Archives des catégories : Non classé

Open access in South Africa : a case study and reflections

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“In this paper, we locate open access in the South African higher education research context where it is, distinctively, not shaped by the policy frameworks that are profoundly changing research dissemination behaviour in other parts of the world. We define open access and account for its rise by two quite different routes. We then present a case study of journal publishing at one South African university to identify existing journal publishing practices in terms of open access. This case provides the springboard for considering the implications – both positive and negative – of global open access trends for South African – and other – research and researchers. We argue that academics’ engagement with open access and scholarly communication debates is in their interests as global networked researchers whose virtual identities and online scholarship are now a critical aspect of their professional engagement.”

URL : Open access in South Africa : a case study and reflections

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/sajs.2014/20140111

Research governance and scientific knowledge production in The Gambia

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“Public research institutions and scientists are principal actors in the production and transfer of scientific knowledge, technologies and innovations for application in industry as well for social and economic development. Based on the relevance of science and technology actors, the aim of this study was to identify and explain factors in research governance that influence scientific knowledge production and to contribute to empirical discussions on the impact levels of different governance models and structures. These discussions appear limited and mixed in the literature, although still are ongoing. No previous study has examined the possible contribution of the scientific committee model of research governance to scientific performance at the individual level of the scientist. In this context, this study contributes to these discussions, firstly, by suggesting that scientific committee structures with significant research steering autonomy could contribute not only directly to scientific output but also indirectly through moderating effects on research practices. Secondly, it is argued that autonomous scientific committee structures tend to play a better steering role than do management-centric models and structures of research governance.”

URL : Research governance and scientific knowledge production in The Gambia

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/sajs.2014/20130185

7R Data Value Framework for Open Data in Practice: Fusepool

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“Based on existing literature, this article makes a case for open (government) data as supporting political efficiency, socio-economic innovation and administrative efficiency, but also finds a lack of measurable impact. It attributes the lack of impact to shortcomings regarding data access (must be efficient) and data usefulness (must be effective). To address these shortcomings, seven key activities that add value to data are identified and are combined into the 7R Data Value Framework, which is an applied methodology for linked data to systematically address both technical and social shortcomings. The 7R Data Value Framework is then applied to the international Fusepool project that develops a set of integrated software components to ease the publishing of open data based on linked data and associated best practices. Real-life applications for the Dutch Parliament and the Libraries of Free University of Berlin are presented, followed by a concluding discussion.”

URL: 7R Data Value Framework for Open Data in Practice: Fusepool

Alternative URL: http://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/6/3/556

Assessing Social Value in Open Data Initiatives: A Framework

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“Open data initiatives are characterized, in several countries, by a great extension of the number of data sets made available for access by public administrations, constituencies, businesses and other actors, such as journalists, international institutions and academics, to mention a few. However, most of the open data sets rely on selection criteria, based on a technology-driven perspective, rather than a focus on the potential public and social value of data to be published. Several experiences and reports confirm this issue, such as those of the Open Data Census. However, there are also relevant best practices. The goal of this paper is to investigate the different dimensions of a framework suitable to support public administrations, as well as constituencies, in assessing and benchmarking the social value of open data initiatives. The framework is tested on three initiatives, referring to three different countries, Italy, the United Kingdom and Tunisia. The countries have been selected to provide a focus on European and Mediterranean countries, considering also the difference in legal frameworks (civic law vs. common law countries).”

URL : Assessing Social Value in Open Data Initiatives: A Framework

Alternative URL : http://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/6/3/498

 

The Research Data Alliance: globally co-ordinated action against barriers to data publishing and sharing

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“This article discusses the drivers behind the formation of the Research Data Alliance (RDA), its current state, the lessons learned from its first full year of operation, and its anticipated impact on data publishing and sharing. One of the pressing challenges in data infrastructure (taken here to include issues relating to hardware, software and content format, as well as human actors) is how best to enable data interoperability across boundaries. This is particularly critical as the world deals with bigger and more complex problems that require data and insights from a range of disciplines. The RDA has been set up to enable more data to be shared across barriers to address these challenges. It does this through focused Working Groups and Interest Groups, formed of experts from around the world, and drawing from the academic, industry, and government sectors.”

URL : http://dx.doi.org/10.1087/20140503

Preserving the integrity of the scientific record: data citation and linking

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“The production of research data is increasing rapidly, meaning that it is now rarely possible to publish the data that underpins a piece of research within the article describing that research. Yet, if the conclusions drawn from the research are to stand up to scrutiny, then the data must be made available, and a permanent link made between the data and the publication. Data citation is promoted as an easily understood way of making this link, while at the same time providing the dataset creators with the attribution and credit they deserve for making their data available for verification checks and reproducibility tests. This paper discusses data citation principles and gives examples of data citation and other forms of data-publication linking in practice.”

URL : http://dx.doi.org/10.1087/20140504

Altmetrics as a means of assessing scholarly output

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“Career progression for scientists involves an assessment of their contribution to their field and a prediction of their future potential. Traditional measures, such as the impact factor of the journal that a researcher publishes in, may not be an appropriate or accurate means of assessing the overall output of an individual. The development of altmetrics offers the potential for fuller assessments of a researcher’s output based on both their traditional and non-traditional scholarly outputs. New tools should make it easier to include non-traditional outputs such as data, software and contributions to peer review in the evaluation of early- and mid-career researchers.”

URL : http://dx.doi.org/10.1087/20140505