This week, we share our recent guest post discussing how Pfizer are improving equity through open access education. We read about the UNESCO Open Science Toolkit, about the three new members of the National Open Access Agreement in France, and about the first steps of the DIAMAS diamond open access project. We also read about how ORCID can be used to navigate legal transparency and open access requirements in the USA, as well as about what the publishing and research industries need to do to tackle the problem of paper mills. Finally, we highlight the DIAMAS survey on the landscape of diamond open access and institutional publishing, and we share an upcoming webinar on improving clinical trial reporting.
To read:
Improving equity through open access education via Open Pharma | 3-minute read
We are excited to share our recent guest post by Catherine Skobe (Senior Director and Publications Innovative Solutions Lead at Pfizer), J.R. Meloro (Global Head of Disclosure, Publications and Transparency at Pfizer) and Adam Watson (Director of Medical Excellence at Pfizer). In this post, the guest authors share the steps being taken at Pfizer to promote equity in research and healthcare, particularly through providing education to enhance knowledge about open science best practices. The authors state that these “educational efforts are paying off”, with 88% of Pfizer-sponsored publications being published open access in 2021.
The present and future of the UNESCO Open Science Toolkit via UNESCO | 4-minute read
This article by UNESCO provides a summary of the new UNESCO Open Science Toolkit, including what it currently contains and what future iterations will contain. The toolkit was created to support the implementation of the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, which was adopted by 193 countries in 2021 at the 41st session of the UNESCO General Conference. It currently consists of a set of eight guides for open access, but more tools will be available soon, including open indices, open science checklists and factsheets, and more guides.
New members of the French National Open Access Agreement via STM Publishing News | 2-minute read
Three more institutions have become members of the National Open Access Agreement in France. These new members are the University of Artois, the University of Rouen Normandy and the Jean Monnet University in Saint-Étienne. This means that authors from these institutions can publish their work open access in 31 participating journals, with no article processing charges. There are now 70 member institutions of the National Open Access Agreement in France, which represent the majority of French science-focused universities, most French research organizations, and other notable organizations such as CNRS, CEA and Inserm.
First steps of the DIAMAS diamond open access project via Research Professional News | 1-minute read
The EU-funded DIAMAS project, which was launched last September, has taken its first concrete steps towards evaluating Europe’s diamond open access publishing landscape. The 3-year DIAMAS project has kicked off with a survey of institutional publishers in 25 countries within the European Research Area. The survey aims to map current institutional publishing landscapes, both generally and in terms of diamond open access. You can read more about this survey and how to take part in the To engage with section below.
Supporting open access and research integrity at ORCID via ORCID | 10-minute read
The 2020s have seen two large pieces of legislation come from the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy. First, the NSPM-33 memo on research security was released in in 2021. This was followed a year later by the Nelson memo on open access to federally funded research. This article looks at what these two pieces of legislation mean for funders, universities, and researchers, and how ORCID can help navigate these new requirements to ensure compliance.
Future strategies to defeat paper mills via The Scholarly Kitchen | 5-minute read
Paper mills have recently become a significant problem in the world of research misconduct. In short, paper mills create and sell fraudulent research that is made to look like actual research. This is done by fabricating the content of submitted research articles and manipulating key aspects in the publishing process, such as editing or peer review, to ensure fabricated articles get published. In this blog, Jay Flynn (Executive Vice President and General Manager of Research at Wiley) discusses recent experiences with paper mills in the publishing industry and what the next steps for publishers and researchers are in order to tackle the problem.
To engage with:
The Open Access Diamond and Institutional Publishing Landscape Survey via DIAMAS
As part of the DIAMAS diamond open access initiative, the Open Access Diamond and Institutional Publishing Landscape Survey has just launched and can be completed here. The survey aims to “map how institutional publishing is currently organised in order to understand existing challenges and develop resources, tools, policies and strategies.” Ultimately, this will provide future support to institutional publishers and their associated stakeholders. DIAMAS is also hosting a number of SURVEY-A-THONS, which are sessions designed to help respondents complete the survey. The times and dates of these sessions are provided here. The survey is open until 30 April 2023.
Enhancing the speed and transparency of clinical trial reporting via TranspariMED
Join Emma Thompson (Advocacy and Partnerships Lead at Cochrane) and a panel of discussants as they brainstorm ways to drive effective clinical trial reporting. This free webinar will take place on 27 April 2023 and will include a series of lightning presentations from the panel, followed by an open discussion. Registration for the webinar is required and you can do so here.
Have you watched our talk shows on the future of pharma research communications? Catch up on Part 1 and Part 2 of the talk shows on our YouTube channel!
