An update on Plan S
On 14 January an independent report was published by Information Power. This report is the output of a project funded by Wellcome and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) on behalf of cOAlition S to inform the development of Plan S. "The report recommends that the introduction of a new Plan S requirement needs to be organised with clear implementation guidelines, and a proper plan for testing, development, release, review, and refinement, with a pilot as a next step". cOAlition S "has accepted the recommendation that such a framework needs to be piloted before implementation and agreed a project extension to pilot and refine the framework during the first quarter of 2020".
Related to Plan S, in November 2019 cOAlition S asked for feedback on a draft framework for transformative journals, which included mandatory criteria for transformative journals, with a deadline of 6 January 2020. During the last two months, we have seen a few responses surrounding the Plan S consultation on Transformative Journals, especially from publishers and learned societies.
On 17 December, Springer Nature published a Press Release appealing to cOAlition S in an open letter emphasising that alternative conditions are needed in order for cOAlition S’s proposal for Transformative Journals to succeed and “unless changes are made to the conditions being proposed the publisher believes it would be unable to commit to its journals participating”. cOAlitionS responded, rebutting the points raised.
After publishing a guidance paper on “Plan S and the History Journal Landscape” last October, the Royal Historical Society also responded on 19 December saying that the “RHS does not support imposing arbitrary, unachievable targets for yearly increases in OA” and they “see little or no prospect of History journals “flipping” to full OA”.
On 6 January De Gruyter issued an initial position highlighting that “a complete open access system for all humanities and social science content currently presents an extreme challenge and would require levels of investment that are not achievable without additional financial support, especially for smaller publishers”. In their response, they make particular references to transformative journals saying among other things that “Coalition S cannot dictate growth in the market” and that “the timelines are untenable”.
An open letter titled “An HSS perspective on the mandatory criteria for transformative journals” written on behalf by 45 HSS publishers has welcomed the efforts of cOAlition S urging, however, “to continue to be mindful of the unintended consequences for academic colleagues and disciplines that do not have the luxury of direct funding, or access to money for APCs from their organisation or institution”.
And finally, the response from the Society Publishers’ Coalition, welcomed the expanded mechanisms for Plan S compliance in principle, but also stressed that “the framework as currently written is not workable” and that “it is essential that this transition is carefully considered and planned, that it harnesses prevailing market dynamics and treats all authors equitably”.
|
|
Updated policy framework on research data management from the University of Cambridge
There has been an update to the University of Cambridge Policy Framework on Research Data Management. The new version reflects the expectations of best practice held by the major funders of the University and is applicable to all research staff and students.
Research data is expected to be managed in a sensible, secure and robust manner from the beginning to the end of a project. Where possible, data should also be shared in order to increase the transparency and reusability of the research conducted at the University. All researchers from Principal Investigators to PhDs have a responsibility towards good data management and are encouraged to read the Policy Framework.
If you have any questions about the Policy Framework or research data management please contact the Research Data Management Facility (info@data.cam.ac.uk) or visit their website.
Further info
An update on DORA from the University of Cambridge
In July 2019 the University of Cambridge and Cambridge University Press announced that they have signed up to the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment ( DORA). Since signing DORA, the University’s Research Policy and Open Research Steering Committees established a Working Group, chaired by Professor Steven Russell, to develop a framework for guiding the assessment of research output that can be adopted by the University.
Two open meetings were organised on 20 and 21 January to raise awareness of DORA, answer any questions and begin a process of consultation on how the University will implement the principles of DORA. In the near future, a survey will be circulated in order to collect the views of researchers at all levels and across all Schools and Faculties to inform the development of the framework.
Draft guidance by Wellcome on DORA implementation
Wellcome has published draft guidance for Wellcome-funded organisations on how to implement the core principles of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA). The guidance includes principles such as "making sure one or more senior leaders take ownership for championing the DORA principles" and "prohibiting the use of language in job advertisements which refers directly or indirectly to journal title as a proxy for quality (for example, a track record of publication in leading journals).
You can take part in the consultation survey (deadline 24 February 2020) which will help shape Wellcome's final guidance version.
Dutch universities and research funders move away from the impact factor
The Dutch universities, university medical centers and research institutes, together with funding agencies NWO (The Dutch Research Council) and ZonMW (The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development) are revisiting their collective system of recognition and rewards. According to their collaborative position paper which was published last autumn “many academics feel there is a one-sided emphasis on research performance, frequently leading to the undervaluation of the other key areas such as education, impact, leadership and (for university medical centres) patient care“. The paper highlights the fact that a drastic change is required. For example, academics will see a reduced emphasis on quantitative results, and a stronger appreciation of aspects like scientific integrity, collaboration and teaching. Furthermore, to facilitate this transition, more effort will be made in the field of human resources and career planning. NWO and ZonMw will no longer inquire about h-index or journal impact factor when academics submit grant applications. Instead of asking for a publication list and CV, they will ask for a more ‘narrative’ approach – inquiring about why this research is important, and why the applicant is the right person to carry it out.
