COVID-19 Collaborations

AAAS misses opportunity to advance open access

This is an open letter concerning the recent launch of the new open access journal, Science Advances. In addition to the welcome diversification in journal choices for authors looking for open access venues, there are many positive aspects of Science Advances: its broad STEM scope, its interest in cross-disciplinary research, and the offering of fee waivers. While we welcome the commitment of the Association to open access, we are also deeply concerned with the specific approach. Herein, we outline a number of suggestions that are in line with both the current direction that scholarly publishing is taking and the needs expressed by the open access community, which this journal aims to serve. The first of these issues concerns the licensing terms of the journal articles. The default choice of a non-commercial licence (CC BY-NC) places unnecessary restrictions on reuse and does not meet the standards set out by the Budapest Open Access Initiative. Many large funders, including Research Councils UK and the Wellcome Trust, do not recognise this as an open license. The adoption of CC BY-NC as the default license means that many researchers will be unable to submit to Science Advances if they are to conform to their funder mandates unless they pay for the upgrade to CC BY. There is little evidence that non-commercial restrictions provide a benefit to the progress of scholarly research, yet they have significant negative impact, limiting the ability to reuse material for educational purposes and advocacy. For example, NC-encumbered materials cannot be used on Wikipedia. The non-commercial clause is known to generate ambiguities and uncertainties (see for example, NC Licenses Considered Harmful) to the detriment of scholarly communication. Additionally, there is little robust evidence to suggest that adopting a CC-BY license will lead to income loss for your Association, and the $1,000 surcharge is difficult to justify or defend. The value of the CC BY license is outlined in detail by the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association. We raise an additional issue with the $1,500 surcharge for articles more than 10 pages in length. In an online-only format, page length is an arbitrary unit that results from the article being read in PDF format. Can the AAAS explain what the additional costs associated with the increased length are that would warrant a 50% increase in APC for an unspecified number of additional digital pages? Other leading open access journals, such as PeerJ, the BMC series, and PLOS ONE, offer publication of articles with unlimited page lengths. The extra costs create constraints that may adversely incentivize authors to exclude important details of their study, preventing replication and hindering transparency, all of which are contrary to the aims of scholarly publication. Therefore it seems counterproductive to impose this additional charge; it discriminates against researchers' best effort to communicate their findings with as much detail as necessary. We feel that the proposed APCs and licencing scheme are detrimental to the AAAS and the global academic community. As such, we recommend that Science Advances: 1. Offers CC BY as standard for no additional cost, in line with leading open access publishers, so authors are able to comply with respective funding mandates; 2. Provides a transparent calculation of its APCs based on the publishing practices of the AAAS and explains how additional value created by the journal will measure against the significantly high prices paid by the authors; 3. Removes the surcharges associated with increased page number; 4. Releases all data files under CC0 (with CC BY optional), which has emerged as the community standard for data and is used by leading databases such as Figshare and DataDryad. We hope that you will consider the points raised above, keeping in mind how best to serve the scientific community, and use Science Advances to add the AAAS to the group of progressive and innovative open access scholarly publishers. We hope AAAS will collaborate with the academic community to facilitate the dissemination of scientific knowledge through a journal committed to fully embracing the principles of Open Access. We kindly request that you allow your response(s) to be made public along with this letter, and look forward to hearing your response soon. (Please note that the views expressed here represent those of the individuals and not the institutions or organization with which they are affiliated)

Open letter to the Society for Neuroscience

ObjectivesAcademical and not-for-profit research funders are increasingly requiring that the research they fund must be published open access, with some insisting on publishing with a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)...

The Policy Committee of the International Papillomavirus Society describes how lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic could propel a new approach to the elimination of cervical cancer that is more likely to be successful.

Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica (AOGS): Coming-of-age to embrace open science.

A Northern California community clinic enlists a for-profit provider to help patients with mental health conditions live independently.

