enews - February/March 2007
Editor's Note: SPARC is asking that supporters sign the
Petition for Public Access to Publicly Funded Research, available at http://www.publicaccesstoresearch.org.
This petition builds on the 24,000+ signatures collected from around
the world in
support of free and open access to European research and for the
recommendations proposed in the EU's "Study on the Economic and
Technical Evolution
of the Scientific Publication Markets of Europe." One hundred and
thirty-two higher education leaders have also written of their explicit
support for
public access to publicly funded research. The petition is open to
supporters around the world to continue to demonstrate the depth and
breadth of
support for access to federally funded research. As lawmakers consider
policies and legislation to advance public access, it is critical that
supporters step forward and be counted.
In this issue:
1. SPARC News
2. Partner News
3. Industry Roundup
4.
Create Change: New Interview
5. Upcoming Events
6. Articles of Interest
___________________________________________________________________
1. SPARC News
Redesigned
SPARC Web Site Improves Resource Access
SPARC has reorganized and redesigned its Web site to
better serve the scholarly communication community. The new Web site (http://www.arl.org/sparc) provides one-click access to SPARC's major
program
areas: Advocacy, Education (Publications and Resources), and Incubation
(Partners), as well as information on Membership, Meetings &
Events, SPARC Consulting services, and the organization itself. There
are also direct
links to resources by theme (author rights, journal pricing, open
access, open data, public access to research, and repositories) and by
audience
(libraries, authors, publishers, and the media). New portals for
authors and publishers have been added to highlight SPARC's
ongoing role
in collaborating across stakeholder groups in scholarly
publishing.
SPARC's Julia Blixrud Wins ALCTS Award
The Association for Library Collections &
Technical Services (ALCTS) has named SPARC's Julia Blixrud the winner
of the 2007
CSA/Ulrich's Serials Librarianship Award. In the announcement,
ALCTS said "Blixrud's contributions have influenced virtually every
aspect of
serials work from cataloging to publishing to access." The award will
be presented on Sunday, June 24, 2007, at the ALCTS Awards Ceremony
during the
2007 American Library Association (ALA) meeting in Washington, DC.
Podcast of SPARC-ACRL Forum on Public Access Now
Available
A
podcast of the SPARC-ACRL forum on public access (January
2007) is now available at http://www.arl.org/sparc/meetings/ala07mw/. The drive for free public access to publicly funded research is in high
gear in the U.S., Canada, and around the globe. For scientists and
scholars, it promises not just to change the norms for how research is
shared, but also to open new avenues for how it is conducted. The
implications for academic and research libraries are no less profound,
as the possibility of new and expanded roles in the research process
emerge. The popular SPARC-ACRL Forum looks at what the changes mean for
libraries.
___________________________________________________________________
2.
Partner News
BioOne
http://www.bioone.org/
BioOne
is now home to 125 publications from 91 publishers across three
collections: BioOne.1,
BioOne.2, and Open Access. Paid subscribers at the end of 2006
included nearly 1,000 global institutions and organizations, plus many
hundreds
more accessing through no- or low-cost developing world
programs. BioOne registered over 5.9 million hits in 2006
to abstracts and
full texts, with at least 258,000 unique visitors to the site each
month. For further information about BioOne's progress,
please see the
article below, "BioOne Completes Charter Supporter Subscription Credit
Program."
BioMed Central
http://www.biomedcentral.com/
BioMed Central
has launched a new series of blogs alongside the main BioMed Central blog, http://blogs.openaccesscentral.com/blogs/bmcblog. BioMed Central's sister sites, Chemistry Central and PhysMath Central,
have also launched their own new blogs. Chemistry Central blog: http://blogs.openaccesscentral.com/ccblog . PhysMath Central blog: http://blogs.openaccesscentral.com/pmcblog.
Directory of Open Access Journals
http://www.doaj.org/
Since
the launch of the Directory of Open Access Journals
(DOAJ) in 2003 the service has grown significantly: as of last month,
2600 journals are listed in the DOAJ, and article level search service
is
available for 30% of the journals. The Open Society Institute, The
Royal Library of Sweden, SPARC, SPARC Europe, Axiell and lately EBSCO
and CSA have
made contributions which have made it possible for Lund University
Libraries to make DOAJ the authoritative listing of peer-reviewed
scholarly open
access journals.
