Transforming Scholarly Publishing throug…

Transforming Scholarly Publishing through Open Access: A Bibliography :

“Transforming Scholarly Publishing through Open Access: A Bibliography presents over 1,100 selected English-language scholarly works useful in understanding the open access movement’s efforts to provide free access to and unfettered use of scholarly literature. The bibliography primarily includes books and published journal articles. A limited number of book chapters, conference papers, dissertations and theses, magazine articles, technical reports, and other scholarly works that are deemed to be of exceptional interest are also included. The bibliography does not cover digital media works (such as MP3 files), news articles, editorials, interviews, letters to the editor, presentation slides or transcripts, unpublished e-prints, weblog postings, or e-mail messages.

The bibliography includes links to freely available versions of included works. Such links, even to publisher versions and versions in disciplinary archives and institutional repositories, are subject to change. Typically, URLs may alter without warning or automatic forwarding, and they may disappear altogether. Inclusion of links to works on authors’ personal sites is highly selective. Links are checked as of 8/1/2010. Note that e-prints and published articles may not be identical.

Most sources have been published from January 1, 1999 through August 1, 2010; however, a limited number of key sources published prior to 1999 are also included.”

URL : http://digital-scholarship.org/tsp/transforming.pdf

Representation and Recognition of Subject Repositories

Subject repositories are under-studied and under-represented in library science literature and in the scholarly communication and digital library fields.

A study of practical literature on subject repositories reveals a relatively small proportion of practical articles to total articles found that discuss subject repositories in some way — where practical refers to articles that would help inform decisions on repository development and management.

In addition to the lack of practical literature on subject repositories, registries, software, publishers, and database thesauri do not define subject repositories consistently, do not recognize subject repositories as distinct from other types of repositories, or do not recognize subject repositories at all.

At the same time, subject repositories are frequently cited as highly successful scholarly communication initiatives, especially in relation to institutional repositories.

The lack of subject repository recognition within the literature and among commonly used repository tools may be attributed to the isolated development of the largest subject repositories and a general lack of awareness about small-scale subject repositories.

The authors recommend an increase of literature and research on subject repositories, development of standard language, guidelines, and best practices, and the formation of a community of subject repository professionals.

URL : http://www.dlib.org/dlib/september10/adamick/09adamick.html

Bloc payment methods for online journals

This report is based on an analysis of the practicability and the effect of different models for allocating costs of journal and other digital information licences between HEIs where journal collections or other information products have been licensed by a “bloc” of institutions for a single all-in price – the so-called “Big Deal”.

This type of transaction is contemplated for core resources that have widespread application in HE. It can operate at a national level, or on a regional basis, or for groups of academic libraries with a common interest in a particular discipline.

The report draws on two studies:
1. Activities, costs and funding flows in the scholarly communications system in the UK, Research information Network, London, 2008 (referred to as the ‘CEPA Report), and
2. Review of the Costs and Benefits of Single Payment Arrangements for JISC/NESLi2 Licences, JISC collections, London, 2009, referred to as the ‘Single Payment Report’

Both reports point to the benefits of moving to a digital journal environment in which online-only journal lists are licensed from publishers (and print versions discontinued) and paid for in a single payment transaction and in which significant reductions in library operating costs are achievable.

URL : http://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/Reports/Bloc-Payment-for-online-journals/

