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China to overtake Japan in research output, says Nature Publishing Index

Japan continues to lead the Asia-Pacific in research output. But it could be overtaken by China in the coming years. The top institution in the region in 2012 was The University of Tokyo, but it will almost certainly lose its crown to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 2013. Indeed on a rolling 12-month window to mid-March, the CAS has a substantial lead.

These are the lead conclusions of the 2012 Nature Publishing Index (NPI) 2012 Asia-Pacific, published today in Nature.

The NPI 2012 Asia-Pacific supplement also reports:

• The region’s scientists are publishing more high quality basic science than ever before: more than 28% of articles published in the high quality Nature research journals have an author from the Asia-Pacific region, compared with 19% in 2008.
• Japan’s publication output increased despite the diversion of resources into rebuilding infrastructure after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
• China is still in second place, but it is growing faster than Japan and may take first place within a couple of years. Most Chinese institutions in the Asia-Pacific top 200 improved their ranking in the past year.
• Australia is in third place, and leads the region in earth and environmental science publications. Its top institution, the University of Melbourne, rose to sixth in the Asia-Pacific region. James Cook University in Townsville continues to be the fast improver, up at 30th in 2012 from 351st in the region in 2008.
• South Korea sits firmly in fourth place with almost double the output of fifth-ranked Singapore. Its publication output dropped slightly in 2012, but new president, Park Geun-hye, plans to increase investment in R&D as a proportion of GDP to 5% by 2017.
• Singapore had the greatest proportional increase of any of the top eight countries over the year. The National University of Singapore is the highest ranking institution in Singapore.
• This year, Taiwan consolidated the sixth spot, ahead of India and New Zealand both of whose output dropped slightly.

The NPI Asia-Pacific 2012 has been released as a supplement to Nature today. It measures the output of research articles from nations and institutes published in the 18 Nature-branded primary research journals over the calendar year. The supplement provides a snapshot of research in the Asia-Pacific in 2012.

To see the latest results for the region, and the Nature Publishing Index Global Top 100, visit the Index website at www.natureasia.com/en/publishing-index/. The data posted on the website is updated every week with a moving window of 12 months of data.

Arguments for Open Access to Research Results

By Marin Dacos:

The French newspaper Le Monde has published a public statement, signed by sixty members of the academic community (Presidents of universities, Librarians, Journals, publishers and researchers) under the title “Who is afraid of open access ?”. The original paper is here.

More than 1500 people already signed this statement, calling for open access as fast as possible and asking for HSS taking leadership in this direction. It is now available in English : http://iloveopenaccess.org/arguments-for-open-access/

You can sign it : http://iloveopenaccess.org/?page_id=329

Arguments for Open Access to Research Results

In July 2012, the European Commission issued a recommendation on OpenAccess (i.e. free for the readers) publication of the results of publicly funded scientific research. The Commission believes that such a measure is necessary to increase the visibility of European research before 2020, by gradually suppressing the barriers between readers and scientific papers, after a possible embargo period from six to twelve months. Latin America has been benefiting from this approach for ten years after the development of powerful platforms for Open Access journals. Scielo and Redalyc, which together host almost 2000 journals, have considerably increased their visibility thanks to their Open Access policy: the Brazilian portalScielo now has more traffic than the US-based JSTOR. Such examples show that Open Access changes the balance of power in a world dominated by groups which hold thousands of (mostly English-language) journals: it paves the way to what could be called a real “bibliodiversity”, since it enables the emergence of a plurality of viewpoints, modes of publication, scientific paradigms, and languages.

Some French editors of journals in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) have expressed their concern with regard to this recommendation, which they saw as a threat to a vulnerable business model. However, a thorough assessment of the sector would be required to provide a true cost-benefit analysis: one should shed light on its funding sources and modes, both direct and indirect, public and private, and determine the roles the various actors play in this field, pinpointing the added value brought about by each of them.

To be afraid of Open Access is, in our eyes, to commit oneself to a narrow – and in fact erroneous – vision of the future. If the HSS were set aside in a specific “reservation” today, they would become isolated and would ultimately become extinct. On the contrary, we think that the HSS can be at the forefront of this opening movement, precisely because there is an increasing social demand for theirresearch results (we estimate the overall traffic on Cairn, OpenEdition, Erudit and Persée to be around 10 million visits per month!). The fears voiced by our friends and colleagues are largely groundless in this respect. Not only is the share of sales made outside of higher education and research institutions very small in the business models of HSS journals, which remain mostly directly or indirectly funded by public money, but there exist new business models capable of reinforcing the position of publishers without having the authors pay, as is demonstrated by the success of the Freemium programme developed by OpenEdition, a French initiative. Solutions to finance a high-quality open digital publication system are being invented and have started to prove their efficiency, as in the cases of Scielo, the Public Library of Science (PLOS), Redalyc or OpenEdition. It would be a disaster if the HSS were kept aside from this powerful and innovative movement which is bound to reshape our scientific landscape. Far from backing off, they must be among the leading disciplines in this movement, as they are in the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries. The resistance to this evolution advocated by some of our colleagues seems to be a short-term strategy neglecting the potential benefits for science and education, as well as the democratisation of access to knowledge it will enable.