The Plan S Rights Retention Strategy (RRS) requires authors who are submitting to subscription journals to inform publishers that the author accepted manuscript (AAM) will be made available under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence. The laudable stated aim of the RRS is to achieve immediate open access to research outputs, while preserving journal choice for authors. However, proponents of the RRS overlook the significant administrative and legal burdens that the RRS places on authors and readers. Even though compliance with existing green open access (self-archiving) policies is poor at best, the RRS is likely to rely on authors to successfully execute the CC licensing of their work in the face of publisher resistance. The complexity of copyright law and CC licensing gives many reasons to doubt the legal validity of an RRS licence grant, which creates legal risk for authors and their institutions. The complexity of RRS CC BY licensing also creates legal risk for readers, who may not be able to fully rely on the reuse rights of a CC BY licence on the AAM. However, cOAlition S has released no legal advice that explains why the RRS is valid and legally binding. Publishers of legacy subscription journals have already begun implementing strategies that ensure they can protect their revenue streams. These actions may leave authors having to choose between paying publication fees and complying with their funding agreements. The result is that the RRS increases the complexity of the copyright and licensing landscape in academic publishing, creates legal risk and may not avoid author fees. Unless increased complexity and conflict between authors and publishers drives open access, the RRS is not fit for its stated purpose as an open access strategy.

STUDY QUESTION What are the factors influencing the decline in the birth rates observed in higher-income countries in the later phase of the COVID-19 pandemic? SUMMARY ANSWER Our results suggest that economic uncertainty, non-pharmaceutical policy interventions, and the first wave of the population-wide vaccination campaign were associated with the decline in birth rates during 2022. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY During the COVID-19 pandemic, birth rates in most higher-income countries first briefly declined and then shortly recovered, showing no common trends afterwards until early 2022, when they unexpectedly dropped. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION This study uses population-wide data on monthly total fertility rates (TFRs) adjusted for seasonality and calendar effects provided in the Human Fertility Database (HFD). Births taking place between November 2020 and October 2022 correspond to conceptions occurring between February 2020 and January 2022, i.e. after the onset of the pandemic but prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The data cover 26 countries, including 21 countries in Europe, the USA, Canada, Israel, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS First, we provided a descriptive analysis of the monthly changes in the TFR. Second, we employed linear fixed effects regression models to estimate the association of explanatory factors with the observed seasonally adjusted TFRs. Our analysis considered three broader sets of explanatory factors: economic uncertainty, policy interventions restricting mobility and social activities outside the home, and the progression of vaccination programmes. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE We found that birth trends during the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with economic uncertainty, as measured by increased inflation (P < 0.001), whereas unemployment did not show any link to births during the pandemic (P = 0.677). The stringency of pandemic policy interventions was linked to a postponement of births, but only in countries with lower institutional trust and only in the early phase of the pandemic (P = 0.003). In countries with higher trust, stricter containment measures were positively associated with birth rates, both for conceptions in the first year of the pandemic (P = 0.019) and, albeit only weakly significant, for conceptions later in the pandemic (P = 0.057). Furthermore, we found a negative association between the share of the population having received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination and TFRs (P < 0.001), whereas the share of the population having completed the primary vaccination course (usually consisting of two doses) was linked to a recovery of birth rates (P < 0.001). LARGE SCALE DATA N/A. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION Our research is restricted to higher-income countries with relatively strong social support policies provided by the government as well as wide access to modern contraception. Our data did not allow analyses of birth trends by key characteristics, such as age, birth order, and social status. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS This is the first multi-country study of the drivers of birth trends in the later phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past, periods following epidemics and health crises were typically associated with a recovery in births. In contrast, our results show that the gradual phasing out of pandemic containment measures, allowing increased mobility and a return to more normal work and social life, contributed to declining birth rates in some countries. In addition, our analysis indicates that some women avoided pregnancy until completion of the primary vaccination protocol. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) This study did not use any external funding. The authors acknowledge funding from their home institution, the Vienna Institute of Demography of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and from the Open-Access Fund of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. For the purpose of open access, the authors have applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript versions arising from this submission. All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Systems are investing in workers who come from the communities they serve to meet patient needs that extend well beyond clinic walls.

