Open Access Overtaking Academic Library Leadership: Staying Ahead of the Organisational Dynamics an Increasingly Open Future May Bring [Scholarly Article - New Review of Academic Librarianship, 2022]

Title:

Open Access Overtaking Academic Library Leadership: Staying Ahead of the Organisational Dynamics an Increasingly Open Future May Bring

 

Authors:

Tim Schlak & Alexis Macklin

 

Published:

New Review of Academic Librarianship, 6 July 2022

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13614533.2022.2079539

 

Abstract:

With the fairly recent introduction of Transformative Agreements as an acquisitions and OA publishing mechanism in the context of US academic libraries, smaller institutions from Carnegie Classification R2 on down are grappling with questions of adaptation, mission response, and value proposition in a shifting environment. As Open Access continues to expand with increasing proliferation of OA content, smaller libraries are searching for answers as flat and declining budgets will eventually coincide with rising OA availability. This editorial reviews these challenges as expressed by a unique Community of Practice the authors assembled and guided through a series of conversations. Leadership-focussed solutions are offered as a way of aligning academic library management with broader trends in Higher Education.

 

The frequency of plagiarism identified by text-matching software in scientific articles: a systematic review and meta-analysis [Scholarly Article - Scientometrics, 2021]

Title:

The frequency of plagiarism identified by text-matching software in scientific articles: a systematic review and meta-analysis

 

Author:

Vanja Pupovac 

Published:

Scientometrics, 24 September 2021

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11192-021-04140-5

Abstract:

The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to determine the frequency of plagiarism in scientific papers estimated from publications that use text-matching software to identify plagiarism. For this purpose, a literature search of 39 bibliographic databases has been conducted and a total of 10,005 articles have been identified. Ten articles met the criteria for inclusion in the meta-analysis and they checked for plagiarism in 6459 already published articles or manuscripts submitted to journals or conferences. All articles assessed plagiarism in a two-step process, first identifying textual similarity based on text-matching software and second, additionally inspecting detected similarity in the human verification process. The result revealed that 18% (95% CI: 12–25%) of articles have instances of plagiarism. Subgroup analyses were conducted to explain the large variance in the results. Following factors were tested: the number of plagiarism criteria implemented during the human verification process, sample size, the country where the study was conducted, the scientific discipline of analyzed papers, and publication status of analyzed papers. Plagiarism rates were higher across studies with a smaller sample size (N < 500) or a larger number of plagiarism criteria used to identify plagiarism (4 or 5 criteria). In conclusion, text-matching software is effective in providing evidence for plagiarism; however, this includes only textually based cases of plagiarism, and the reliability of software results depends on additional human verification.

China’s clampdown on fake-paper factories picks up speed [Nature, October 2021]

Title:

China’s clampdown on fake-paper factories picks up speed 

 

Author:

Holly Els 

Published:

Nature, 1 October 2021

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02587-3

 

From the article:

As part of a misconduct crackdown, Chinese funders are penalizing researchers who commission sham journal articles from ‘paper mills’, but some say the measures still don’t go far enough.

 

Open access takes flight [Scholarly Article - Science, 1 January 2021]

Title:

Open access takes flight

 

Author:

Jeffrey Brainard

 

Published:

Science, Volume 371, Issue 6524, pp. 16-20 (1 January 2021)

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6524/16

From the article:

As a new mandate takes effect, researchers and institutions grapple with the trade-offs of making scientific publications free fro all.

Nature journals pilot payment for 'editorial assessment' [Times Higher Education, 24 November 2020]

Title:

Nature journals pilot payment for 'editorial assessment'

 

Author:

Jack Grove

 

Published:

Times Higher Education, 24 November 2020

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/nature-journals-pilot-payment-editorial-assessment

 

From the article:

Prestigious journal group seeks to spread cost of publishing across a greater number of authors than those accepted for publication.

How did content from a hijacked journal end up in one of the world’s most-used databases?

Title: 

How did content from a hijacked journal end up in one of the world’s most-used databases?

Published:

Retraction Watch, 1 September 2020

https://retractionwatch.com/2020/09/01/how-did-content-from-a-hijacked-journal-end-up-in-one-of-the-worlds-most-used-databases/

From the article:

In October 2019, I discovered that the Scopus profile of the journal Transylvanian Review contained numerous faked articles. How did I know? A few years ago, a legitimate Scopus indexed journal, Transylvanian Review, was hijacked and listed on the well-known — but controversial — Beall’s List of predatory and unscrupulous publishers.

University of California in open access deal with Springer Nature [Times Higher Education, 16 June 2020]

Title:
University of California in open access deal with Springer Nature

Author:
Jack Grove

Published:
Times Higher Education, 16 June 2020
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/university-california-open-access-deal-springer-nature

From the article:
Landmark US agreement is hailed as ‘significant milestone’ in shift to open access publishing in North America.

Pandemic puts preprints first - As scientists attempt to speed up COVID-19 research, attention by the public and media has changed the way preprint servers and journals handle those papers

Title:
Pandemic puts preprints first

Author:
Andrea Widener

Published:
c&en, 7 June 2020
https://cen.acs.org/policy/publishing/Pandemic-puts-preprints-first/98/i22

From the article:
Preprint servers in almost all disciplines are seeing an influx of papers surrounding COVID-19, pushed by a need for speed during a global pandemic. Simultaneously, they are dealing with an immense increase in views from the public and nonscience media, who aren’t always familiar with what a preprint server is or how it is different from a research journal.

