Open Access NewsNews from the open access movement Jump to navigation |
|||||||||||
OA is green and gold, not just gold Stevan Harnad, OA Publishing is OA, but OA is Not OA Publishing, Open Access Archivangelism, October 10, 2008. Excerpt:
The value of OA metadata for non-OA books Stevan Harnad, Open Access Book-Impact and "Demotic" Metrics, Open Access Archivangelism, October 10, 2008.
Comment. I support OA metadata for all non-OA literature and the development of book metrics from open metadata. But I depart from Stevan on one premise: he says that OA for full-text books cannot be mandated, but I think it can. There are reasons why book mandates are more difficult than article mandates to implement well and fairly, and why none yet exist. But the difficulties can be met. German perspectives on open data Richard Sietmann, Open Access 2.0: Freier Zugang zu Forschungsdaten, Heise Online, October 10, 2008. Read it in German or Google's English. The Open Access Directory (OAD) just opened a list of Audio about OA for community editing and enlargement. Like the lists of Video about OA, Educational materials about OA, and the official list of Events celebrating Open Access Day, this one is timed to support Open Access Day (October 14, 2008) and capture the many new resources now under development for it. The first version of the list is short, just enough to justify a launch. If you know of audio recordings about OA (not just recordings which happen to be OA), please take a moment to add them. OAD contributors must register, but registration is free and easy. Labels: Hot Savas Parastatidis has released the Word plug-in, OfficeSWORD. (Thanks to Charles Bailey.) From Parastatidis' announcement:
Parastatidis works with the Technical Computing @ Microsoft group and released the source code for OfficeSword under a Microsoft public license. Microsoft's repository platform now in beta Microsoft Research has released Beta 1 of its Research-Output Repository Platform. (Thanks to Charles Bailey.) From the site:
Microsoft is releasing the source code under the Microsoft Research License Agreement, which allows essentially all uses except commercial use and has a share-alike clause. PS: For background, see our past posts on the Microsoft repository platform. Labels: Hot CERN's LHC papers are popular downloads CERN's Large Hadron Collider papers at the OA Journal of Instrumentation were downloaded 55,000 times in their first two months online. (Thanks to Enrico Balli.) Andrea Gawrylewski, A match made in open access heaven? TheScientist, October 10, 2008. Excerpt:
Another chance to request anti-circumvention exemptions The Library of Congress is calling for public comments on new exemptions to the DMCA's anti-circumvention clause. (Thanks to Kevin Smith.) Comments are due by December 2, 2008. What are librarians worrying about? Top Concerns Survey 2008, a report from SCONUL (the UK Society of College, National & University Libraries), 2008. (Thanks to Charles Bailey.) See esp. Table 2.2 on p. 18. Of eight surveyed concerns, institutional repositories ranked fourth and OA publishing ranked last in the level of "high concern" they raised. The top three concerns were "access management", "provision of e-resources", and "other". Brochure and slides on the European OA pilot project The EC just released two documents about its OA pilot project for FP7:
OAPEN receives a major grant from the EC The EC has agreed to fund OAPEN (Open Access Publishing in European Networks) . From yesterday's announcement:
PS: For background, see our past posts on OAPEN. U of Glasgow adopts an OA mandate The University of Glasgow has adopted an OA mandate. The proposal to the University Senate is dated June 5, 2008, and was apparently approved in time to take effect at the start of the current (08-09) academic year. The policy was announced late last week. From the policy proposal:
Comments
Labels: Hot I just returned from a trip and Gavin is in the middle of a move. Please bear with us as we catch up on recent news.
I'll be on the road Thursday and Friday with few opportunities for blogging or email. I'll start catching up on the weekend. Funding for research on "open innovation"
JISC has announced funding for "a comprehensive landscape and feasibility study investigating the current and recommended future state of open innovation practice". The deadline on the call for proposals is November 11, 2008.
Retroactive OA for three papers by new Nobel laureate The American Physical Society has provided retroactive OA to three articles (1, 2, 3) by Yoichiro Nambu, one of this year's three Nobel laureates in physics. More details in yesterday's announcement. Comment. APS did the same thing last year for three papers on the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory of superconductivity, the prize-winning discovery. See my October 2007 blog post for details and comments. On the IR at UNAM's anthro institute
Juan Manuel Zurita Sánchez, Open Access en el IIA, El falso letrado, October 8, 2008. Blog notes on a presentation on the IR at the Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas [Institute of Anthropological Research] at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
U.S. presidential candidates support OA to debates
Barack Obama and John McCain, the major party candidates for president in the U.S. elections, have responded to the call by Lawrence Lessig and others that the video footage of presidential debates should be in the public domain. Both endorsed the idea. See the letter by McCain and the letter by Obama.
See also our previous post on the call for OA to the debates, as well as our earlier post on the call for OA to the debates during the primary campaign. More than peer-reviewed manuscripts in UKPMC Tracey Caldwell, UK PubMed goes beyond journals, Information World Review, October 8, 2008. Excerpt:
Comments on the Springer-BMC deal Here are some comments from around the blogosphere on Springer's acquisition of BioMed Central. From Rafat Ali at paidContent.org:
From Michael Eisen at It's NOT Junk:
From Adam Hodgkin at Exact Editions:
From Revere at Effect Measure:
The participants in the Open Access and Research Conference 2008 (Brisbane, September 24-25, 2008) have issued the Brisbane Declaration. Here it is in full:
Comments
Update (10/9/08). Also see Stevan Harnad's comments:
And see the comments of Arthur Sale, one of the declaration drafters, quoted by Harnad:
Labels: Hot
Student newspaper editorializes in favor of OA at NIH
Publicly funded research should be publicly accessible, editorial, The Collegiate Times, October 6, 2008. (The Collegiate Times is a student newspaper covering Virginia Tech.)
