Open Access Policy Research Articles

Unifying Community Efforts on Registration and Data Rights

At the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (SI NMNH), the Assistant Registrar and Informatics Manager in the Department of Paleobiology (Paleo) have identified key linkages between registering collections (documentation for specimens and data through acquisitions, loans and disposals) and management of digitized collections, especially for usage right designation. Both roles require extensive collaboration on a shared framework for managing data related to the provenance of fossil specimens and rights associated with any derivative digital assets. This eliminated a disconnect in overlapping responsibilities: those typically siloed in museum registration practices (e.g., provenance data, intellectual property rights) and the data typically siloed in collections management and digitization workflows (e.g., data quality, digital asset management, and usage rights). Paleo shifted to a new practical approach and mindset focused on communal thinking. This propelled implementation of data standard practices and laid the building blocks for a shared community perspective on digitizing paleontological collections. Since 2020, Paleo established processing workflows for digital asset requests of the fossil collections (new digital asset creations vs. use of existing digital assets) and baseline understandings about rights of digital assets. These products led to a comprehensive effort to outline SI NMNH’s options to designate usage rights for digital assets (Table 1) and distribute basic understandings about Smithsonian Terms of Use and Smithsonian Open Access Policy (SI OA) across SI NMNH. Paleo explored this topic further by engaging in virtual meetings, conferences, presentations and informal discussions with the collections management staff and data managers across SI NMNH and externally with domestic and international groups such as the Paleo Data Working Group (PDWG), Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) Registrars Group, and Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG), to develop data standards initiatives for loans, permits and sensitive data (Fig. 1). Through regular community engagement, Paleo forged a concise, yet evolving, perspective on digitizing collections, which aligned both registration and informatics data management needs within the department and museum (Fig. 2). This multi-professional perspective enables the promotion of shared community knowledge and understanding about data rights. The primary purpose is to balance consistent goals, current needs, and long-term outcomes with the flexibility to adapt our practices based on institution-specific policies, new research methods, and varying domestic and international regulations and laws. The notable outcomes from almost four years of work are highlighted and incorporated into Paleo's departmental policy and documentation requirements for processing and fulfilling digital asset creation or use requests workflows and distribution of this information to the public website for visitors and borrowers. However, there are still persisting challenges related to registering and managing these digital assets. There are immediate and future obstacles such as: limitations in effective tracking methods to record creation of digital assets, use of digital assets, and designation of what usage rights and when the decision was made; gaps in community practice, policy and regulations at the institutional level and globally; past practices in workflows and staff structures or lack thereof, which have left digital assets in limbo without means of accessing the data or documentation to identify the appropriate use options and rights. We see a need to continue asking questions. How are varying policies across institutions globally, impacting compliance concerns in registration for sharing sensitive information with other research institutions? How have or will new research techniques and opportunities impact the need for flexibility in practices and decisions? Are there alternative ways to utilize a Collections Management Systems (CMS) or use other platforms to track, store and manage the digital assets? How have others engaged in community discussions to address overlapping needs for data standards and registration of digitized collections? These identify significant inconsistencies across the community that need further discussion with subject-matter experts before effective and comprehensive decisions in data standards for managing digitized collections can be made. Ultimately, there are outstanding questions and challenges at all stages for registering, digitizing and managing digital assets of natural history collections. We continue to unveil nuances in thinking about this topic and find the need for structures of shared knowledge built and actively engaged in by a professionally diverse community. The utilization of subject-matter experts encourages collaboration and alternative perspectives to standardize operations and policy while expanding community efforts and awareness.

Policy Considerations for Canada’s Open Access Publishing Strategy

Open access publishing is primarily driven by the motivation to make publicly funded research findings freely available to potential readers. This can entail increased costs for authors, research institutions, and funding bodies, although the relative costs for stakeholders of open access publishing depends on the publishing sub-type. This point is highly relevant to Canada’s research funding agencies, which are reviewing their Open Access Policy on Publications, with a renewed policy to be released before 2026. Here, I review the open access publishing options, and I recommend Canadian funding agencies incentivize a shift to Diamond open access publishing.