Scholarly Article (29 May 2020) - New tools aim to tame pandemic paper tsunami

Titles:
New tools aim to tame pandemic paper tsunami

Author:
Jeffrey Brainard

Published:
Science, Volume 368, Issue 6494, pp. 924-925 (29 May 2020)
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6494/924

From the article:
Timothy Sheahan, a virologist studying COVID-19, wishes he could keep pace with the growing torrent of new scientific papers related to the pandemic. But there have just been too many—more than 5000 papers a week. “I'm not keeping up,” says Sheahan, who works at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. “It's impossible.”  

A loose-knit army of data scientists and software developers is pressing hard to change that.

Retraction Watch, 6 May 2020 - The circle of life, publish or perish edition: Two journals retract more than 40 papers

Title:
The circle of life, publish or perish edition: Two journals retract more than 40 papers

Published:
Retraction Watch, 6 May 2020

From the article:
"A Springer Nature journal has retracted 33 articles — 29 from one special issue, and four from another — for a laundry list of publishing sins, from fake peer review to plagiarism to stealing unpublished manuscripts.  

And an Elsevier journal has retracted ten papers recently for duplication — of ten of the Springer Nature journal’s papers."

To read more:
https://retractionwatch.com/2020/05/06/the-circle-of-life-publish-or-perish-edition-two-journals-retract-more-than-40-papers/

Do You Know About The Lancet's COVID-19 Resource Centre?

The COVID-19 Resource Centre brings together new 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) content from across The Lancet journals as it is published. 

All of this COVID-19 content is free to access.

Where to find The Lancet's COVID-19 Resource Centre:
https://www.thelancet.com/coronavirus?dgcid=kr_pop-up_tlcoronavirus20

Ireland - First open access science programme signed with Elsevier

Title:
First open access science programme signed with Elsevier

Published:
University World News, 20 February 2020

From the article:
"A consortium of publicly funded Irish higher education institutions and Elsevier, the 140-year-old publisher and ‘global leader in information analytics’ specialising in science and health, have agreed to the country’s first open access programme with a major scientific publisher, an important step towards the goal of securing full open access to Irish research publications."

To read this article:
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20200220123901439

Short Article - Trump hesitates on plan for open access mandate

Title:
Trump hesitates on plan for open access mandate

Author:
Paul Basken

Published:
Times Higher Education, 20 February 2020

From the article:
"The Trump administration is backing away from a widely reported plan to bypass publisher paywalls on scientific research resulting from federal investment, making plans instead to study the matter further."

To read this article:
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/trump-hesitates-plan-open-access-mandate

Short Article: Nature shift signals ‘new era’ of peer review transparency

Title:
Nature shift signals ‘new era’ of peer review transparency

Author:
Jack Grove

Published:
Times Higher Education, 18 February 2020

From the article:
"Nature’s decision to publish peer review reports alongside journal papers indicates that there is a growing consensus that peer review should be open, experts agreed."

To read this article:
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/nature-shift-signals-new-era-peer-review-transparency

Scholarly Article (4 December 2019) - Games academics play and their consequences: how authorship, h-index and journal impact factors are shaping the future of academia

Title:
Games academics play and their consequences: how authorship, h-index and journal impact factors are shaping the future of academia

Authors:
Chapman, C.A. [et al.].

Published:
Proceedings of the Royal Society B, volume 286, issue 1916, 4 December 2020
doi: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.2047

From the abstract:
"Research is a highly competitive profession where evaluation plays a central role; journals are ranked and individuals are evaluated based on their publication number, the number of times they are cited and their h-index. Yet such evaluations are often done in inappropriate ways that are damaging to individual careers, particularly for young scholars, and to the profession."

Short Article: Scientists call for reform on rankings and indices of science journals

Title:
Scientists call for reform on rankings and indices of science journals

By:
University of Oslo

Published:
Phys.org, 17 February 2020

From the article:
"Researchers are used to being evaluated based on indices like the impact factors of the scientific journals in which they publish papers and their number of citations. A team of 14 natural scientists from nine countries are now rebelling against this practice, arguing that obsessive use of indices is damaging the quality of science."

To read this article:
https://phys.org/news/2020-02-scientists-reform-indices-science-journals.html

Blog Post: What has been learned from 20 years of published articles on widening participation and lifelong learning?

Title:
What has been learned from 20 years of published articles on widening participation and lifelong learning?

Author:
John Butcher, Associate Director at The Open University

Published:
HEPI (Higher Education Policy Institute) Blog, 14 January 2020

From the blog post:
"Emerging from the Christmas break into a new decade, I have been struck by the amount of looking back that has filled our media. Consequently, I too have been reflecting, this time on a key issue in higher education policy, prompted by Maria Neopytou's blog Widening Participation: an agenda for the 2020s."

To read this blog post:
https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2020/01/14/what-has-been-learned-from-20-years-of-published-articles-on-widening-participation-and-lifelong-learning/

"A Turning Point for Scholarly Publishing" by Lindsay Ellis

Lindsay Ellis (2019) wrote in an article titled A turning point for scholarly publishing:

"Though initiatives to make published research more freely available have for years poked at the publishing industry’s armor, these efforts — known as the open-access movement — have not toppled the norms of how academic work is distributed and read. Titans like Elsevier, Springer Nature, and Wiley own troves of journals that enjoy immense respect in academe. In the dominant system, a person can read newly published research in one of two ways: pay a one-time fee to obtain an article locked behind a paywall, or get it through a campus library, which may pay millions of dollars for subscriptions.

That may soon change. Smaller-scale efforts are mixing with top-down decisions — through universities’ subscription negotiations and a major European plan that mandates open-access publication for certain research — to put unusual pressure on publishers."

To read the full article:

Ellis, L. (2019). A turning point for scholarly publising. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/Trend19-OpenAccess-Main