According to us, this is not only an economic and commercial problem. Although the existence of an Elsevier-Springer-Wiley oligopoly exerts heavy pressure on university budgets and although the funding system of academic publishing should be rethought, generalised Open Access is first and foremost a matter of scientific policy. Knowledge cannot be treated as a commodity and its dissemination is more than ever a vital concern in our societies: we can work towards a revolutionary democratisation of access to research results. Knowledge behind barriers, which only the happy few working in the richest universities can access, is barren knowledge. It is confiscated, though produced thanks to public funding. In this debate, higher education and research institutions have akey role to play. The diffusion of knowledge and research results, their spreading among an audience as large as possible, is one of the missions of these institutions. Therefore a relevant scientific policy has to build public digital infrastructures, but  also needs to support innovative publishing policies aimed at fostering cross-disciplinary exchanges, new forms of writing, multilingualism and the broadest diffusion.

Who is afraid of Open Access? Private access policies hinder the dissemination of ideas and is ill-suited to the new paradigms introduced by digital media. It is high time that we considered the Web as a unique opportunity in terms of innovation, the diffusion of knowledge and the emergence of new ideas.

We are not afraid of Open Access. To take knowledge out of silos and beyond the boundaries of academic campuses is to open knowledge to everyone, acknowledge that it has a pivotal role to play in our societies and open up perspectives for collective growth.

Do not be afraid of Open Access! It is now possible to establish a new scientific, publishing and business contract between researchers, publishers, libraries and readers in order to enter for good a society of shared, democratic knowledge.

Marin Dacos – http://www.openedition.org

Director – Centre for Open Electronic Publishing

New SPARC Open Data Resource for Research Funders

Today, SPARC released a new community resource for research funders entitled, “Implementing an Open Data Policy”.  This primer addresses key issues that these organizations encounter when considering the adoption and implementation of an open data policy.  The guide covers big-picture topics such as how to decide on the range of activities an open data policy should cover. It also delves into areas of very specific concern, such as options for where data can be deposited, and how privacy and other concerns can be managed.

SPARC has worked with funding organizations with increasing frequency on a number of fronts recently, as interest in open access and open datahas continued to grow.  The genesis of this interest is twofold.  First, many funders invest in research in order to speed the pace of scientific discovery, encourage innovation, enrich education, and to enhance the public good.  These funders recognize that one way to attain these goals is to make their research outputs – and their supporting data – available as quickly and as openly as possible.  Second, both open access and open data offer very real practical benefits for these organizations. Many of these research funders rely on private contributions to support our activities.  Disseminating research outputs and data in a highly visible manner promotes sharing, discussion, and encourages follow-up science. It’s a clear way to demonstrate the effective use and stewardship of the funds entrusted to the organization

The “Implementing an Open Data Policy” guide complements recent work that SPARC has collaborated on with research funders.  Earlier this year, SPARC worked closely with a key group of biomedical research funders, led by the Health Research Alliance, to develop a public access policy initiative. Research funders play a crucial role in advancing the dissemination of scholarly research and the building blocks supporting it, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with this important community.

Companies Working Together Benefit Los Gatos Library

Patrons of the Los Gatos Library in Los Gatos, Calif., and other libraries who use the Koha open source Integrated Library System (ILS) supported by ByWater Solutions, will benefit from the recent integration of NoveList Select content into the library’s catalogue.

ByWater Solutions is an open source community supporter and the United States’ forefront provider of Koha support. NoveList Select, a division of EBSCO Publishing, integrates information including, reading recommendations, series information, events, reviews, and book jackets into a library’s catalogue so users can find the information where they need it, when they need it.

Henry Bankhead, Interim Town Librarian at Los Gatos Library, reports that the library’s patrons will have an improved experience with the integration of NoveList Select into the Koha system. “The enhanced content adds reviews from Goodreads, up-to-date series information, recommendations of similar titles and authors as well as links to NextReads newsletters and more. Because of this integration, this content is available right in our library catalogue and is available to any NoveList Select customer using the Koha integrated library system.”