Analysis and Research on Intelligent Logistics Data under Internet of Things and Blockchain

ABSTRACT To explore the security performance of logistics data transmission in an Intelligent Logistics System (ILS) under the Internet of Things (IoT) and Blockchain (BC), IoT is introduced to optimize the logistics transportation process. First, BC is adopted to improve the ILS under IoT, and ILS under IoT combined with BC is established. Next, an analysis of the relationship between the information service provider and the transportation provider in the logistics transaction process is conducted to perform data analysis and to establish an incentive mechanism for logistics transportation under BC. Finally, the simulation analysis of the constructed model is implemented. The results reveal that the constructed model is highly efficient. It can effectively solve the traceability problem of logistics transaction information, and the calculation cost is stable within 1,000 ms. In the comparative analysis of system transmission performance, the model exhibits outstanding results in transmission latency, consistently maintaining an average delay of approximately 350 ms. This stability is primarily attributed to the seamless integration of BC technology, which optimizes data packet transmission paths and mitigates waiting time. Furthermore, the system efficiently manages high data volumes while upholding robust data processing capabilities, owing to the optimization of smart contracts and decentralized storage mechanisms. As for energy consumption, the model notably reduces overall energy usage within the logistics network by curtailing unnecessary data transmission and computation, particularly in mobile nodes and wireless communication channels. The proposed algorithm excels across various transmission metrics, including transmission delay, data successful acceptance rate, network throughput, and energy consumption are all shown to be the best transmission performance of the proposed algorithm, in which the data successful acceptance rate is close to 1. As a result, the developed ILS model not only guarantees low latency performance but also demonstrates high data transmission security, facilitating more efficient and precise real-time information transmission. In this study, within the ILS framework, the relationship between information service providers and transportation service providers is established through BC, and an incentive mechanism is constructed. However, some shortcomings in this incentive mechanism are recognized. For instance, during the initial stages of BC integration, there are issues of information asymmetry concerning factors such as credit, transportation capacity, and effort level. Moreover, the open access policy of couriers in the model raises concerns, as the access policy itself constitutes sensitive information, which may result in privacy breaches. Hence, as part of future work, the introduction of attribute encryption schemes is planned to obfuscate access policies, thereby safeguarding the privacy of logistics personnel’s access policies.

Could mandatory open access to sound insulation performance in housing promote "visibility" of acoustic quality?

Danish Health and Morbidity Surveys representing the population show that ~36% of people in multi-storey housing are annoyed by neighbour noise. National building regulations have existed since 1961 and included sound insulation limits, but complaints to housing organizations and builders appear for both old and new housing. A detailed analysis of national survey results shows that for occupants in multi-storey housing, a strong association exists between self-reported neighbour noise annoyance and various health issues. Building constructions have changed over time and consequently acoustic performance. The Danish standard DS 490 has six acoustic quality classes A-F representing housing built from before year 1900 until now, class C being minimum for new housing. Acoustic quality is invisible. However, the purpose of classification is enabling "visibility", but such information is typically unavailable. With mandatory acoustic classification for new and renovated dwellings, negative "surprises", when moving into new/renovated apartments could be foreseen. While prospective buyers and tenant organizations support acoustic labelling, strong resistance appears from e.g. real estate agents, and contractors. The paper presents advantages of acoustic quality transparency as well as resistance and also provides suggested steps towards implementation to the benefit of people moving to new places or understanding their current situation.

Phenotypic characterisation of people at risk of atrial fibrillation: Protocol for the FIND-AF longitudinal cohort study.

