Disentangling Gold Open Access

Authors : Daniel Torres-Salinas, Nicolas Robinson-Garcia, Henk F. Moed

This chapter focuses on the analysis of current publication trends in gold Open Access (OA). The purpose of the chapter is to develop a full understanding on country patterns, OA journals characteristics and citation differences between gold OA and non-gold OA publications.

For this, we will first review current literature regarding Open Access and its relation with its so-called citation advantage. Starting with a chronological perspective we will describe its development, how different countries are promoting OA publishing, and its effects on the journal publishing industry.

We will deepen the analysis by investigating the research output produced by different units of analysis. First, we will focus on the production of countries with a special emphasis on citation and disciplinary differences. A point of interest will be identification of national idiosyncrasies and the relation between OA publication and research of local interest.

This will lead to our second unit of analysis, OA journals indexed in Web of Science. Here we will deepen on journals characteristics and publisher types to clearly identify factors which may affect citation differences between OA and traditional journals which may not necessarily be derived from the OA factor.

Gold OA publishing is being encouraged in many countries as opposed to Green OA. This chapter aims at fully understanding how it affects researchers’ publication patterns and whether it ensures an alleged citation advantage as opposed to non-gold OA publications.

URL : https://arxiv.org/abs/1807.04535

The UK Scholarly Communication Licence: Attempting to Cut through the Gordian Knot of the Complexities of Funder Mandates, Publisher Embargoes and Researcher Caution in Achieving Open Access

Authors : Julie Baldwin, Stephen Pinfield

Whilst take-up of open access (OA) in the UK is growing rapidly due partly to a number of funder mandates, managing the complexities of balancing compliance with these mandates against restrictive publisher policies and ingrained academic priorities, has resulted in UK higher education institutions (HEIs) often struggling with confused researchers, complex workflows, and rising costs.

In order to try to address this situation, the UK Scholarly Communication Licence (UK-SCL) was formulated to bypass the root causes of many of these challenges by implementing a licensing mechanism for multiple-mandate compliance in one single policy.

This is the first empirical study to focus on the genesis of the UK-SCL and how its implementation has been conceived thus far. A qualitative research method was used, taking the form of 14 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders from the initiative across the UK.

The results indicate that those working within UK HEIs are concerned with the complexity of the current OA policy landscape and are frustrated with the inertia within the current system, which has resulted in higher costs, further publisher restrictions, and has not addressed the underlying tensions in academic culture.

The UK-SCL is seen by its initiators as a way to achieve further transition towards OA and take back some element of control of the content produced at their institutions.

The study concludes by modelling the ways in which the UK-SCL is intended to impact relationships between key stakeholders, and discussing possible implementation futures.

URL : The UK Scholarly Communication Licence: Attempting to Cut through the Gordian Knot of the Complexities of Funder Mandates, Publisher Embargoes and Researcher Caution in Achieving Open Access

Alternative location : http://www.mdpi.com/2304-6775/6/3/31

The weakest link – workflows in open access agreements: the experience of the Vienna University Library and recommendations for future negotiations

Authors : Rita Pinhasi, Guido Blechl, Brigitte Kromp, Bernhard Schubert

In recent years open access (OA) publishing agreements have left a lasting impact on several aspects of the research life cycle, and on the manner in which institutions work with publishers and researchers to support the transition to OA.

Apart from the immediate financial implications, one significant challenge libraries are facing is the sub-optimal level of workflow infrastructure that could determine the success or failure of otherwise innovative approaches.

This article will examine the Vienna University Library’s hands-on experience with OA agreements and the implementation of relevant workflows. It will describe existing workflows, review the benefits of the various systems in place and identify areas for improvement.

The paper will also propose items for discussion for organizations when negotiating OA agreements with publishers and will highlight potential pitfalls to be avoided.

URL : The weakest link – workflows in open access agreements: the experience of the Vienna University Library and recommendations for future negotiations

DOI : http://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.419

La production scientifique des chercheurs de la faculté de médecine et de pharmacie de Casablanca : mesures, cartographie et enjeux du libre accès

Auteur/Author : Hanae Lrhoul

Notre travail de thèse vise à établir un diagnostic des potentialités scientifiques marocaines et à concevoir de nouveaux dispositifs pour la mesure, la cartographie et l’open access à la science locale.Pour bâtir des systèmes nationaux de recherche et garantir le développement socioéconomique du Maroc, les décideurs des universités ont besoin d’indicateurs d’analyse et d’évaluation de leur patrimoine scientifique.

Les principales sources utilisées pour effectuer cette analyse sont les bases de données internationales « Scopus » et « Web of Science », en dépit de leurs biais d’indexation et de couverture de la science des pays du Sud.

