The Types, Frequencies, and Findability of Disciplinary Grey Literature within Prominent Subject Databases and Academic Institutional Repositories

Authors: Wanda R Marsolek, Kristen Cooper, Shannon L. Farrell, Julia A. Kelly

INTRODUCTION

In many disciplines grey literature, or works that are more ephemeral in nature and are not typically published through traditional scholarly channels, are heavily used alongside traditional materials and sources.

We were interested in the type and frequency of grey literature in subject databases and in North American institutional repositories (IRs) as well as what disciplines use grey literature.

METHODS

Over 100 subject databases utilized by academic researchers and the IRs of over 100 academic institutions were studied. Document type, search capabilities, and level of curation were noted. RESULTS Grey literature was present in the majority (68%) of the literature databases and almost all IRs (95%) contained grey literature.

DISCUSSION

Grey literature was present in the subject databases across all broad disciplines including arts and humanities. In these resources the most common types of grey literature were conference papers, technical reports, and theses and dissertations. The findability of the grey literature in IRs varied widely as did evidence of active collection development.

CONCLUSION

Recommendations include the development of consistent metadata standards for grey literature to enhance searching within individual resources as well as supporting future interoperability. An increased level of collection development of grey literature in institutional repositories would facilitate preservation and increase the findability and reach of grey literature.

URL : The Types, Frequencies, and Findability of Disciplinary Grey Literature within Prominent Subject Databases and Academic Institutional Repositories

DOI : http://doi.org/10.7710/2162-3309.2200

Awareness of Institutional Repositories and Open Access Publishing Among Researchers in University of Calicut

Authors : Manchu O, asudevan T M

The paper examined institutional repositories and open access publishing awareness among the researchers in university of calicut. Questionnaire method was adopted to collect data for the study. Major findings of the study were that a large majority of researchers in university of Calicut aware of the concept of institutional repositories and open access publishing.

The major motivating factors of researchers for using institutional repositories and open access publishing was improvement of their scholarly communication. The discouraging factors for researchers not deposit their work in it were that majority of them did not aware of how can they deposit their work in it and a good number of them thought that repository would have low prestige.

The study concluded with a suggestion that library should provide appropriate awareness program and training to researchers about the benefits of using institutional repositories and open access publishing and should encourage them to deposit their work in it.

URL : Awareness of Institutional Repositories and Open Access Publishing Among Researchers in University of Calicut

Alternative location : http://irjlis.com/awareness-of-institutional-repositories-and-open-access-publishing-among-researchers-in-university-of-calicut/

Opportunities and Barriers of Indian Open Access Repositories

Author : Bijan Kumar Roy

Provides a brief overview of open access (OA) and highlights on growth of open access repository (OAR) movement all over the World including India. Highlights on some of the major initiatives taken by Indian government time to time in order to popularizing OARs movement throughout the country.

The main objective of the study is to discuss some of the open access self archiving policies as adopted by repositories registered in OpenDOAR database. The paper also discusses some of the problems of Indian OARs along with suggestions in the line of global recommendations.

URL : Opportunities and Barriers of Indian Open Access Repositories

Alternative location : http://irjlis.com/opportunities-and-barriers-of-indian-open-access-repositories/

Curating Humanities Research Data: Managing Workflows for Adjusting a Repository Framework

Author : Hagen Peukert

Handling heterogeneous data, subject to minimal costs, can be perceived as a classic management problem. The approach at hand applies established managerial theorizing to the field of data curation.

It is argued, however, that data curation cannot merely be treated as a standard case of applying management theory in a traditional sense. Rather, the practice of curating humanities research data, the specifications and adjustments of the model suggested here reveal an intertwined process, in which knowledge of both strategic management and solid information technology have to be considered.

Thus, suggestions on the strategic positioning of research data, which can be used as an analytical tool to understand the proposed workflow mechanisms, and the definition of workflow modules, which can be flexibly used in designing new standard workflows to configure research data repositories, are put forward.

URL : Curating Humanities Research Data: Managing Workflows for Adjusting a Repository Framework

DOI : https://doi.org/10.2218/ijdc.v12i2.571

National licence negotiations advancing the open access transition – a view from the UK

Author: Liam Earney

Jisc Collections has had agreements with open access (OA) publishers since the mid-2000s. In 2014, following the UK government’s response to the Finch Report, it started to target hybrid OA via ‘offsetting agreements’ that covered both subscriptions and article processing charges for OA.

This article will provide a status update on OA negotiations in the UK in the context of the UK’s progress towards OA. It will look at some of the concerns about the progress of OA in the UK, how negotiations have evolved in response, and will look at prospects for their future direction.

URL : National licence negotiations advancing the open access transition – a view from the UK

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.413

National licence negotiations advancing the open access transition – a view from Sweden

Authors : Anna Lundén, Camilla Smith, Britt-Marie Wideberg

The National Library of Sweden (NLS) has been working on advancing open access (OA) to scholarly output since 2006. In 2017 the NLS received an appropriation directive from the Government to act as a national co-ordinating body in the effort towards a transition to immediate OA for all research output by 2026.

As a consequence, the NLS has included this objective in its vision for 2025: to lead the work moving from subscription-based to immediate openly accessible research publications. As part of this objective, the Bibsam Consortium negotiates journal licence agreements including OA components in order to help achieve a rapid and sustainable transition to OA.

URL : National licence negotiations advancing the open access transition – a view from Sweden

DOI : http://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.413

The influence of journal publisher characteristics on open access policy trends

Authors : Elizabeth Gadd, Jenny Fry, Claire Creaser

Examines SHERPA/RoMEO publisher open access (OA) policy information for 100 publishers over a 13 year period (2004–2016) to consider whether their size, type or country (UK or US) affected the development of their OA policy over time.

A publisher’s RoMEO colour code, whether they offered a Gold OA option, and the mean number of restrictions as to when, how and where papers may be self-archived, were all mapped. Kruskal–Wallis tests were run to assess whether the differences between their 2004 and 2016 positions were statistically significant.

Finds that the growth of Green and Gold OA policy approaches has not been evenly distributed amongst publishers with some significant differences amongst publishers of different size, types and country (UK and US).

Large commercial publishers are more likely to be allocated a RoMEO colour code, but at the same time place a high volume of restrictions as to where and how authors might self-archive. Small publishers are less likely to have a RoMEO green colour code, but the volume of restrictions they place on self-archiving are minimal.

University presses appear not to be engaging with either OA agenda to any considerable degree. UK and US publishers’ OA policies appear to be influenced by the national OA policy environment which, considering the global nature of the scholarly journals market, was more pronounced than might have been anticipated.

URL : The influence of journal publisher characteristics on open access policy trends

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-018-2716-8