The Future Innovations in Novel Detection of Atrial Fibrillation (FIND-AF) longitudinal cohort study is a multi-centre prospective cohort study of patients identified at risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). The aim of the FIND-AF longitudinal cohort study is to provide multi-modal phenotypic characterisation of these patients. 1955 participants identified as at risk of AF by the FIND-AF algorithm from primary care electronic health (EHR) data, aged 30 years and above and eligible for oral anticoagulation, will be be recruited between October 2023 and November 2024 to receive home-based intermittent ECG monitoring. About 500 participants without diagnosed AF will then undergo cross-sectional phenotypic characterisation including physical examination, symptoms assessment, serum blood biomarkers and echocardiography, and non-stress cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. Longitudinal information about cardio-renal-metabolic-pulmonary outcomes will be ascertained from linkages to EHR data. The study is funded by the British Heart Foundation (CC/22/250026). The study has ethical approval (North West - Greater Manchester South Research Ethics Committee reference 23/NW/0180). Findings will be announced at relevant conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals in line with the Funder's open access policy. The FIND-AF multi-centre prospective longitudinal cohort study aims to (i) provide evidence for the impact of comorbidities on AF genesis (ii) uncover actionable targets to prevent AF, and (iii) act as a platform for cohort randomised clinical trials that investigate enhanced detection and prevention of AF.

The Scientific Journal "Vestnik of the Medical Institute "REAVIZ": History, Challenges, and Perspectives

The paper analyzes the trajectory of development of the scientific periodical "Bulletin of the Medical Institute 'REAVIZ': Rehabilitation, Doctor and Health", examining the key challenges and problematic aspects faced by the journal's editorial board in the course of its current work. Overall, attention is paid to the systematic correction of the main vectors of improving editorial policy in accordance with the best international practices of publishing scientific journals, issues of improving the quality of published materials, deepening the review processes and strict selection of articles for publication, attracting authors from various regions of Russia and foreign countries, analyzing the prospects for developing the practice of publishing accompanying digital data and resources along with textual materials, increasing citation and indexing of the journal in authoritative databases, as well as promoting an open access policy. Based on the results of the analysis, specific plans for the further progressive development of the journal "Bulletin of the Medical Institute 'REAVIZ'" are formulated.

Transformative agreements, publication venues and Open Access policies at the University of Milan

AbstractStarting from July 2020 at the University of Milan, one of the largest and most important Italian universities, the first transformative agreements with some major international scientific publishers have come into effect. These agreements allow corresponding authors to publish in open access without directly bearing the publication costs. From the perspective of corresponding authors, these agreements could increase the dissemination of their scientific output and, thereby, the impact on the scientific community. However, transformative agreements are part of a rapidly changing publishing market that already includes open access articles in both so‐called ‘Diamond’ and ‘Gold’ journals. The aim of our study is to understand to what extent the positioning of journals in impact rankings, the disciplinary field of the article, together with the career stage of the corresponding author, influence the choice to publish in a journal covered by transformative agreements rather than in other open access or hybrid journals. The results of our investigation draw attention to the importance of rules in Italy governing scientific careers in different disciplinary fields and potential unforeseen effects of policies favouring open access.

The Use of Institutional Repositories for Self-Archiving in Canadian Universities

This study investigates the use of institutional repositories (IR) for self-archiving journal articles inthe U15 universities as well as the presence of institutional policies and publisher embargos. While 45.1%to 56.6% of publications are available in open access (OA), only 0.5% to 10.7% are found in the IRs. Wefound only three university-wide OA policies, and embargo periods of 12 months or more for 25.6% ofjournal policies. This suggests that IR play a minor role in OA practices, and a need for more policiesrelated to self-archiving and the use of IR specifically.

Understanding author choices in the current conservation publishing landscape.

Conservation literature addresses a broad spectrum of interdisciplinary questions and benefits. Conservation science benefits most when a diverse range of authors are represented, particularly those from countries where much conservation work is focused. In other disciplines, it is well known that barriers and biases exist in the academic publishing sphere, which can affect research dissemination and an author's career development. We used a discrete choice experiment to determine how 7 journal attributes affect authors' choices of where to publish in conservation. We targeted authors directly by contacting authors published in 18 target journals and indirectly via communication channels for conservation organizations. We only included respondents who had previously published in a conservation-related journal. We used a multinomial logit model and a latent class model to investigate preferences for all respondents and distinct subpopulations. We identified 3 demographic groups across 1038 respondents (older authors from predominantly middle-income countries, younger authors from predominantly middle-income countries, and younger authors from high-income countries) who had published in conservation journals. Each group exhibited different publishing preferences. Only 2 attributes showed a consistent response across groups: cost to publish negatively affected journal choice, including authors in high-income countries, and authors had a consistent preference for double-blind review. Authors from middle-income countries were willing to pay more for society-owned journals, unlike authors from high-income countries. Journals with a broad geographical scope that were open access and that had relatively high impact factors were preferred by 2 of the 3 demographic groups. However, journal scope and open access were more important in dictating journal choice than impact factor. Overall, different demographics had different preferences for journals and were limited in their selection based on attributes such as open access policy. However, the scarcity of respondents from low-income countries (2% of respondents) highlights the pervasive barriers to representation in conservation research. We recommend journals offer double-blind review, reduce or remove open access fees, investigate options for free editorial support, and better acknowledge the value of local-scale single-species studies. Academic societies in particular must reflect on how their journals support conservation and conservation professionals.