Comment. Unfortunately, several of the editorial's arguments are deeply flawed:
California to launch OER pilot program for community colleges
Jane Park, Bill Enabling Community Colleges to Establish OER Pilot Program is signed into law, Creative Commons blog, October 6, 2008.
More notes on the Repository Fringe
John MacColl, The repository that isn’t there, hangingtogether.org, October 6, 2008. Notes on the Edinburgh Repository Fringe (Edinburgh, July 31-August 1, 2008).
See also our past posts on the Repository Fringe. Interview with a repeat OA-authoring researcher
Peter Binfield, An interview with one of PLoS ONE’s most frequently published authors., PLoS blog, October 6, 2008.
Jeremy Farrar, from the Centre for Tropical Medicine, Oxford University, Oxford, U.K. and the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam has published seven articles with PLoS ONE which makes him one of our most frequently published authors. India's Centre for Internet and Society Bangalore's Centre for Internet and Society, launched in August 2008, is a new home for OA activism in India. It's also the new home of Subbiah Arunachalam, India's leading OA activist. According the CIS advocacy page, the organization is devoted to open standards, FLOSS, and open access. Also see the CIS FAQ and blog. Three engineering journals convert to OA The three journals of the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunications Engineers converted to OA on September 30, 2008: The OA editions are published by Medknow. AAA adopts 35 year embargo on OA backfile AAA Creates "Open Access" to Anthropological Research, a press release from the American Anthropological Association, October 6, 2008. Excerpt:
Update (10/7/08). Here are a few comments from the blogosphere and press. From Alex Golub on Open Access Anthropology:
From Chris Kelty on Savage Minds:
From Scott Jaschik in Inside Higher Ed:
Comments
Labels: Hot Finding a dissemination system that doesn't distort science Neal S. Young, John P. A. Ioannidis, and Omar Al-Ubaydli, Why Current Publication Practices May Distort Science, PLoS Medicine, October 7, 2008.
From the body of the paper:
Update (10/7/08). Also see Richard Smith's comments on this article. Excerpt:
Update (10/10/08). Also see Stevan Harnad's comments. Excerpt:
Update (10/12/08). Also see the anonymous story in The Economist about this article. Excerpt:
Update (10/13/08). Also see John Timmer's comments. Update (10/13/08). Also see Jake Young's comments: ...This is a ringing endorsement of open access journals -- partially because they can publish more results (including negative ones) and partially because they give greater access to papers about large data sets. Hear, hear for PLoS! Scientific American has the scoop: Open access publisher BioMed Central sold to Springer, October 7, 2008. Excerpt:
PS: I'll post more details when I have them. Update (10/7/08). Also see the joint Springer/BMC press release. Excerpt:
Comments
Update (10/7/08). Also see Andrew Albanese's story in Library Journal. Excerpt:
Labels: Hot
New database of animal drugs approved in U.S.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine released Animal Drugs @ FDA, a new database of approved animal drugs, on October 1, 2008. (Thanks to ResourceShelf.) From the press release:
"Animal Drugs @ FDA" replaces the "Database of Approved Animal Drug Products," or Green Book, a database that was previously developed and managed by the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM) Drug Information Laboratory at Virginia Tech University. New Nobel laureates published in PLoS journals The Nobel prize for physiology or medicine was announced today. According to the Associated Press,
According to Jonathan Eisen, two of the three have published OA articles in PLoS journals:
Update. Harald zur Hausen and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi are also members of the editorial boards of BMC's OA journals, Infectious Agents and Cancer and Journal of the International AIDS Society. New OA journal of artificial general intelligence The Journal of Artificial General Intelligence is a new, no-fee, peer-reviewed OA journal which started accepting submissions on September 30, 2008. JAGI gives authors a choice between traditional and open peer review. John Dupuis, Interview with Dorothea Salo of Caveat Lector, Confessions of a Science Librarian, October 5, 2008. Excerpt:
NISO brings together Data Thought Leaders, an announcement from NISO, October 3, 2008. (Thanks to Charles Bailey.) Excerpt:
Events celebrating Open Access Day The Open Access Directory (OAD) now hosts the official list of Events celebrating Open Access Day. The list is sponsored by the Open Access Day founding partners, PLoS, SPARC, and Students for Free Culture. Because OAD is a wiki, you can edit and enlarge the list and we hope you will. If your group or institution is planning something for OA Day, or if you know of an event not already included, please take a moment to add it. Editing OAD is limited to registered users, but registration is free and easy. Joint statement in support of Richard Poynder Statement in support of the investigative work of Richard Poynder, October 5, 2008. Excerpt:
Call for contributors to OA music theory textbook
Musopen is looking for volunteers to write an OA textbook for music theory. (Thanks to Open Text Book.)
|