DOAJ is now launching a membership program to create
a sustainable financial foundation for the continuing
development and operation. The membership program will allow
individuals, universities, research centers, libraries, library
organizations, library
consortia, aggregators and other organizations to contribute. For
further information: http://www.doaj.org/doaj?func=membership.
eIFL
http://www.eifl.net/
eIFL.net, the not for profit organization that supports and
advocates for the wide availability of electronic resources by library
users in
transitional and developing countries, has revamped its web site to
better serve its constituents. The new web site supports eIFL.net's
core
activities, such as negotiating affordable subscriptions on a
multi-country consortial basis, supporting national library consortia,
and
maintaining a global knowledge sharing and capacity building network in
related areas -- such as open access publishing, intellectual property
rights,
open source software for libraries and the creation of institutional
repositories of local content.
Public Library of Science
http://www.plos.org/
Researchers from the J. Craig Venter Institute recently published several studies from the Sorcerer
II Global Ocean Sampling Expedition in PLoS Biology.
This research details the discovery of millions of new genes after a
voyage of thousands
of miles. The PLoS pages devoted to this expedition also include a web
seminar, interactive poster, editorial, and several links. To access
this item,
go to http://collections.plos.org/plosbiology/gos-2007.php
Public Knowledge Project
http://pkp.sfu.ca/node/695
The
Canadian Foundation of Innovation has
awarded $5.8 million to the Synergies project over the next four years,
for the development of scholarly publishing technologies featuring
Erudit and
Open Journal Systems (OJS). OJS is a project of the Public Knowledge
Project.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
http://plato.stanford.edu/
The
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, with
significant help from the worldwide library community, is nearing its
goal of raising a $4,125,000 endowment, which would generate enough in
appreciation and interest income to cover the SEP's expenses in
perpetuity. To date, SEP has successfully secured $3,120,000 in funding
commitments
from a combination of sources:
Stanford has nearly reached
its goal, raising $1,122,000, with some large donations from donors
outside
academia who have backgrounds in philosophy, as well as contributions
from many professional philosophers. The libraries have also made
substantial
progress, collectively contributing $1,505,455 in pledges. Counting the
$500,000 in NEH matching funds, the libraries have made commitments
totaling
$2,005,455.
The SEP still needs $1,000,000 in new commitments
from the library community to reach its ultimate goal. Of the 120 libraries at
institutions with Philosophy Ph.D. programs in the U.S. and Canada, 49
have committed the full amount requested ($15,000) to support the SEP
and 18
have made a partial commitment. SEP is requesting help to
preserve open access to a resource that is used at universities across
the globe
hundreds of thousands times each week.
SEPIA continues to collect membership dues from other libraries and library consortia worldwide. Learn
more about SEPIA at http://www.libraries.iub.edu/index.php?pageId=3563. To register your commitment with SOLINET, go to
http://www.solinet.net/survey/sep.htm. For a list of libraries
already committed to the project, see http://plato.stanford.edu/fundraising/commitments.html.
2a. BioOne Completes Charter Supporter Subscription Credit Program
Editor's Note:
BioOne was among the first publishing projects SPARC
sponsored. After more than five years as a proven alternative to
commercial,
for-profit publishing, BioOne has repaid its SPARC investors 115%. The
following piece from BioOne charts the success of the charter support
program.
In the fall of 1999, SPARC member libraries received
an important communiqué that heralded the development of a new,
innovative
online project. The headline read, "SPARC members: your support is
urgently needed--please act now to enable a bold response to the
serials crisis."
The project was BioOne, a new electronic aggregation of the full
texts of bioscience research journals with an innovative business
model. The
product of collaboration between scientific societies, libraries,
academe, and the private sector, BioOne was designed to offer an
alternative to
commercial publishing, enabling libraries to enhance their support of
new research at a continued low cost for access. It also provided the
means for
not-for-profit journals from scholarly societies to remain independent,
viable and visible in the emerging electronic publishing marketplace.
The original call for funding requested library support
ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 - an amount proportional to a library's
acquisitions
budget. These were not intended as a gift, but rather as an investment.
These "charter supporters" would receive a credit equivalent to at
least 115%
of their charter support to be applied to their future BioOne
subscription fees, over a five or six year period. Libraries were also
offered the
opportunity to become BioOne "sponsors" by pledging an additional
$5,000 or more that would not be eligible for a subscription credit.
The
response from the academic library community was enthusiastic and
generous. Eager for an electronic publishing alternative that might
help transform
scholarly communications, BioOne received a total of $688,000 in
start-up funding from 123 institutions: $559,500 came from charter
support with 25
of those same institutions pledging an additional $128,500 of sponsor
support. Of these 123 total contributors, 117 were members of SPARC
(67% of the
then roster of 175 total members), and 22 were members of what is now
the Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA). Additionally, Amigos
Library
Services and OCLC provided substantial financial support to BioOne's
development fund.