Is orthodontic research falling prey to obscure and predatory journals? A bibliometric study.

To evaluate where orthodontic research papers are published and to explore potential relationships between the journal of publication and the characteristics of the research study and authorship. An online literature search of seven research databases was undertakento identify orthodontic articles published in English language over a 12-month period (1 January-31 December 2022) (last search: 12 June 2023). Data extractedincluded journal, article, and author characteristics. Journallegitimacy was assessed using a ternary classification scheme including available blacklists and whitelists, cross-checking of indexing claims and history of sending unsolicited emails. The level of evidence (LOE) of all included studies was assessed using a modified Oxford LOE classification scale. Univariable and multivariable ordinal logistic regression analyses were performed to examine possible associations between the level of evidence, journal discipline, and authorship characteristics. A total of 753 studies, published by 246 unique journal titles, were included and further assessed. Nearly two-thirds of orthodontic papers were published in non-orthodontic journals (62.8%) and over half (55.6%) of the articles were published in open-access policy journals. About a fifth of the articles (21.2%) were published either in presumed predatory journals or in journals of uncertain legitimacy. Journal discipline was significantly associated with the level of evidence. Higher-quality orthodontic studies were more likely published in established orthodontic journals (likelihood ratio test P < .001). The identification and classification of predatory journals are challenging due to their covert nature. The majority of orthodontic articles were published in non-orthodontic journals. In addition, approximately one in five orthodontic studies were published in presumed predatory journals or in journals of uncertain legitimacy. Studies with higher levels of evidence were more likely to be published in established orthodontic journals.

Analysis and Research on the Open Access Policy System of Institutional Repositories in Chinese and Foreign Universities

Analysis and Research on the Open Access Policy System of Institutional Repositories in Chinese and Foreign Universities

Readiness of Pakistani journals for open access publishing

PurposeThis study was designed to discover the readiness of the higher education commission (HEC)-recognized journals of Pakistan in terms of human, financial and technological resources, technical expertise, institutional support, availability of open access (OA) policy, availability of guidance and training, willingness, motivation and so on for OA journal publishing and to expose the challenges in OA journal publishing.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative research approach was used and a structured questionnaire was developed to meet the objectives of this study. A survey method was used to collect data from the editors of all 329 HEC-recognized journals in Pakistan.FindingsThe respondents of all the HEC-recognized journals of Pakistan are neutral and are not of the view that they have sufficient financial, human, technological/infrastructural resources and technical expertise to continue/initiate an OA journal publishing. ‘No academic reward’; and ‘no monetary reward for the editorial staff’ are both enormous challenges for OA journal publishing. The perceived challenges of OA have a negative impact on readiness for OA publishing. The readiness level of the respondents of the OA journals is higher as compared to the readiness level of the respondents of non-OA journals.Research limitations/implicationsThis study covered the lists of HEC-recognized journals of 2019. More studies may be conducted based on updated lists of HEC-recognized journals. Qualitative studies may also be conducted to discover the readiness of the HEC-recognized journals of Pakistan for OA journal publishing.Originality/valueThis study is the first comprehensive study on this phenomenon and is an effort to fill this gap to invigorate scholarly literature. It may attract the attention of policymakers, funding bodies, parent institutions of the journals and the HEC regarding the readiness of journals in terms of financial, human, technological/infrastructural resources, technical expertise of the journals and challenges of journals to prompt the OA journal publishing paradigm.

