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Scholarly Communication and Scholarly Publishing

Scholarly Communication and Scholarly Publishing

This post explores how scholarly publishing should relate to scholarly communication. Ostensibly aligned, publishing and communication have diverged. Some processes involved in scholarly publishing are getting in the way of optimal scholarly communication, as the present pandemic amply reveals. 

The Rights Retention Strategy and Publisher Equivocation: an Open Letter to Researchers | Plan S

The Rights Retention Strategy and Publisher Equivocation: an Open Letter to Researchers | Plan S

cOAlition S strategy of applying a prior licence to the Author's Accepted Manuscript (AAM) is designed to facilitate full and immediate open access of funded scientific research for the greater benefit of science and society.

Case Closed: SARS-CoV-2 Spreads Primarily by Aerosols

Case Closed: SARS-CoV-2 Spreads Primarily by Aerosols

A group of scholars argue, with an extensive review of the available evidence, that the primary mode of transmission from human to human of the virus responsible for Covid-19 is via aerosols, not through droplets or surfaces.

Scientometric Data and OA Publication Policies of Clinical Allergy and Immunology Journals

Scientometric Data and OA Publication Policies of Clinical Allergy and Immunology Journals

The scientific merit of a paper and its ability to reach broader audiences is essential for scientific impact. Thus, scientific merit measurements are made by scientometric indexes, and journals are increasingly using published papers as open access (OA).

Strengthening the OA Publishing System Through Open Citations and Spatiotemporal Metadata 

Strengthening the OA Publishing System Through Open Citations and Spatiotemporal Metadata 

The BMBF project OPTIMETA aims to strengthen the Open Access publishing system by connecting open citations and spatiotemporal metadata from open access journals with openly accessible data sources.

Science Museum Faces Backlash over Shell Sponsorship of Climate Exhibition

Science Museum Faces Backlash over Shell Sponsorship of Climate Exhibition

The Science Museum is facing a backlash after it revealed that fossil fuel giant Shell would be the sponsor of its flagship climate exhibition when it reopens in May.

Scientific Tweets: Why Less is More and when a Tweet is Perceived As Being Scientific

Scientific Tweets: Why Less is More and when a Tweet is Perceived As Being Scientific

Communication within the scientific community without twitter has become hard to imagine. It was only a matter of time, then, until someone started examining what makes a tweet scientific in itself. Dr Athanasios Mazarakis has examined this more closely and, in his guest article, reveals what he discovered when researching the scientific character of tweets.

Biden's Science Budget for 2022 Pleases US Research Community

Biden's Science Budget for 2022 Pleases US Research Community

White House requests big funding increases for research agencies.

Open Science Factsheet: Practical Steps Towards Open and Reproducible Research

Open Science Factsheet: Practical Steps Towards Open and Reproducible Research

This factsheet is a result of the 57th online seminar "Practical Steps Towards Open and Reproducible Research" (10 February 2021), organised by the Helmholtz Open Science Office.

Towards Open, Reliable, and Transparent Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Towards Open, Reliable, and Transparent Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Unreliable research programmes waste funds, time, and even the lives of the organisms we seek to help and understand. Reducing this waste and increasing the value of scientific evidence require changing the actions of both individual researchers and the institutions they depend on for employment and promotion. While ecologists and evolutionary biologists have somewhat improved research transparency over the past decade (e.g. more data sharing), major obstacles remain. In this commentary, we lift our gaze to the horizon to imagine how researchers and institutions can clear the path towards more credible and effective research programmes.

Why I Won't Review or Write for Elsevier and Other Commercial Scientific Journals

Why I Won't Review or Write for Elsevier and Other Commercial Scientific Journals

This author asks: Can scientists who are so meticulous in preparing their papers and so generous with their time in reviewing them for free not find better ways to advance science than relying on profiteering journals?