After
six years, BioOne has returned about $672,000 in
subscription credits ($112,500 over the initial support) to its charter
supporters, effectively bringing this landmark program to a close. At
this time BioOne gratefully recognizes the contributions of these
institutions, without whom BioOne would not exist. For a complete
list of supporters, please see http://www.arl.org/sparc/partner/07-0403BioOne.html.
___________________________________________________________________
3.
Industry Roundup
Major Society Publishers Announce Support for Public
Access
Two major society publishers have made public their support for public
access to publicly funded research. The American Society for Cell
Biology
(ASCB), a non-profit scientific society of over 11,000 members and
publisher of the high-impact monthly journal, Molecular Biology of the
Cell,
has announced its "Position on Public Access to Scientific Literature,"
calling for free public access to federally funded research within
six months of publication. ASCB has provided free access (after a
two-month embargo) to research published in its journals since 2001 and
has
experienced no adverse impact on its finances. For more
information: http://www.ascb.org/
In related news, the
National
Society of Consulting Soil Scientists, which represents 156 private
soil consulting firms in the U.S., has declared its support for the
Federal
Research Public Access Act. The society is the first to publicly
announce its support for the bill, which is backed by SPARC and the
Alliance for
Taxpayer Access. For further information, see: http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/media/Advisory07-0130.html.
Eigenfactor Web Site Goes Live
The official version of the full Eigenfactor web site is now available online at http://www.eigenfactor.org/.
Eigenfactor.org is a non-commercial academic
research project sponsored by the Bergstrom lab in the Department of
Biology at the University of Washington which aims to develop novel
methods for
evaluating the influence of scholarly periodicals and for mapping the
structure of academic research. The Eigenfactor web site now covers all
7000+
journals in the 2004 Science and Social Science JCR, and also covers
110,000+ reference items cited by these journals but not listed in the
JCR.
The web site also provides information on the value-per-dollar
that journals provide. Users can click on any journal title, and see a
popup
with more information, including full information about price,
publisher, and value provided, courtesy of Ted Bergstrom and Preston
McAfee's http://www.journalprices.com/.
European University Association's Statement on OA
The
European University Association's Working Group
on Open Access has released a Statement on Open Access, building on the
European Commission's study on OA and the EURAB Report on "Scientific
Publication: Policy on Open Access." Among other points, the report
emphasizes the need for well-functioning open access repositories and
networking
between them (on the basis of common standards) for archiving purposes
as a viable alternative to other modes of publication in the digital
world,
and the strengthening of legal rights (such as non-exclusive copyright)
and related legal requirements through the promotion, advancement or
encouragement of model copyright agreements at university institutional
as well as individual researcher level. For more information: http://www.eua.be/.
HHMI Pens Agreement with Elsevier for Access to
Research
Howard
Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), the nation's largest private supporter
of biomedical research, has announced an
agreement with Elsevier to open up access to papers that scientists
affiliated with the institute have published in any of the 2,000
journals in the
Elsevier family. HHMI will fund this effort, which takes effect
for articles published after September 1, 2007. For more information: http://www.hhmi.org/news/hhmielsevier20070308.html
Creative Commons Launches Education
Initiative
Creative
Commons has launched a new division called CC Learn, which will extend
its work to support open educational
material and repositories from the period of kindergarten through
lifelong learning. This initiative has been made possible by support of
the Hewlett
Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation. CC Learn will be more focused
on teaching materials, while its work on open access to the scholarly
literature will remain part of the Scholar's Copyright project in the
Science Commons division. For more information: http://sciencecommons.org/projects/publishing/index.html.
NIST Surveys Scientists' Information Habits
NIST (the National Institute of Standards and Technology) has announced that it plans to investigate how
the next generation of scientists, (frequently referred to as the
Millennial
Generation), will seek scientific information in their research. Having
grown up with information technology, studies show that this generation
has
technological preferences for receiving and integrating content, and
the NIST study plans to see if this extends to scientific content.
Specifically the project aims to learn: (1) Which library
resources and information services are most valuable and why, and (2)
what
scientific library resources do not exist that could, or are not yet
robust enough to be valuable. Further the study aims to learn: (3) In
what
specific ways are commercial Internet tools both successful and
unsuccessful in helping find answers, (4) which platforms and devices
are most
helpful and why, and (5) which technologies help support collaboration
with peers. NIST is collecting public comments on the project
until May
21, 2007. For more information, see http://www.nist.gov.