Jisc consortium secures five open access agreements with learned societies
Five open access agreements with UK based learned societies are now available to UK universities. The Microbiology Society, Portland Press, IWA Publishing, the Company of Biologists and the European Respiratory Society all now offer transitional journal agreements through the national Jisc consortium. These ‘read and publish’ two-year pilots allow 100% of UK scholarly output to be published OA in the societies’ hybrid journals, with some including fully OA titles in the fixed-price deals.
Springer Nature and Germany’s Projekt DEAL finalize world’s largest transformative open access agreement
On 8 January 2020 Projekt DEAL entered into an agreement with Springer Nature for open access publishing. The second such agreement negotiated by Projekt DEAL is regarded as the world’s largest transformative Open Access agreement at the time of signing.
Further info
US open access mandate seen as painful but needed
The White House is considering drafting an executive order that would follow in the footsteps of Plan S and mandate immediate free access to all published federally funded research. But the Association of American Publishers and its members – many of them scientific societies – have argued that the anticipated executive order “would wipe out a significant sector of our economy”.
Further info
PLOS joins other publishers and societies in support of the proposed White House policy regarding federally funded research
PLOS (Public Library of Science) and other organizations sent a letter to the Trump Administration on 17 January highlighting their support to the proposed administration policy that would mandate immediate open distribution of peer-reviewed journal articles reporting on federally-funded research. They also encourage all publishing organizations and scholarly societies who would like to join them in support of OA in the USA to reach out to them.
UK and German research collaboration supports innovation in the arts and humanities
Elsevier has signed a national license deal with Couperin, France’s consortium of universities and research organizations, but critics say it doesn’t do enough to advance open access (OA) to scientific journal articles.
Further info
Swiss researchers to lose access to prestigious journals over open access
Negotiations over a contract with academic publisher Springer Nature have failed over the issue of open access and costs leaving researchers without access to over 2,100 titles from January 2020. Negotiations with other major academic publishers have been more promising.
Further info
Doing more with ORCID at the University of Cambridge
Jisc has recently published a series of blogs highlighting the first set of case studies which look at workflows involving ORCID IDs. The third blog published earlier this month showcases the ORCID IDs in Research Data Management workflows at the University of Cambridge and how a workflow has been implemented in order to create seamless links between researchers and their works using identifiers and different services. Such solutions improve visibility and discoverability across systems, reduce duplication of effort in entering information and avoid identification errors.
This work was made possible by Agustina Martinez Garcia of the Office of Scholarly Communication, Owen Roberson of the Research Office, and Dean Johnson of the University Information Services who were amongst the winners of the professional services recognition scheme two years ago for their effective collaborative working on this complex project. According to the blog, as of September 2019, 25,550 articles, 1,329 conference proceedings and 1,100 datasets in Apollo have ORCID IDs.
|
|
Blogs we've enjoyed
- Thoughts on Electronic Research Notebooks as a national service for the academic community Alastair Downie, Gurdon Institute blog, 2 December
- Introducing SCOPE – a process for evaluating responsibly Laura Himanen and Lizzie Gadd, The Bibliomagician, 11 December
- For the humanities to play a stronger role in public policy making, they must move from individual to institutional engagement Frans Brom, LSE Impact Blog, 13 January
- An Open Insights Interview with Janneke Adema and Gary Hall Open Library of Humanities, 13 January
- The journal publication system betrays the purpose of science Alexandra Freeman, WONKHE, 4 December
- To address the rise of predatory publishing in the social sciences, journals need to experiment with open peer review Maximilian Heimstädt and Leonhard Dobusch, LSE Impact Blog, 10 January
- Will the Hybrid Journal Be Transformed by Plan S? Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe, The Scholarly Kitchen, 17 December
- Introducing the CC Search Browser Extension Mayank Nader, Creative Commons blog, 6 January
|
|
There are 16 short modules designed for anyone to discover more about Open Data. The modules suit all levels from beginners to experts. Each module can take between 15 and 30 minutes to complete for those who wish to get just an overview, but also provides up to 2 hours of extra reading for those who want to dive deeper into a specific area.
