This week, we hear about the call for public input on the NIH Public Access Plan. We read a study on how altmetrics for publication attention, engagement and citation change over the lifetime of a publication, and we also read about a new type of research paper at some Nature journals. We hear about the benefits of open access for researchers from lower-income countries, and we highlight the upcoming UCL Open Science Conference 2023, a webinar on using data to design open access strategies, and a webinar on APCs. Finally, we catch up on a webinar on altmetrics for evaluating clinical trial attention and engagement.
To read:
A call for public input on the NIH Public Access Plan via National Institutes of Health National Library of Medicine | 5-minute read
In response to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s (OSTP) mandate on open access to all federally funded research that was announced at the end of 2022, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are working towards the launch of the NIH Plan to Enhance Public Access to Results of NIH-Supported Research, also known as the NIH Public Access Plan. Consistent with the OSTP’s mandate for public transparency, accessibility and equity, the NIH have put out a call for public input on the Public Access Plan. The plan can be viewed here, and the feedback period ends on 24 April 2023. You can read more about the Public Access Plan and the call for public input here and here on the NIH blog.
The temporal characteristics of altmetrics via Scientometrics | 40-minute read
This paper, published in Scientometrics and written by Michael Taylor (PhD student at the University of Wolverhampton and Head of Metrics Development at Digital Science), looks at how different altmetric components change over the lifetime of a publication. Looking at five altmetric data sources – Twitter, Mendeley, news, blogs and policy – Michael evaluated the temporal trends in publication engagement, attention and citation via each of the sources. He found that each altmetric source had advantages that emerged, evolved and disappeared over time, with each showing distinct temporal trends.
Registered Reports now available at some Nature journals via Nature | 4-minute read
Nature has announced that they will start publishing Registered Reports in some of its journals focusing on cognitive neuroscience, behavioural science and social sciences. Designed to encourage experimental rigour and replicability, Registered Reports are published based on how solid the research question is and whether the experimental methodology is rigorous, thorough and transparent. Importantly, publishers commit to publishing Registered Reports before the study has been carried out, meaning that peer review focuses on methodology rather than on results. Nature hopes that introducing Registered Reports will help combat publication bias and incentivise authors to publish research regardless of whether the results are positive.
What are the benefits of open access for researchers from lower-income countries? via SocArVix | 30-minute read
This preprint, hosted on the SocArXiv preprint server, looks at the importance of open access research to authors from lower-income countries. For many researchers in lower-income countries, access to publications is often hindered by prohibitively expensive subscription costs. This has led to some interesting trends in how literature is cited by these researchers. For instance, this preprint found that publications by authors from lower-income countries cite a higher proportion of open access references in their bibliographies than researchers from high-income countries, and that this proportion is growing at a higher rate in lower-income countries than in high-income countries. This research suggests that open access publishing is particularly beneficial for researchers in lower-income countries.
To engage with:
Tickets now on sale for the UCL Open Science Conference 2023! via University College London
Returning for 2023, the University College London (UCL) Open Science Conference is now open for registration! A full day event taking place on 24 April 2023, this year’s conference will focus on Open Science and the Case for Social Justice and will feature topics such as community-driven open science, the future of open science, sustainability, co-production and equity. Taking place in a hybrid format, either on the UCL Bloomsbury Campus or online, book your place today!
Using data to design open access strategies via OA Switchboard
On 21 March 2023, the OA Switchboard and the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) are hosting a free webinar titled Data-Driven Approaches to Design your OA strategy. This webinar will focus on how to use data and metadata to help support the open access movement and the design of effective open access strategies. The webinar will feature an expert panel that includes Jeroen Sondervan (Publishing Consultant at the University of Utrecht), Matthew Goddard (E-Resources Librarian at Iowa State University Library), Anke de Looper (Editor at John Benjamins Publishing Company), Young Lee (Marketing Manager at Berghahn Books) and Jamie Carmichael (Senior Director at CCC), who will share their experiences of using data to guide open access strategies. You can register for the webinar here.
The latest on article processing charges via Delta Think
Join Delta Think as they evaluate the current landscape of hybrid and gold open access article processing charges (APCs). This free webinar, hosted by Daniel Pollock (Chief Digital Officer at Delta Think) and Heather Staines (Senior Consultant at Delta Think), takes place on 21 March 2023 and will look at the underlying factors that are affecting changes in the cost of APCs, as well as how these costs have changed over the past year. Register here today!
To watch:
How much attention is your clinical trial getting? via Altmetric | 45-minute watch
Interested in evaluating the attention and engagement that a clinical trial is getting? Then catch up on this Altmetric webinar from October 2022, which is now ready to view on demand. Learn how to use Altmetric Explorer and Dimensions to search for the level and type of attention that a clinical trial is getting in mass media, including social media. This webinar also covers how to find publications reporting clinical trial results and how Twitter can affect clinical trial result dissemination. The webinar is free but requires registration before watching.
Have you read the December 2022 issue of Medical Writing about Open Science and Open Pharma? Read the full issue here!
