This week, we learn about the roles funders can have in the progression of open science. We also hear about the birth of a potentially revolutionary publication platform, and the creation of better health content in the NHS. We read about the availability of research repositories, the expansion of the Oxford Academic platform, and an open access database on monkeypox research provided by The Lancet. Finally, we highlight the State of Journal Production and Access 2022 survey, as well as ISMPP West 2022.
To watch:
What are the roles of funders in open science? via figshare | 50-minute watch
The making and breaking of research relies on the resources provided by funders. But does their involvement in research end at simply providing funds, or should it go beyond that? In this webinar, Mark Hahnel (CEO and founder of figshare) discusses the roles funders can have in enabling scientists to make their research discoverable, shareable and citable. Mark also talks about green open access, sharing conference presentations, and why funders should make use of figshare to host and share data.
To read:
Man the barricades! A revolution in scientific publishing via Peer Review | 12-minute read
“Scientific and academic publishing is broken” and “fees have gotten so high that even well-funded universities have started to walk away”. These are the views of the creators of Peer Review – an open source, diamond open access publishing platform that hopes to revolutionize the publication processes. They hope to create a publishing environment in which publication of and access to research is free for all via the online Peer Review platform, while retaining processes such as peer review and refereeing to ensure quality and rigour. The platform is currently in closed alpha development, but the creators believe that the site has the potential to replace the entire journal system. If you are interested, you can sign up and provide feedback on the developing platform.
Creating better health content in the NHS via NHS Digital | 5-minute read
Up to 61% of adults in the UK have a low level of health literacy. Clear, accurate and simple health content can help people understand their health and care for themselves better, as well as making them more likely to seek help and care when needed. To aid in this endeavour, Sara Wilcox and Joe Freeman of the UK National Health Service (NHS) have introduced the standard for creating health content that will be implemented across the NHS. This standard focuses on making content clear, current, accurate, accessible and inclusive, while also complying with relevant laws and regulations. It is hoped that the standard will help improve the quality of health content provided by the NHS.
The curious case of research repositories via Cornell University arXiv | 12-minute read
Internet-based research repositories are key to open science practices. However, due to their web-based existence, they are prone to change, movement or discontinuation. This study, shared on preprint server arXiv, looks at the content of four prominent research registries (FAIRsharing, re3data, OpenDOAR, and ROAR) and analyses whether the repositories they link to are still available or whether they have suffered from the dreaded ‘link rot’, where URLs no longer direct users to the correct website.
OUP expands the Oxford Academic platform via FE News | 2-minute read
Oxford Academic is the research platform for Oxford University Press (OUP), providing a single entry point for access to OUP-published journals. Now, OUP has announced that book content has also been made available on the platform. So far, more than 42 000 books and over 500 000 chapters have been uploaded onto the platform alongside 500 journals and roughly 3 million articles. Despite this, only 20% of OUP journals and 30% of OUP articles are currently open access. However, OUP is taking steps to enhance its open access commitments.
To interact with:
Open access research repository for monkeypox via The Lancet
The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly shown that sharing research freely is essential for effective and rapid responses to public health emergencies. It is therefore great to hear that The Lancet has created a repository of open access monkeypox publications that are free to all, in response to the current outbreak.
Take the State of Journal Production and Access 2022 survey via Scholastica
In the modern age of digital publishing, what are the priorities of publishers when it comes to article production, metadata and open access? To find out, Scholastica is running the ‘State of Journal Production and Access 2022’ survey and wants to gather the insights of anyone involved in journal publishing. You can take the survey here, but be quick because it closes on 25 August 2022. The results of the survey will be made openly available.
ISMPP West 2022 heads to California via ISMPP
This year, the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP) West conference will head to sunny Irvine, California on 26–27 September. Entitled ‘Take the LEAD!’, the conference will focus on demonstrating leadership to drive change and create best practices in medical publications. You can register here for ISMPP West 2022. Registrations close on 15 September.
Have you heard about the Open Pharma Satellite Symposium at the 2022 Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers Annual Conference and Awards? Check the programme and register here to secure a place.