Online resources on reproducible research covering themes such as reproducibility, bioinfomatics tools, citation managers, electronic lab notebooks, data sharing, data visualsation, data filing and 'wet lab' protocol sharing.
|
|
Recent articles of interest
- Book: The No-nonsense Guide to Research Support and Scholarly Communication Claire Sewell, facet publishing, January 2020, 208pp, isbn: 9781783303939
- Predatory journals: no definition, no defence Nature 576, 210-212 (2019) doi: 10.1038/d41586-019-03759-y Agnes Grudniewicz, David Moher, Kelly D. Cobey and 32 co-authors
- Comment: Check for publication integrity before misconduct Nature 577, 167-169 (2020)
doi: 10.1038/d41586-019-03959-6 Andrew Grey,, Mark J. Bolland, Alison Avenell, Andrew A. Klein & C. K. Gunsalus
- Report: Open Data Goldbook for Data Managers and Data Holders: Practical guidebook for organisations wanting to publish Open Data Wendy Carrara, Sem Enzerink, Fréderique Oudkerk, Cosmina Radu, Eva van Steenbergen (Capgemini Consulting), European Commission, January 2018
- Report: Recommendations for Services in a FAIR data ecosystem Daniel Bangert (RDA Europe), Emilie Hermans (OpenAIRE), René van Horik (EOSC-hub), Maaike deJong (FREYA), Hylke Koers (FAIRsFAIR), Mustapha Mokrane (FAIRsFAIR), 19 December 2019, doi: 10.5281/zenodo.3585742
- Further improvement of our metrics—will plan S affect them? Arne Andersson (Editor), Daniel Espes (Statistical Consultant) & Joey Lau Börjesson (Editorial Assistant) (2019) Further improvement of our metrics—will plan S affect them?, Upsala Journal of Medical Sciences, 124:4, 215-217, doi: 10.1080/03009734.2019.1691688
- Report: Open Data Maturity Report 2019 Written by Marit Blank (Consultant, Capgemini Invent), by the European Commission, Directorate-General of Communications Networks, Content and Technology, December 2019, doi: 10.2830/073835
- Meta-Research: Releasing a preprint is associated with more attention and citations for the peer-reviewed article Darwin Y Fu, Jacob J Hughey eLife 2019;8:e52646 DOI: 10.7554/eLife.52646 6 December 2019
- A study of the impact of data sharing on article citations using journal policies as a natural experiment Christensen G, Dafoe A, Miguel E, Moore DA, Rose AK (2019), PLoS ONE 14(12): e0225883. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225883
- The deal with DEAL for open access Philip Hunter EMBO Reports (2020) 21: e49794 December 2019
|
|
Would you like to become a Data Champion for the University of Cambridge?
Do you want to make a contribution toward improving the overall integrity of research data outputs at the University of Cambridge? Are you looking to boost your career with peer engagement and transferable skills? Any member of the University of Cambridge who is interested in research data management (RDM) and data sharing who would like to become a local contact on RDM can apply to become a Data Champion. Researchers, students, librarians, IT managers, data managers, other members of staff and anyone with a keen interest in RDM are invited to apply. We welcome applications from those working in all subject areas in all disciplines.
To find out more about what the role entails, what the benefits are for you, and what sources of support will be available to help you in your role as a Data Champion, please visit the Data Champions webpage where a link to the online application form is available. Applications are due by Friday 14 February 2020. If you have any questions, please email us at info@data.cam.ac.uk.
Lent term at the University of Cambridge: Open Research training for PhD students in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Bookings are now open for the open research workshops for HASS PhD students from the Office of Scholarly Communication (OSC). All courses and programmes are free but must be booked in advance. Booking details can be found in the OSC website. Please contact info@osc.cam.ac.uk if you have any queries.
Open research and open minds: a Cambridge perspective on sharing research outputs
Managing your digital information
Journals: publishing your research effectively
Books: publishing your research effectively
|
|
17-20 February 2020, Croke Park, Dublin
10 February 2020, 10.30-3pm, Glasgow
24-25 February 2020, London, UK
27 February 2020, London, UK
11-12 March 2020, Berlin, Germany
1-4 June 2020, South Africa
10 - 11 June 2020 Dartington, UK
6-18 September 2020 Manchester, UK
|
|
Community Communications Manager Wikidata/Wikibase, Wikimedia Deutschland, Germany. Apply by 26 January.
Director of Library Initiatives Big Ten Academic Alliance, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Apply by 10 February.
Research Publications Manager, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. Apply by 6 February.
Research Data Manager University of Salford, UK. Apply by 26 January.
Advancing Hyku Project Lead, British Library, UK. Apply by 29 January.
Data Stewardship Coordinator, ONCODE Netherlands. Open Application.
|
|
|
|
|
|