Willkommen bei Scientia International: Feiern der Eröffnung des Scientia International Journal for Biological Sciences

The Scientia International Journal for Biological Sciences (SIJBio) marks an advancement in the dissemination of scientific knowledge in biology. As part of Scientia International's mission to democratize access to scientific knowledge, SIJBio is an open-access platform dedicated to publishing outstanding research in cellular biology, molecular biology, genetics, physiology, ecology, evolution, and behavior. The journal implements a policy of open access and linguistic inclusivity, ensuring that publications are freely available to a global audience and accepting articles in any language, subsequently translating them into English, Portuguese, and Spanish. Additionally, it adopts a transparent model of open review, promoting a culture of openness and accountability. With an unwavering commitment to quality and excellence, SIJBio aims to promote collaboration and the advancement of scientific knowledge on a global scale, contributing to a future where scientific information is truly universal and inclusive.

Transports and Logistics

KEY MESSAGES The estimated potential of Pakistan’s logistics sector is USD 30.7 billion but it has not been realised as yet. Where is it today? akistan is nowhere in the global scenario according to the recent Logistics Performance Index prepared by the World Bank 2023. The modal shares are highly skewed towards roads accounting for more than 92 percent of passengers and 96 percent of freight. On average this should be 60 percent. he motorways and highways constitute less than 10 percent of the total road network but carry almost the entire freight traffic. he inadequacy and inefficiency of the public transport system in Islamabad bring more private vehicles on the roads. Heavy losses in the railway sector have necessitated an increase in grants from PKR 45 billion in 2022-23 to PKR 55 in 2023-24. Per-passenger grants amount to PKR 1,261 and PKR 5,556 per ton for freight in 2021-22. Pakistan Railways has so far failed to adopt the open access policy approved in 2011, which reflects bureaucratic hurdles and governance failures. PIDE survey reveals that freight forwarders do not use Pakistan Railways because of the non-availability of relevant information, but mainly because of the nonreliability of the services. Pakistan Post has 10,293 post offices in Pakistan, of which 87 percent are incurring losses, while TCS has a market share of 43 percent with less than 10 percent of branches than Pakistan Post. The labour unions in public sector organisations have played a major role in resisting reforms, ensuring inefficiencies and substantial losses to the exchequer.

Copim's initial reflections on the REF 2029 open access policy for longform publications

Copim's initial reflections on the REF 2029 open access policy for longform publications

Copyright and Open Access to Scientific Publishing

The internet has broadened the communication of digitized journals and books among scholars and the perception that academic commercial publishers use copyright law to restrict the free circulation of scientific knowledge. Open access is changing the business model of academic publishing to the extent that copyright law is increasingly being viewed as needing to be balanced against the right to benefit from science. Some have called for copyright law to be revised to promote open access to academic publishing. The question of just how copyright law should be revised to achieve this is today more topical than ever. However, there is a need to clarify and question the role that copyright law should play and there is much to be gained from consideration of the role that competition law can play. Additionally, initiatives to implement open access have been taken by stakeholders (academic authors, publishers, universities, libraries, and research funding agencies) such as open access policies and the new “read and publish” agreements between publishers and universities’ libraries. But the transition towards sustainable universal open access will be a long, complex process since the interaction between these stakeholders can lead to conflicts of interest. This article also evaluates these initiatives and suggests the best approach.