No, It's Not The Incentives - It's You

No, It's Not The Incentives - It's You

Troubling narrative: the mere existence of perverse incentives is a valid and sufficient reason to knowingly behave in an antisocial way, just as long as one first acknowledges the existence of those perverse incentives. 

How Do We Share Data in COVID-19 Research? A Systematic Review of COVID-19 Datasets in PubMed Central Articles - PubMed

How Do We Share Data in COVID-19 Research? A Systematic Review of COVID-19 Datasets in PubMed Central Articles - PubMed

PubMed Central articles are an important source of COVID-19 datasets, but there is significant heterogeneity in the way these datasets are mentioned, shared, updated and cited.

2 Interesting Scholarly Datasets Obtained from Web Scraping - Open Editors & Open Syllabus

2 Interesting Scholarly Datasets Obtained from Web Scraping - Open Editors & Open Syllabus

"Open Editors" & "Open Syllabus" are two interesting datasets obtained from wide scale web scraping due to lack of structured , machine readable data

Universities Unite for Consistency in Research Data Management

Universities Unite for Consistency in Research Data Management

In an outstanding collaborative success, 25 of Australia’s 42 universities are coming together to develop a framework to bring consistency to the management of research data across the university sector.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Careers of Young Researchers

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Careers of Young Researchers

Within the scope of the Career Tracker Cohorts study, postdocs were surveyed in order to learn more about potential changes in their work routines, effects on their research, and their own assessment of the impact the pandemic would have on their careers. 

Gates Open Research - A Summary of Year Four

Gates Open Research - A Summary of Year Four

2021 marks four years of publishing on Gates Open Research, now the 2nd most popular publication venue for Gates-funded researchers. In this blog post, Ashley Farley, Program Officer of Knowledge and Research Services at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, explores the publishing activity for the last year and the platform's growth in popularity and size.

Wikidata and Open Science: a Model for Open Data Work

Wikidata and Open Science: a Model for Open Data Work

Wikidata is a language-independent factual database belonging to the Wikimedia family which includes the particularly well-known Wikipedia. In an interview, Timo Borst explains the dimensions and particular significance of this database, especially in the context of Open Science.

Mellon Foundation Grant to Support Investigation into Hidden Costs of Open Infrastructure

Mellon Foundation Grant to Support Investigation into Hidden Costs of Open Infrastructure

New funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will support research and analysis into the hidden costs of open infrastructure. Hiring is now open for IOI's first Research Data Analyst.

Sci-Hub: Police Warn Students and Universities Against Using 'the Pirate Bay of Science'

Sci-Hub: Police Warn Students and Universities Against Using 'the Pirate Bay of Science'

Sci-Hub has been described as "the Pirate Bay of science", but often receives praise for opening access to research.

Next Steps for REF? We Need to Repair the Sector's Health First

Next Steps for REF? We Need to Repair the Sector's Health First

A while ago I was invited to speak at the Westminster Forum in a panel session entitled “Research environments in the REF – stimulating positive cultures and wellbeing, academic independence and interdisciplinary research“...

How Do You Run the REF in a Pandemic? We Still Don't Know

How Do You Run the REF in a Pandemic? We Still Don't Know

Worldwide, the academic community is wondering how to compensate for a lost year of productivity and focus. This will require a suite of measures aimed at redressing the inequalities left in the wake of Covid-19. 

A New Master's in Sustainable Management and Technology

A New Master's in Sustainable Management and Technology

EPFL introduced its new joint Master's in Sustainable Management and Technology, a degree that will prepare the next generation to spearhead the transition towards a more resilient, sustainable and inclusive economy and which is hosted by the multi-institutional initiative Enterprise for Society Center (E4S).

Another First: Perseverance Captures the Sounds of Driving on Mars - NASA's Mars Exploration Program

Another First: Perseverance Captures the Sounds of Driving on Mars - NASA's Mars Exploration Program

NASA's newest rover recorded audio of itself crunching over the surface of the Red Planet, adding a whole new dimension to Mars exploration.