The use of NoveList by the Los Gatos Library is an example of how libraries and their readers benefits when companies work together to support library success. “Libraries that choose Koha as their catalogue solution can now easily integrate the rich content from NoveList Select into their online catalogue and put expertreading recommendations and other expanded content into the place where it is most visible to library patrons,” said Duncan Smith the Vice President of NoveList.

The strength of open source along with the willingness of EBSCO to contribute NoveList content is a win-win for EBSCO, for the Koha community, for Librarians and most importantly for library patrons according to Nicole C. Engard, Vice President of Education at ByWater Solutions. “When educating librarians about open source, I always stress how choosing Koha and exposes people to all kinds of new freedoms. This partnership between ByWater, Los Gatos Library and NoveList shows how multiple groups can come together to improve an open source product for the benefit of everyone using it.”

For more information on NoveList, go to http://www.ebscohost.com/novelistand for information on Koha, please visit http://koha-community.org.

The Scandinavian Plant Physiology Society and Wiley Extend Over Sixty Years of Partnership

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,has renewed its relationship with the Scandinavian Plant Physiology Society (SPPS); a partnership which began over sixty years ago. Wiley will continue to support the society’s leading research journal Physiologia Plantarum, an international thought leader in the field of plant physiology.

The partnership began in 1948 when the society, known then as the Nordisk Förening för Fysiologisk Botanik, began collaborating with Munksgaard, later a part of Wiley. That partnership has resulted in Physiologia Plantarum becoming an established thought leader in the field, gaining an Impact Factor of 3.112 in 2011.

The SPPS is currently based in Helsinki, yet while it is led by elected representatives from Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway, the society has a truly global focus with members from the USA, Japan and many other non-Scandinavian countries.

Physiologia Plantarum is an international journal committed to publishing the best original research which explores primary physiology, and the molecular, genetic and ecological mechanisms which govern plant development, growth and productivity. The Editor-in-Chief is Australian Professor Vaughan Hurry.

The journal also publishes Minireviews and Technical Focus papers, with the aim of providing a forum for the exchange of information on recent breakthroughs and technical advances.

“Over the past sixty years the SPPS and Wiley have worked together to promote the best research across the fields of experimental plant biology,” said David Nicholson, Vice President & Journals Publishing Director, Wiley. “We are very proud to renew and extend this relationship as we continue to promote plant science research to an ever growing global audience.”

Physiologia Plantarum is an official journal of the Federation of European Societies of Plant Biology (FESPB), Europe’s largest and most widely representative society of plant scientists.

Springer and Politecnico di Milano launch book series

Springer and Politecnico di Milano will partner to publish a new book series entitled POLIMI SpringerBriefs. These titles will consist of concise summaries of cutting-edge research and practical applications across a wide spectrum of fields. All books in the series are available as eBooks on Springer’s online platform, SpringerLink (link.springer.com) , and in print-on-demand (POD) format.

The POLIMI SpringerBriefs will cover a broad range of academic and professional content from the main areas of research carried out at Politecnico di Milano, including: aerospace engineering, bioengineering, nuclear science and technology, economics and mathematical models and methods in engineering, to name a few. Also, Ph.D. theses may be considered for publication within the series, provided that they represent a significant and original scientific advance.

“This new book series will contribute not only to a deeper understanding of real world phenomena, but also to further developments in the applied sciences,” said Prof. Barbara Pernici, Editor-in-Chief of the series and Director of the Doctoral School of Politecnico di Milano. “We chose to work with Springer, an outstanding publisher in science and technology, because they are able to support Politecnico di Milano in disseminating and developing scientific discoveries.”

Dr. Francesca Bonadei, Executive Editor Mathematics, Statistics and Engineering at Springer, said, “By publishing in the classical fields, this series is particularly open to interdisciplinary and emerging topics between fundamental sciences and engineering. Working with this outstanding Italian university, we aim to promote the valuable research results carried out at Politecnico di Milano, which are worthy of worldwide distribution. Springer is proud to introduce this book series to the international scientific community.”

Copyright Clearance Center Hosts Open Access Forum In London

Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), a not-for-profit organization and leading provider of licensing and Open Access solutions, hosted “A Copyright Clearance Center Roundtable: Open Access Publishing and the Role of Intermediaries.”

The day consisted of facilitated discussions preceded by a keynote address from Ellen Collins, co-author of the Research Information Network (RIN) report “The Potential Role for Intermediaries in Managing the Payment of Open Access Article Processing Charges.” Her talk was followed by an Open Access panel made up of experts from publishing and academia.

