Moving to article-level (vs. journal-level) metrics of impact

Article in today's (2/29/12) CHE on "altmetrics", "Tracking Scholarly Influence Beyond the Impact Factor."
The big open access science publisher, PLOS, is leading the way...Some excerpts:
"“A very blunt instrument” is how Peter Binfield of the Public Library of Science describes the impact factor...PLoS works on an open-access model; the impact factor doesn’t reign supreme there as it does at so many subscription-based operations. Instead, the publisher emphasizes a variety of article-level metrics: usage statistics and citations, sure, but also how often an article is blogged about or bookmarked and what readers and media outlets are saying about it. The approach is part of a broader trend toward altmetrics, alternative ways of measuring scholarly influence...“We see this as a powerful thing that demonstrates the power of open access,” Mr. Binfield says. “We really would like to see it adopted much more widely, and for every publisher to provide this kind of data on their articles.”"

Open Acces mandate from IES, effective FY 2012

There is now a mandate for any IES funded research publications to be made publicly available in ERIC. This follows similar mandates from NHS.
"Beginning in FY 2012, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) requires its grantees to submit their peer-reviewed research publications to the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC). Investigators are to submit the electronic version of their final manuscripts upon acceptance for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. The author's final manuscript is defined as the final version accepted for journal publication, and includes all modifications from the peer review process. Posting for public accessibility through ERIC is strongly encouraged as soon as possible but must be within 12 months of the publisher's official date of final publication."

Additional information is here: http://ies.ed.gov/funding/researchaccess.asp

Princeton challenges publishers' stranglehold on copyrights

Princeton has now mandated open access  for all their faculty scholarship, by prohibiting faculty from signing away copyrights to journal publishers. There is a loophole of course--faculty can request a waiver--but the move is in the right direction to make scholarship more widely available. The story, with links to Princeton's open access policy (adopted Sept. 19, 2011) is here.

Access to publically funded research

In her Library Babel Fish blog post this morning, Barbara Fister points out the many disingenuous--actually self-serving and downright dishonest--remarks made in support of the current scholarly publishing system. She concludes, "I find these logic-defying arguments based on faulty reasoning, misrepresentation of how the process works, and appeals to anxiety about foreigners even more angering than the fact that in 2009 Elsevier made a billion dollars in profits with a tidy 35% profit margin. Wasn't that the very same year that saw enormous hardship in higher education, with layoffs, rising tuition, and libraries scrambling to manage huge budget cuts? What a weird coincidence.
But don't worry about it. There is no crisis. You whiners have plenty of access to information. All you have to do is buy it."

6 Technologies to watch for in education

From the January 14, 2010 issue of Wired Campus...
"The Horizon Report," an annual guide to tech trends... And it’s predicting a new technology king: open content.After failing to make last year's “Technologies to Watch” list, the open-content movement now joins mobile computing as the two trends most likely to enter mainstream learning in the next year, says the report, from the New Media Consortium and Educause.

Call for expanded access to federally funded research--gaining traction

This Quick Take from Inside Higher Education today:

"A panel of librarians, library scientists, publishers and university leaders on Tuesday issued a report calling on federal agencies that fund research to create policies that provide free public access to the results of the research they fund "as soon as possible after those results have been published in a peer-reviewed journal." The Scholarly Publishing Roundtable was convened by the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology, in collaboration with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The report urged parties to move beyond "the too-often acrimonious" debate over access issues toward a framework in which federal agencies build "an interdependent system of scholarly publishing that expands public access and enhances the broad, intelligent use of the results of federally funded research."

Links to the full text of the report and recommendations, panel membership, and press releases are all linked from AAUP's page.

Oberlin's Open Access Resolution

Oberlin joins the ranks of several major research universities in declaring all faculty scholarship will be openly accessible. The resolution is posted here.
For additional information on Open Access, see the information on Cory Tucker's Scholarly Communications guide.

University presses move to Open Access model in tough budget times

As you may or may not know, UNLV Libraries is now sponsoring an Open Access publishing platform for scholarly journals. This article from Inside Higher Ed briefly describes the University of Utah becoming the most recent university press--University of Michigan Press led the way--to embrace Open Access for book publication. Excerpts from the article:
"the press will survive -- in part by embracing a new model of organization (becoming part of the university library) and a new business model (embracing open access, in which most publications would be available online and free). While both of those changes are significant, key aspects of the press's identity and mission will not change. It will continue to be a peer-reviewed scholarly publisher, and plans to continue its highly regarded work in fields such as composition studies, folklore, poetry, environmental studies, and the history and culture of the West....But the more significant philosophical shift is to open access, with digital publication as the norm...the press will survive and that in digital format its books will have "the same rigorous scholarly peer review" as print books."

More Universities make their Research Available Online

University of Kansas joins Harvard in adopting a model of open access for its research. See the article in the Chronicle of Higher Ed's "The Wired Campus blog.

The Irrationality of Current Publication Models, or Why Open Access is Better.

The Chronicle of Higher Education's blogger, David Wiley, presents this parable to illustrate the irrationality of the current publication model and to advocate for open access alternatives. UNLV Libraries now provide access to an electronic journal publishing platform (BEPress) as well as institutional repository software for storing and sharing digitally your intellectual endeavors.

University presses endorse open access

Taking a stand against the AAUP (American Association of University Presses) and the re-introduced Conyers legislation, directors of 10 university presses (including Michigan, Penn State, and Massachusetts) have endorsed making scholarly content openly available. The article from CHE's Wired Campus gives an overview and the blog posting where the statement originally came out is here.

Open Access publishing gets a boost from Springer

Take this as evidence when negotiating with your potential publishers for copyright!!

"In the latest move of for-profit publishing into open access, Springer on Wednesday announced a deal with the University of California under which the university’s researchers who publish with Springer will be able to have completely open access versions of their article appear without separate charges or delays." (from Inside Higher Ed: Quick Takes, Jan. 22, 2009)

Stanford School of Ed mandates open access for scholarly publishing

I actually heard this information from a faculty member at Stanford who was a panelist on open access publishing at the national library conference a couple weeks ago. This blurb made it into Inside Higher Education today (July 10).

"Stanford University’s School of Education has decided to require all faculty members to make their scholarly articles available online and free. The open access movement has been gaining ground of late, and the Stanford move is the first such policy by an education school."

A more complete account is in the July 9 Stanford News Service.