Global status of dataset repositories at a glance: study based on OpenDOAR

PurposeThe study aims to shed light on the current state of “Dataset repositories” indexed in Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR).Design/methodology/approachFrom each repository/record information, the Open-Access Policies, Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH), year of creation and the number of data sets archived in the repositories were manually searched, documented and analyzed.FindingsDeveloped countries like the United Kingdom and the USA are primarily involved in the development of institutional open-access repositories comprising significant components of OpenDOAR. The most extensively used software is DSpace. Most data set archives are OAI-PMH compliant but do not follow open-access rules. The study also highlights the sites’ embrace of Web 2.0 capabilities and discovers really simple syndication feeds and Atom integration. The use of social media has made its presence known. Furthermore, the study concludes that the number of data sets kept in repositories is insufficient, although the expansion of such repositories has been consistent over the years.Practical implicationsThe work has the potential to benefit both researchers in general and policymakers in particular. Scholars interested in research data, data sharing and data reuse can learn about the present state of repositories that preserve data sets in OpenDOAR. At the same time, policymakers can develop recommendations and policies to assist in the construction and maintenance of repositories for data sets.Originality/valueAccording to the literature, there have been numerous studies on open-access repositories and OpenDOAR internationally, but no research has focused on repositories preserving content-type data sets. As a result, the study attempts to uncover various characteristics of OpenDOAR Data set repositories.

Challenges and Opportunities of Implementing Open Access Policies

Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate the challenges and opportunities of implementing open access policies in African universities.&#x0D; Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries.&#x0D; Findings: The implementation of open access policies in African universities faces significant challenges due to limited infrastructure, funding constraints, and inadequate institutional support. However, these challenges also present opportunities for collaboration, capacity building, and leveraging existing networks to enhance access to scholarly research. By overcoming these barriers through strategic partnerships and targeted investments, African universities can foster greater knowledge dissemination, innovation, and socio-economic development across the continent.&#x0D; Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Institutional theory, diffusion of innovation theory&amp; resource dependency theory may be used to anchor future studies on the challenges and opportunities of implementing open access policies in African universities. Implementing open access policies in African universities encourages innovation in knowledge management practices, including the development of institutional repositories, metadata standards, and digital preservation strategies. African universities' implementation of open access policies can influence national and regional policy frameworks related to scholarly communication, research funding, and copyright reform.

Training in open access for doctoral students: results of a survey of current and recent students and supervisors

Introduction. This study aimed to understand the extent to which doctoral students receive training relating to open access publishing, and the form of that training. Method. An international online survey of 1,569 current and recent doctoral students and supervisors was undertaken. Questions covered the extent and nature of training in open access offered to doctoral students, sources of respondents’ open access knowledge, and their perspectives on open access. Analysis. Descriptive statistical analysis was conducted with some non-parametric tests. Free-text data were thematically analysed. Results. The large majority of current and recent doctoral students and supervisors indicated there was no mandatory open access training at their institutions. More than half of respondents thought they had good or excellent understanding of open access, with those who had completed training more likely to highly rate their understanding. Only 27% of respondents felt the level of training offered was sufficient. Respondents suggested that institutions could take further action to support understanding of open access. Conclusion. There is a need for institutions to develop further training in open access. Researchers who undertake training in report a better level of understanding of open access and place more importance on it as a factor in selecting a journal.

Plan S and Open Access (OA) in Quebec: What Does the Revised FRQ OA Policy Mean for Researchers?

Objective – Our article examines the effects of Quebec’s provincial funding agency (FRQ)’s revised 2022 OA policy on researchers. Following FRQ’s participation as a cOAlition S funding agency, which involves endorsing Plan S principles, we provide an overview of the OA options for researchers. We examine these options under the FRQ 2019 and FRQ 2022 policy years, account for the effect of transformative agreements (TA) on OA publishing options, as well as the financial implications for researchers under the revised policy. Methods – The researchers extracted a list of FRQ-funded publications from years 2020 to 2022 using the DOI registration agency Crossref. Using this sample set, the researchers quantitatively analyzed OA options under the previous policy and the revised one, comparing the two. To determine the effect of transformative agreements (TAs)s, we reviewed current agreements offered through Canada’s national licensing agency Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN). Results ­– We found that the self-archiving method for open access (OA) is reduced under the revised 2022 policy. Our results lead us to anticipate the pressure felt by authors who will be required to pay article processing charges (APCs) to meet grant requirements. Conclusion – The current publishing patterns of FRQ-funded researchers are primarily concentrated in hybrid journals not covered by transformative agreements. As such, researchers will face additional financial costs should these publishing patterns continue. Concerted efforts among all stakeholders (researchers, universities, libraries, and funders) are needed to sustainably transition to immediate OA. French version – https://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/id/eprint/993806/