-journal, the Open Library of Humanities. Francisco Osorio provides a brief overview of what sets this journal project apart from the rest and how the new funding model offers an economic, social and technological platform for the humanities and social sciences to transition to open access. At the heart […]
Access to information is now a frontline issue and is visible in many of today’s top news stories. Jacquelyn Gill connects the wider struggles taking place in the US for access to public television, public schools, and research. Are we at risk of giving up too quickly on the ideals of public education and publicly funded research? And what will this mean for […]
Embracing the values of publics, stakeholders and end-users enriches knowledge generation and exchange, improving the quality of research. For the principles of engaged research to become embedded in university cultures of research, however, fundamental changes are required at strategic and operational levels. Richard Holliman has been leading a programme of organisational change at the Open University to create the […]
With funders requiring open access and researchers increasingly aware of it, now is the time for universities to make significant headway in providing a coherent plan for encouraging wider open access adoption. Neil Jacobs from Jisc provides an overview of what actions have been taken around the sector and outlines ten specific areas that institutions should consider further in order […]
Researchers are often cast as hapless victims in the scholarly communication system. Cameron Neylon argues their largely rational actions to demonstrate productivity are a choice and are also all part of the game they helped to create. Everyone is playing the game, publishers, researchers and funders, but that doesn’t mean that all the players have the same freedom to change it. It […]
When you edit Wikipedia to include a claim, you are required to substantiate that edit by referencing a reliable source. According to a recent study, the single biggest predictor of a journal’s appearance in Wikipedia is its impact factor. One of the exciting findings, writes Eamon Duede, is that it appears Wikipedia editors are putting a premium on open access […]
Research Ideas & Outcomes (RIO) is the latest scholarly journal seeking to fix the broken scientific publishing system. It has been created specifically to enable and encourage the entire research cycle to be published, including research proposals and ideas. Founding editor Ross Mounce outlines what the journal seeks to achieve and how it will speed up the publishing process by eliminating […]
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The arXiv cannot replace traditional publishing without addressing the standards of research assessment.
The arXiv cannot replace traditional publishing without addressing the standards of research assessment.
Jan van den Heuvel considers the vital role of discipline-specific repositories in the research process. The arXiv came into existence because it provided a solution to a very practical problem, namely publication time-lags. Recent developments like overlay journals suggest these platforms could play a bigger role in the publishing process, but as long as recruitment and promotion panels attach value to […]