Highlights from the Roundtable include:

  • Although Open Access publishing is not new, recent mandates by funding agencies have created confusion and a sense of urgency to comply among publishers, institutions and authors.
  • All parties face many challenges related to administering APCs. These include how to define new business models and workflows, the need for education for authors and publishers, visibility to an article’s publication status, uniquely identifying authors and articles with standard metadata, tracking and reporting OA compliance, and finding and implementing a scalable process.

“Managing Open Access fees as part of grant compliance is becoming an increasingly important, but unresolved, challenge for the UK university sector,” said Rob Johnson, Head of Research Operation, Research and Graduate Services, University of Nottingham and panel participant.

“CCC has been offering Open Access solutions via RightsLink for over six years, and we are committed to expanding our solutions to better serve publishers, authors and institutions,” said Roy Kaufman, CCC Managing Director of New Ventures. “We’ll be releasing new functionality every quarter based on market need.”

CCC was recently named one of “10 to Watch” in Outsell’s first Open Access Market Report. Click here for a link to the full report. CCC’s Open Access Solutions include secure tools for managing APCs, as well as color charges, page charges and reprint orders.

CCC’s Open Access solutions also address downstream licensing options. CCC makes it easier for publishers to charge different Open Access fees pre-publication based on variables such as author affiliation or membership, funding source and journal type. CCC also communicates publisher-specific reuse rights post-publication to users seeking permissions for all content, including Open Access articles, and captures valuable data about user interest in and reuse of publishers’ Open Access publications.

Norway’s nationwide library consortium selects Ex Libris Primo

Ex Libris® Group, a world leader in the provision of library automation solutions, is pleased to announce that BIBSYS, the Norwegian national provider of library services, has selected Primo® for its discovery and delivery solution.
BIBSYS provides a range of integrated library products and services for a consortium that comprises libraries of Norwegian institutions of higher education, the National Library of Norway, and Norwegian research libraries. Rather than creating a homegrown search interface, BIBSYS decided to look into commercial systems. After an evaluation process in which the Ex Libris solution’s ability to integrate with existing systems and accommodate local data was clearly demonstrated along with other differentiators, BIBSYS selected the Primo discovery and delivery solution.
Frode Arntsen, director of BIBSYS, commented: “We are excited about providing Primo as a unified search interface for the multiple resources that we offer Norwegian lecturers, librarians, researchers, and students. With the flexibility of Primo, each institution in our 100-strong organization can configure the system to the institution’s unique needs. In line with our open approach and commitment to harnessing advanced technology, we are pleased to combine the sophisticated technology of Primo with our own extensive experience and understanding of the Norwegian higher education and research community.”
“Ex Libris is proud that BIBSYS has selected Primo for this countrywide implementation,” remarked Matti Shem Tov, president and CEO of Ex Libris. “Our experience in providing large-scale multitenant solutions for consortia such as BIBSYS will prove an important asset in supporting the Norwegian institutions in this flagship project.”

Research-Driven Organizations Reduce Document Delivery Costs with Open Access (OA) Filter from Reprints Desk

Reprints Desk, Inc. announced today the launch of a new Open Access (OA) filter for the company’s document delivery service that is used by research-driven companies and institutions to acquire single copies of scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles. The OA filter sends customers to the source and supplements other Reprints Desk order filtering capabilities for subscription, token, print collection, and workgroup repository content, employing a dynamic process-driven approach to identify OA content rather than a data-driven one that may have limitations in coverage and accuracy.

“The first rule of document delivery is to help customers avoid unnecessary document delivery expenditures. We have made significant system improvements over the last year with those customer savings specifically in mind,” said Peter Derycz, Reprints Desk President and CEO. “The new service feature for finding Open Access articles on the Internet does just that for larger research-driven companies who switch to Reprints Desk. It aids smaller organizations in the same way, but also delivers much needed cost controls and time savings so they can safely transition to end user self-servicing.”

Open access (OA) is the practice of providing unrestricted online access to scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles and increasingly other content types. According to the results of one study, Open Access is responsible for roughly 20% of the total output of peer-reviewed articles published. Other recent developments include Research Councils UK (RCUK) announcement that beginning in April 2013, scientific papers must be made free to access within six months of publication if they come from work paid for by one of the United Kingdom’s seven government-funded grant agencies, which spend billions of dollars each year on research.

Corporations, academic institutions and government organizations use document delivery as a legal method for retrieving single copies of full-text papers from scholarly peer-reviewed journals when subscription access does not exist. Reprints Desk has held lone honors as the top-rated document delivery supplier in every document delivery market research survey conducted by information analyst and advisory firm Outsell, Inc., since 2008. Reprints Desk was founded by Peter Derycz, a pioneer in the document delivery business since 1987 when he originally founded Infotrieve, Inc.