Cela induit un questionnement quant au manque hypothétique de la visibilité de la science marocaine. Ce manque de visibilité serait-il dû à la faible présence des revues nationales dans les bases de données internationales ? Ou relèverait-il de la faible qualité des publications marocaines ?

La science marocaine est-elle une science à visée locale, abordant des thèmes qui ne figurent pas dans l’agenda de la science universelle ? Les apports de l’open access quant à l’augmentation de la visibilité et de l’impact de la recherche sont-ils méconnus des universitaires marocains ?

La réponse à ces questions est accomplie à travers l’étude de cas de la Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie de Casablanca (FMPC). Elle s’articule autour de trois objectifs spécifiques : 1/ Recenser la production scientifique ; 2/ cartographier la production scientifique et explorer l’existence d’une relation entre l’indexation des publications dans les bases de données internationales et leur visibilité 3/ évaluer les comportements et les usages de l’open access par les chercheurs.

Les principaux résultats de l’analyse et de la cartographie de la production scientifique de la FMPC, attestent que celle-ci jouit d’une grande visibilité à l’échelle internationale. La juxtaposition des publications nationales et internationales permet de confirmer que 70% des publications scientifiques de la FMPC sont intégrées dans les bases de données internationales et que 74.21 % de l’ensemble des articles sont publiés en anglais.

Par ailleurs, on ne pourrait exclure 30% des publications nationales de l’évaluation bibliométrique au risque de biaiser les politiques scientifiques du pays.D’autres résultats de la thèse sont constitués par la mise en place du dépôt institutionnel de l’Université et du portail de revues médicales, créés afin d’assurer une large diffusion de la production des chercheurs de la FMPC et d’augmenter sa visibilité et son impact.

Néanmoins, les résultats de l’enquête menée auprès des chercheurs ont montré que la principale barrière à l’adoption de l’open access est la méconnaissance des avantages des dispositifs de libre accès à l’IST quant à l’augmentation de leur impact et de leur visibilité.

Les résultats de la cartographie de la FMPC et de l’étude des comportements des chercheurs à l’égard de l’open access, nous ont permis de proposer des fondements pour l’édification d’indicateurs adaptés au contexte marocain.

URL : https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01815122

Open Access in Vocational Education and Training Research

Authors : Karin Langenkamp, Bodo Rödel, Kerstin Taufenbach, Meike Weiland

The article presents a research project at the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training in Germany and reflects the perspective of researchers in the field of vocational education and training (VET).

It investigates the technical and structural, policy-related, and normative and inherent academic research conditions exerting an influence on the acceptance, dissemination, and use of Open Access (OA).

The research project focuses on the German-speaking countries. VET research represents an interlinking of various related academic research areas, rather than comprising a stand-alone discipline.

Therefore, the assumption must be that the results of the project will be at least partially transferable to other fields within the social sciences and the humanities and will thus contribute towards findings with regard to OA across the whole of the latter domain.

The background to the project is underpinned by science communication and by media theory. The empirical basis of the study has its foundations in a Sequential Mixed Method Design with a qualitative strand, followed by a quantitative strand.

The qualitative exploration via focus groups will lead to hypotheses for the online survey. The online survey will be aimed at academic researchers from various disciplines who share common ground in that they address topics that are related to VET research. The realisation of the research project is planned for 2018–2020.

URL : Open Access in Vocational Education and Training Research

DOI : https://doi.org/10.3390/publications6030029

How green is our valley?: five-year study of selected LIS journals from Taylor & Francis for green deposit of articles

Author: Jill Emery

This study reviews content from five different library and information science journals: Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian, Collection Management, College & Undergraduate Libraries, Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship and Journal of Library Administration over a five-year period from 2012–2016 to investigate the green deposit rate.

Starting in 2011, Taylor & Francis, the publisher of these journals, waived the green deposit embargo for library and information science, heritage and archival content, which allows for immediate deposit of articles in these fields.

The review looks at research articles and standing columns over the five years from these five journals to see if any articles were retrieved using the OA Button or through institutional repositories.

Results indicate that less than a quarter of writers have chosen to make a green deposit of their articles in local or subject repositories. The discussion outlines some best practices to be undertaken by librarians, editors and Taylor & Francis to make this program more successful.

URL : How green is our valley?: five-year study of selected LIS journals from Taylor & Francis for green deposit of articles

DOI : http://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.406

Shared Infrastructure for Next- Generation Books: HIRMEOS

Authors : Brian Hole, Francesco de Virgilio, Chealsye Bowley

This paper presents an introduction and status report on work being done to provide shared infrastructure for open access book publishers under the HIRMEOS (High Integration of Research Monographs in the European Open Science infrastructure) project. It focuses specifically on the work being done to provide shared altmetrics services, including reporting on annotation activity.

URL : https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01816620