This week, Open Pharma took part in Evidence Week in Parliament 2023, and we took the opportunity to showcase our talk show poll results. We read about current and future open access trends as well as predictions about the future of scholarly publishing. We also read about the responsible use of AI in medical publications and reflect on DORA’s 10th anniversary events. Finally, we share a webinar from COS on open access software that aids research discoverability.
To read:
Open Pharma heads to Evidence Week via Open Pharma | 3-minute read
This week, Open Pharma took part in Evidence Week at the UK Parliament in Westminster. We are grateful to our Supporter Taylor & Francis, who facilitated our presence. Evidence Week, run by Sense about Science, takes place between 3 and 7 July this year. It is focused on the use of evidence for making policy decisions. To mark our attendance, we published the results of the polls we carried out at our talk shows. The Open Pharma talk shows took place in February and brought together a varied group of people to discuss how to improve the communication and usefulness of evidence, with a focus on pharma research. If you missed them, you can watch recordings of the talk shows on our YouTube channel.
Is the tide turning in favour of universal, equitable open access? via International Science Council | 12-minute read
Over the past 5 years, the open access movement has gained momentum, and the publication landscape has begun to change. In this blog piece, Moumita Koley (International Science Council [ISC] consultant) shares her insights on the current academic publishing model and the emerging alternatives. She lists the eight core principles published by the ISC, aimed to support improved access to scientific publishing. Moumita also reflects on the value of peer-reviewed preprints and the challenge of balancing quality and timely access.
Journal impact factors and the future of open access publishing via JACMP | 18-minute read
The advent of the Internet has fundamentally changed the practicalities, economics and ethics of distributing scientific publications. This editorial, published in the Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics (JACMP), briefly summarizes the history of scientific publishing. It details the emergence of journal impact factors, the Internet and open access, and how these have shaped modern scientific publishing. The authors also outline their predictions for the future, which include the adoption of preprints and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline the publishing workflow.
What can be done to ensure ChatGPT is used responsibly? via The Publication Plan | 3-minute read
The AI chatbot ChatGPT was released by OpenAI in November 2022 and has since been the focus of intense discussions, including about the potential for its use in generating scientific and medical publications. This article summarizes published media around this topic and highlights five key recommendations for using systems like ChatGPT in the context of publishing and research from a Nature article published in February. AI chatbots are already being used in several areas of scientific publishing and will offer many benefits as long as all stakeholders prioritize transparency, integrity and accountability.
Research assessment reform can help researchers do more via DORA | 3-minute read
In May 2023, a week of events took place to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) and to review the impact of the initiative on the reform of research assessment. This article briefly outlines how the declaration has driven change around academic reward and incentive structures by amassing over 23 000 signatories who share the same vision. The article also highlights the workshop that we at Open Pharma took part in, titled How to write for non-academic audiences to achieve progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The slides and a handout with links to related resources can be found on the SDG Publishers Compact Fellows website.
To engage with:
Webinar on how to promote the discoverability of research at your organization via Center for Open Science
In this webinar on 12 July 2023 (18:00 GMT), product specialists from the Center for Open Science (COS) will discuss the free, open-source software platform Open Science Framework and the tools that they can offer research organizations and funders.
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