To preprint or not to preprint: A global researcher survey

Authors : Rong Ni, Ludo Waltman

Open science is receiving widespread attention globally, and preprinting offers an important way to implement open science practices in scholarly publishing. To develop a systematic understanding of researchers’ adoption of and attitudes toward preprinting, we conducted a survey of authors of research papers published in 2021 and early 2022. Our survey results show that the United States and Europe led the way in the adoption of preprinting.

The United States and European respondents reported a higher familiarity with and a stronger commitment to preprinting than their colleagues elsewhere in the world. The adoption of preprinting is much stronger in physics and astronomy as well as mathematics and computer science than in other research areas. Respondents identified free accessibility of preprints and acceleration of research communication as the most important benefits of preprinting.

Low reliability and credibility of preprints, sharing results before peer review and premature media coverage are the most significant concerns about preprinting, emphasized in particular by respondents in the life and health sciences. According to respondents, the most crucial strategies to encourage preprinting are integrating preprinting into journal submission workflows and providing recognition for posting preprints.

URL : To preprint or not to preprint: A global researcher survey

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24880

Benefits of Citizen Science for Libraries

Authors : Dolores Mumelaš, Alisa Martek

Participating in collaborative scientific research through citizen science, a component of open science, holds significance for both citizen scientists and professional researchers. Yet, the advantages for those orchestrating citizen science initiatives are often overlooked. Organizers encompass a diverse range, including governmental entities, non-governmental organizations, corporations, universities, and institutions like libraries.

For libraries, citizen science holds importance by fostering heightened civic and research interests, promoting scientific publishing, and contributing to overall scientific progress. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the specific ways in which citizen science can benefit libraries and how libraries can effectively utilize citizen science to achieve their goals.

The paper is based on a systematic review of peer-reviewed articles that discuss the direct benefits of citizen science on libraries. A list of the main benefits of citizen science for libraries has been compiled from the literature. Additionally, the reasons why it is crucial for libraries to communicate the benefits of citizen science for their operations have been highlighted, particularly in terms of encouraging other libraries to actively engage in citizen science projects.

URL : Benefits of Citizen Science for Libraries

DOI : https://doi.org/10.3390/publications12010008

Notebooks et science ouverte : FAIR mieux

Authors: Mariannig Le Béchec, Célya Gruson-Daniel, Clémence Lascombes, Émilien Schultz

Les notebooks sont aujourd’hui largement adoptés dans les pratiques numériques de recherche. Malgré leur omniprésence croissante, leurs caractéristiques, les rôles et usages associés aux notebooks ont pour le moment donné lieu à peu d’investigations dans une perspective d’études des sciences et des techniques (STS).

Dans cet article, nous proposons une synthèse de travaux empiriques menés sur les notebooks afin d’identifier les principaux résultats existants, que cela concerne la classification de types de notebooks, les pratiques installées, les limites et améliorations proposées.

Dans la continuité de cette synthèse qui souligne surtout l’existence de travaux dans le domaine de la science des données (data science) et non pas des pratiques de recherche en contextes académiques, nous discutons le rôle des notebooks comme vecteur et levier des principes FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) associés à la science ouverte.

HAL : https://hal.science/hal-04485968

Analysis on open data as a foundation for data-driven research

Authors : Honami Numajiri, Takayuki Hayashi

Open Data, one of the key elements of Open Science, serves as a foundation for “data-driven research” and has been promoted in many countries. However, the current status of the use of publicly available data consisting of Open Data in new research styles and the impact of such use remains unclear.

Following a comparative analysis in terms of the coverage with the OpenAIRE Graph, we analyzed the Data Citation Index, a comprehensive collection of research datasets and repositories with information of citation from articles. The results reveal that different countries and disciplines tend to show different trends in Open Data.

In recent years, the number of data sets in repositories where researchers publish their data, regardless of the discipline, has increased dramatically, and researchers are publishing more data. Furthermore, there are some disciplines where data citation rates are not high, but the databases used are diverse.

URL : Analysis on open data as a foundation for data-driven research

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-024-04956-x

The Nexus of Open Science and Innovation: Insights from Patent Citations

Author : Abdelghani Maddi

This paper aims to analyze the extent to which inventive activity relies on open science. In other words, it investigates whether inventors utilize Open Access (OA) publications more than subscription-based ones, especially given that some inventors may lack institutional access.

To achieve this, we utilized the (Marx, 2023) database, which contains citations of patents to scientific publications (Non-Patent References-NPRs). We focused on publications closely related to invention, specifically those cited solely by inventors within the body of patent texts. Our dataset was supplemented by OpenAlex data.

The final sample comprised 961,104 publications cited in patents, of which 861,720 had a DOI. Results indicate that across all disciplines, OA publications are 38% more prevalent in patent citations (NPRs) than in the overall OpenAlex database.

In biology and medicine, inventors use 73% and 27% more OA publications, respectively, compared to closed-access ones. Chemistry and computer science are also disciplines where OA publications are more frequently utilized in patent contexts than subscription-based ones.

HAL : https://cnrs.hal.science/hal-04454843

A framework for improving the accessibility of research papers on arXiv.org

Authors : Shamsi Brinn, Christopher Cameron, David Fielding, Charles Frankston, Alison Fromme, Peter Huang, Mark Nazzaro, Stephanie Orphan, Steinn Sigurdsson, Ryan Tay, Miranda Yang, Qianyu Zhou

The research content hosted by arXiv is not fully accessible to everyone due to disabilities and other barriers. This matters because a significant proportion of people have reading and visual disabilities, it is important to our community that arXiv is as open as possible, and if science is to advance, we need wide and diverse participation.

In addition, we have mandates to become accessible, and accessible content benefits everyone. In this paper, we will describe the accessibility problems with research, review current mitigations (and explain why they aren’t sufficient), and share the results of our user research with scientists and accessibility experts.

Finally, we will present arXiv’s proposed next step towards more open science: offering HTML alongside existing PDF and TeX formats. An accessible HTML version of this paper is also available at https://info.arxiv.org/about/accessibility_research_report.html

URL : https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.07286

Open science platforms fighting clandestine abuses of piracy and phishing: The Open Science Framework Case

Authors : Ayumi Ikeda, Fumiya Yonemitsu, Naoto Yoshimura, Kyoshiro Sasaki, Yuki Yamada

The Open Science Framework (OSF) is an important and useful platform for researchers to practice open science. However, OSF has recently been misused for criminal purposes, especially on search boards for watching pirated copyright works, leading to phishing sites.

This misuse can negatively influence the OSF server function; therefore, it is important to take appropriate measures. To protect the sound base of open science in the future, this paper reports cases where OSF has been abused for illegal activities and discusses various measures, including those already implement by OSF management.

URL : Open science platforms fighting clandestine abuses of piracy and phishing: The Open Science Framework Case

DOI : https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/xtuen