Rethinking Scientific Publishing

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused considerable upheaval within the voluntary and community sector (VCS), presenting challenges and risks around funding and sustainability, as well as opportunities for more collaborative ways of working. The sector has worked with public sector partners to play an integral role in delivering fast-acting emergency support to people affected by the pandemic. This increase in cross-sectoral collaboration has led to suggestions of an evolution in local state–civil society organisation relations. The upsurge in informal community groups, such as mutual aid, has also been prominent, and has given rise to debate about the need to ‘rethink’ or ‘reimagine’ volunteering, with a renewed focus on creating space for informal volunteering. This chapter contributes to these debates, by drawing from data collected during the pandemic, including qualitative interviews and focus groups with local authorities, voluntary sector organisations and mutual aid groups across England, Scotland and Wales, as well as survey data. Two central themes are explored: 1) the shifting patterns of supply and demand for volunteers during the pandemic at both national and local levels, and 2) the evolving relationships with the local state in shaping community responses.

The right to health is a fundamental human right, making the timely and accurate communication of essential public health information crucial, particularly in emergency situations, and in all necessary languages and formats. Increasingly, such information is translated by unpaid volunteers and/or non-professional translators both in public health and emergencies. This situation came to a head worldwide during the Covid-19 pandemic. The inadequate response of the public authorities in the United Kingdom resulted in the voluntary or third sector stepping in to fill the gap. This paper focuses on the unique and sustained work by medical charity Doctors of the World UK (DoTW) and its partners to translate official pandemic health guidance at the national level in England. Using Taibi’s community translation quality assurance model (2018a), the paper examines the strategy adopted by DoTW and analyzes its approach in order to identify good practices for successful public risk communication through translation. In view of the growing use of voluntary sector initiatives in the public sector, it also considers the sustainability of voluntary sector intervention at the national level to fill the gaps in public service translation. A longer abstract of this article in this language can be found here: synopsis.

The authors consider the data of Rosstat, which characterize the poverty of households and families with children in the country as a whole. The analysis was carried out taking into account the demographic characteristics of families and households, since they have a significant impact on poverty rates. The expenditures of families and households with children, income and its purchasing power of families with children, features of employment and unemployment of women with children, and living conditions of families with children are considered.The Object of the Study are families with children.The Subject of the Study is the poverty of families with children.The Purpose of the Study. Study of indicators on living conditions of families with children, and determining the main factors of poverty.The Main Provisions of the Article. Families with children are one of the most needy groups of the population, since their income is usually not sufficient to maintain an acceptable standard of living. Families with children make up the majority of all the poor.In recent years, the poverty of families with children has increased in many ways (for example, the number of poor families and their share among all poor people has increased, their income deficit has risen, irrespective of the fact that the employment of women with children in pre-school age has also increased). This indicates the lack of progress in addressing this important social problem, such as reducing poverty in families with children.The article highlights the main factors that hinder the improvement of living standards for families with children.The most important factor is the number of children in the family, as well as their age. There are more poor people in the families with a large number of children and families with children under the age of three. This is partly due to the low level of development of the network of preschool institutions, as well as to low incomes, since in such families women's employment is low. The second important factor is the fact of living in rural areas, where the birth rate is higher and the quality of life is lower. The third factor is the number of adults in the family (including those who are older than working age) who have incomes. The poverty of families with children is primarily influenced by demographic factors, the significance of which is especially high caused by low wages and small amounts of state benefits.The study will provide a better understanding of the nature and consequences of poverty of families with children in regions with different socioeconomic indicators and develop a differentiated system of measures aimed at improving their standard of living, taking into account these differences, including taking into account regional features. Further studies of the factors and extent of poverty will help to objectively assess the possibilities of influencing various factors and, in fact, the prospects for reducing poverty.

Today, we announce the new journal Neuroglia, which we see as an inclusive and innovative open-access forum for publishing all aspects of glial research.[...]