This week, firstly, we highlight the upcoming Open Pharma Satellite Symposium. We also hear about preprint publishing from Nature, about growing open science in Africa, and about the evolving nature of data protection. We read about what motivates open science advocates, as well as whether open science is in fact a human right. Finally, we hear about the special benefits of publishing open access with Springer Nature journals.
To engage with:
It’s less than a month until the Open Pharma Satellite Symposium! via Open Pharma
Time is running out to book your place at the Open Pharma Satellite Symposium: Who can we trust? Open science and pharma research. On 14 September 2022, Open Pharma heads to Manchester, UK, for the symposium, which takes place at 10:00–12:30 BST, just before the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) Annual Conference and Awards 2022. The symposium is free and absolutely everybody is welcome to attend, from patients to healthcare professionals, and publishers to medical communications specialists. You can check out the programme here and register here to secure your place!
To watch or listen:
Vive la preprint révolution: Nature’s view on preprints via Nature | 25-minute listen
In this podcast, four publishing experts at Nature – Nick Petrić Howe, Elizabeth Gibney, Ehsan Masood and Zoltan Fehervari – sit down to discuss the pros and cons of preprint publishing. This roundtable discussion highlights several important aspects of preprint publishing including the democratization of science, the loss of scientific trust, and the relationship between preprints and peer-reviewed journals. The group also discusses how preprint publishing has changed over the pandemic period, as well as looking at what the future holds.
The state of open science in Africa via YouTube | 1-hour watch
The number of scientific publications coming out of most African countries has increased 2–20-fold over the past two decades. Therefore, there is a growing movement to enhance open science practices on the African continent. This webinar, hosted by Africa Open Science Hardware, discusses the landscape of open access publishing in Africa with Jo Havemann, the founder of AfricArXiv and CEO of Access 2 Perspectives.
Data protection amid evolving laws via The Publication Plan | 20-minute listen
In the second episode of the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP) 2022 InformED podcast season, Jordan Fischer from Octillo Legal & Tech discusses the changing nature of data privacy and protection in an evolving legal landscape. The episode highlights changes in international and domestic privacy laws – particularly those surrounding patient confidentiality – and how these laws will affect medical publishers. You can also listen to the first episode of the ISMPP 2022 podcast season here.
To read:
The motivation behind improving open science via PLOS | 5-minute read
For open science to become the norm, the scientific community needs people who are driven by the end goal of truly open science. But what actually motivates people to advance open science practices? In the second of a new interview series by PLOS, which examines what drives their employees to push the boundaries of open science, Marcel LaFlamme – PLOS Open Research Manager – talks about what he does at PLOS, why he does it, and why he thinks it’s important. You can also read the first interview in this series here.
Is open science a human right? viaMedium | 10-minute read
Open science is a human right, according to this post by Laura Carter from the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex and writer for Open Heroines. Laura writes that there is even legal backing for this argument from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. She explains that “the international human rights system wants you to do … open science” and proposes that using legal arguments could help researchers and funders to achieve this goal.
The special benefits of publishing open access with Springer Nature via STM Publishing News | 2-minute read
Springer Nature has an open access portfolio of nearly 600 journals. Analysis has shown that publishing in these journals has substantial benefits for authors and researchers, when compared with other publishers’ open access journals. These benefits include more people downloading your work, more people reading and using your work, and the ability to publish in the broadest selection of fully open access journals of all publishers. The full report can be found here.
Have you seen our recent commentary about user perspectives on plain language summaries? Read it here in Current Medical Research and Opinion.