Open Access, zitationsbasierte und nutzu…

Open Access, zitationsbasierte und nutzungsbasierte Impact Maße: Einige Befunde :
“Die Anwendung bibliometrischer Verfahren ist sowohl für Wissenschaftler als auch für Organisationen höchst relevant: Individuelle Karriere und Evaluierung von Fachbereichen sind abhängig von der Bewertung des Publikationsverhaltens. Der Beitrag eruiert, warum Open-Access-Publikationen in solchen Bewertungen benachteiligt werden, wie die in der Evaluierung üblicherweise herangezogenen bibliometrischen Verfahren (v.a. der Journal Impact Factor JIF) funktionieren, welche Alternativen zu diesen zitationsbasierten Verfahren existieren und zu welchen Ergebnissen sie kommen. Unter der Annahme, dass Open-Access-Publikationen nicht qua geringer Qualität geringere Wertschätzung in der Evaluierung und bei Berufungskommissionen erfahren, sondern aufgrund methodischer Eigenheiten der Evaluierungsinstrumente, wird diskutiert, inwiefern alternative Qualitätsmessungsverfahren sich vorteilhaft auf die Akzeptanz von Open Access auswirken können.”
URL : http://eprints.rclis.org/19008/

Publishing Practices of NIH-Funded Facul…

Publishing Practices of NIH-Funded Faculty at MIT :
“Faculty and researchers who receive substantial funding from NIH were interviewed about their publication practices. Qualitative data was collected from interviews of eleven faculty members and one researcher representing six academic departments who received NIH funding. Interview responses were analyzed to identify a representative publication workflow and common themes related to the publication process. The goals of this study were to inform librarians about faculty publication practices; to learn how faculty are affected by and responding to NIH publication policy changes; and to inform planning and discussion about new services to support NIH compliance in addition to general faculty publishing.
Major themes from the interviews included consistency in publishing workflows, but variety in authorship patterns and in data management practices. Significant points of pain for authors included difficulty finding quality reviewers, frustrating submission processes, and discomfort about the implications of publication agreements. Some authors found the NIH submission requirement to be burdensome, but most assumed their publishers were taking care of this process for them. Implications for library services are considered.”
URL : http://www.istl.org/10-summer/refereed2.html

Global Adoption of Electronic Theses and…

Global Adoption of Electronic Theses and Dissertations :
“Electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) are a relatively new mode of research and scholarly
communication. Lippincott states that an ETD program provides a process, standards, and software to
automate functions, as well as a digital infrastructure for access and preservation (Lippincott, 2006). As a primary source of information, theses and dissertations are particularly useful to researchers, but many languish in obscurity in university libraries and archives. Digital library technologies have helped ETDs gain momentum (Jin, 2004). Theses submitted in support of a PhD are difficult to access, as they are only collected by the library of the university that granted the degree. ETDs can be easily located, readily accessible, and delivered over the Web (Vijaykumar and Murthy, 2001). Most university libraries are very enthusiastic about electronic theses, but thesis supervisors and university administrators have sometimes been less keen on the idea. In most cases, it is necessary to change university regulations in order to require students to deposit an electronic copy of their thesis, which can be a time-consuming and frustrating process (Greig, 2005). This paper attempts to view the status of use and adoption of ETDs in various different parts of the world, and gives a brief history of ETDs, key issues governing ETD projects, potential merits of ETDs, with a glimpse on ETD initiatives in India.”
URL : http://unllib.unl.edu/LPP/dillip-swain.pdf

Authors publication strategies in schola…

Authors publication strategies in scholarly publishing :
“In this exploratory study, we analyze publishing patterns of authors from different disciplines, as part of a broader analysis of the transformation of the scholarly publishing industry. Although a growing body of literature analyses the author’s role within the process of research production, validation, certification and dissemination, there is little systematic empirical research on publishing patterns; little therefore can be said on relevant issues within the current debate on the future of scholarly publishing such as authors’ responses to (or even awareness of) the growing array of publication possibilities or the speed of adaptation to the increasing series of incentives by funding agencies or academic institutions. On the basis of the analysis of three years of publications gathered in the institutional repository of Università degli Studi di Milano, we highlight trends of publication strategies and different responses to incentive systems. Preliminary results indicate that publication outcomes and intensity differ across disciplines, while similarities occur mainly in terms of choice of preferred outcomes by seniority. Open access is still uncommon among the authors in our sample and it is more utilized by relatively senior authors and active authors.”
URL : http://eprints.rclis.org/18976/