Interagency Working Group on Digital Data
The
new Interagency Working Group on Digital Data (IWGDD) established by
the
Committee on Science of the National Science and Technology Council
represents 22 agencies, including the National Science Foundation,
NASA, the
Departments of Energy, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services,
among others. According to Nature,
"The group's first step is to
set up a robust public infrastructure so all researchers have a
permanent home for their data." The working group will develop a
strategic plan
for the US government concerning the long-term preservation and access
to federally funded digital data in support of science and engineering.
For
additional information on this topic, please see http://www.arl.org/pp/access.
___________________________________________________________________
4. Create Change: Interview with David R.
Morrison
Editor's Note:
The newest interview on the Create Change web site
features David R. Morrison, professor of mathematics and physics at the
University of California in Santa Barbara. He received his
undergraduate
degree from Princeton University and his master's and doctorate at
Harvard University. He served on the editorial board of Communications in
Mathematical Physics from 2002-2003. Currently, he serves on the editorial board of Advances in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics and the New
York Journal of Mathematics. An excerpt of the interview appears below. To read the complete interview, go to: http//www.createchange.org.
How have the Internet and arXiv changed the way mathematicians and physicists research and communicate? What have been the
benefits?
The
Internet itself has really enabled a kind long-distance collaboration
that was difficult to do before. I wrote a
paper in 1989 in which my collaborator was on sabbatical in Germany. We
were so pleased to email drafts back and forth. This notion of making
progress by instant communication of long technical documents, which
could be revised by either person--that was really a major advance.
It's
more than just the availability, it's being able to search and find things quickly.
At
the beginning of my career, I often wanted to know
something about some area of math that I did not know too well. I was
good at using the library reference tools. I could spend an entire
afternoon
tracking down something that now I can find really easily. The very
fact that a lot of important bibliographical tools have become
electronic is a
big advance and really streamlined the way we work. These days I
can sit at my desk and access--often with arXiv or electronic versions
of
journals--much of the literature that I need to look at with a couple
of mouse clicks.
What is the future of peer review of
scholarship in your field?
People
who are actively working in my field don't really need a formal peer
review
mechanism because we are doing this sort of thing informally all the
time. We recognize which are the important papers and can make those
evaluations
quickly. But if someone is trying to evaluate me for my next promotion,
they need more than just letters of recommendation. They need some kind
of
quantitative measures to assess how things are going and the
traditional journal system provides them with that.
___________________________________________________________________
5. Upcoming Events
SPARC Activities:
Catholic University School of Library and Information Science
Colloquium
Catholic University, Washington, D.C. - Information Commons. "Enabling Access, Enabling Scholarship," Tuesday, April 3,
12:00 pm, with SPARC Director Heather Joseph.
Chemists without Borders' Open Access, Open Source Speaker Series
(Teleconference)
Thursday, April 5 9:00 a.m. PST, Noon EST, with SPARC Director Heather Joseph. For more information: http://chemistswithoutborders.blogspot.com/2007/03/open-access-open-source-speaker-series.html
See http://www.arl.org/sparc/meetings/calendar.html for a complete list of SPARC events.
Community Events:
OAI5--5th Workshop on Innovations in Scholarly Communication
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, April 18-20, 2007
http://oai5.web.cern.ch/oai5
ELPUB 2007
Vienna, Austria, June
13-15, 2007
http://www.elpub.net/
First International PKP Scholarly
Publishing Conference (SPARC-sponsored)
Vancouver, July 11-13, 2007
http://pkp.sfu.ca/node/493
Berlin 5 Open Access: From Practice to Impact: Consequences on Knowledge
Dissemination
Padova, Italy, September 19-21, 2007
http://oa.mpg.de/openaccess-padua/index.html
___________________________________________________________________
6.
Articles of Interest
Cohen, Adam. EU To Support More Cost-Free Access To Research Results. Dow Jones
Newswires. February 15, 2007.
Dotinga, Randy. Open Access Launches Journal Wars. Wired News. March 14, 2007. http://www.wired.com/news/technology/medtech/0,72704-0.html?tw=wn_index_1
Engelward BP, Roberts RJ. Open Access to
Research Is in the Public Interest. PLoS Biology 5(2): February 13, 2007. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0050048
Gerhardt, Deborah R. Reading the Fine Print.
Chronicle of Higher Education. March 22, 2007. http://chronicle.com//temp/email2.php?id=PmHhtw6MvgNyvmX8zmdFPP4BsJYcc4Dh
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