For more information, visit www.reprintsdesk.com.

Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology partners with Maney Publishing from 2014

The Midwest Archaeological Conference Inc. (MAC) will transfer publication of Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology to Maney from 2014. The journal publishes original papers on the archaeology of the region between the Appalachian Mountains and the Great Plains, from the Boreal Forests to the Gulf of Mexico, and other closely related subjects.

Maney has exciting new developments planned for the title. The journal will be made available online with a 10 year back archive, as well as in print for the benefit of subscribers and members of MAC. This publication will use Editorial Manager, the online system for article submission and peer-review, enabling contributors, reviewers and the editorial team to track and respond to the progress of articles with greater ease. Maney will increase the number of pages published and frequency will increase from two to three issues per year. The journal’s print presentation will be modernised and enhanced with colour illustrations.

Thomas Emerson is Editor of the journal and says of the new publishing arrangements: “Our partnership with Maney Publishing is a significant step in strengthening MCJA’s position as a premier regional journal by providing our readers with an expanded journal length and frequency in a readily accessible digital format.”

Maney’s Business Development Manager, Gaynor Redvers-Mutton, comments that “Publishing theMidcontinental Journal of Archaeology marks the progress of Maney’s US publishing base. Joining titles such as California Archaeology and Kiva and expanding our range of regional US archaeology titles, we are thrilled to be able to offer MAC and the Editors the support and infrastructure needed for the journal to evolve. Subscribers and library consortia opting to access our Archaeology & Heritage MORE Collection will welcome this news.”

 

SpringerPlus now indexed in Scopus and PubMed Central

SpringerPlus, Springer’s interdisciplinary fully open access journal, is now indexed by PubMed Central and Scopus®. Consequently, authors publishing with SpringerPlus will enjoy maximum exposure of their research work. SpringerPlus is part of SpringerOpen, the publisher’s portfolio of over 120 open access journals across all areas of science, 14 of which already have an impact factor.

SpringerPlus is a peer-reviewed, open access journal with a broad interdisciplinary approach covering all areas of science, technology, engineering, medicine, the humanities and social sciences. Submissions are handled by an interdisciplinary, international board of academic editors.

All articles in SpringerPlus are published under the liberal Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. This enables authors to easily comply with open access mandates and policies from academic institutions and funders, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Wellcome Trust and the Research Councils UK (RCUK).

“We just published our 200th article in SpringerPlus this year. As more scientists choose our journal to publish their work, we become more attractive to all fields of research,” said Dr. Max Haring, Executive Editor of SpringerPlus. “PubMed and Scopus are powerful tools – indexing means our articles will be more easily found and read by a growing audience.”

A transparent and fast publication process is the hallmark of SpringerPlus. If a manuscript meets the necessary scientific criteria as determined by peer review, the paper will be accepted immediately without major revision. Manuscripts in any appropriate format and evaluations based solely on the quality of the research enable quick decision-making and an efficient publication process. Peer-review is organized efficiently so that authors can count on a very short time to publication. SpringerPlus is published online only.

Over 14,700 authors respond to Taylor & Francis Open Access Survey!

In response to the seismic shift in the publishing landscape brought on by Open Access (OA), Taylor & Francis asked our author community for their views and their behaviour related to Open Access. We received 14,769 responses. This feedback will help publishers understand authors’ needs and inform the development of our policies, both in terms of OA, and more widely.

“The results of this survey are important, as they represent the views of a wide sample of authors across the disciplines in relation to Open Access following announcement of the RCUK and Wellcome mandates after the publication of the Finch report in the UK” said Dr David Green, Global Publishing Director at Taylor & Francis.

The survey offers a fascinating insight into current thinking of authors globally across the whole range of subject areas from science to the arts. Taylor & Francis would like to thank every author who took the time to respond to this comprehensive survey.

What are the initial findings?

Authors were asked about licensing, reuse, peer review and metrics:
• 79% of our authors still want traditional rigorous peer review of their work, all or most of the time when publishing OA.
• 68% of authors are happy for their work to be reused for non-commercial gain
• It is important to 70% of authors that the general public can access and read their work.

Given the volume of data, and the variety of responses, this will be just the first of a series of press releases which will explore the findings of the Taylor & Francis Open Access Survey in more depth.

For those who want to take a look at the survey for themselves right now, the basic results and a copy of the questionnaire can be found here and is available under a Creative Commons Attribution licence:
www.tandf.co.uk/journals/pdf/open-access-survey-march2013.pdf

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