Provision Of Open Access Research Articles

Open access to scientific resources of institutional repositories of Ukrainian higher educational institutions for information and library direction

The purpose of the article is to analyse the level of providing open access to scientific resources in Ukrainian higher education institutions’ institutional repositories for information and library direction. The research methodology is based on general scientific and special cognition methods, including analysis, synthesis, monitoring and comparison. The scientific novelty of the work consists of expanded ideas about the possibilities of activating the work of higher educational institutions’ institutional repositories for information and library direction as a component of determining their ratings at the world level through the maximum realising openaccess provision to their scientific resources for developing scientific and technical progress. Conclusions. The article analyses the institutional repositories of 10 higher education institutions for information and library direction by using Webometrics, QS World University Rankings, and SimilarWeb. The analysis of using the levelof institutional repositories testified to its inadequacy. The research based on using web analytics by SimilarWeb made it possible to identify four leaders of higher education institutions in terms of the number of users’ visitsto their repositories: West Ukrainian National University (WUNU), National Aviation University (NAU), Ternopil National Technical University named after Ivan Puluj (TNTU). Geographical, gender, age, thematic diversification of higher educational institutions’ institutional repositories, as well as the level of their using the main communication channels (direct appeal, regular search, referrals, e-mail, social networks) thanks to the analysis of their websites’ traffic were determined. The recommendations for improving information culture for scientific and pedagogical staff, students, librarians, management of higher educational institutions for information and library direction, and all participants of scientific communication were given through activating their using institutional repositories to promote them in the global scientific and educational space as components in increasing the rating positions of higher educational institutions in Webometrics and QS World University Rankings thanks to providing open access to scientific resources for developing scientific and technological progress

Kebermanfaatan Institutional Repository Bagi Mahasiswa Semester Akhir di Universitas Muhammadiyah Gresik

Research Purpose. The research conducted by the author aims to determine the usefulness of the Institutional Repository for Final Semester Students of the University of Muhammadiyah Gresik. Methods. This study uses a qualitative method, with the type of case study research on the Benefit of an Institutional Repository. The number of informants was as many as ten students using the purposive sampling technique. Data collection techniques are carried out by observation, Interview and Documentation. Data Analysis. The data analysis technique uses the concept of Miles and Huberman: Reduction, Presentation and Drawing Conclusions. Result and Discussion. The study results indicate that the usefulness of the Institutional repository for final semester students at the University of Muhammadiyah Gresik is more desirable. This can be seen from the aspects (1) the Collection of intellectual works that have been effective for users, (2) the Provision of Open Access that makes it easier for students, (3) The positive impact given on Institutions and users, (4) Rapid dissemination of information through promotions, (5) Digital storage is more attractive to users and (6) Repositories minimize plagiarism.Keywords: Repository, Usefulness, Open Access Libraries

How has Covid-19 Impacted on Playwork – One Year on from Returning from Lockdown

ABSTRACT When playwork settings re-opened in July 2020 after the first lockdown in March 2020, playwork as a profession demonstrated its adaptable and flexible nature for children to access the provision. This included open access provision becoming closed access and bookable, a reduction in the number of children, resources, and space to play, and increased cleaning. As part of a longitudinal study, now one year how are open access settings (adventure playgrounds and mobile play provision) and closed access settings (breakfast clubs, after-school clubs, and holiday playschemes) operating? An online survey was completed by 42 participants, 31 who ran closed access and 11 who ran open-access settings. Results indicated that all settings were running the same number of days and hours pre-March lockdown, however, fewer children are attending with a smaller number of staff, this being more noticeable within closed access settings. It appears the open access adventure playgrounds are operating as they were pre-March 2020 lockdown, however, the closed access childcare provision, e.g. after-school clubs are still running as they were in July 2020. Although funding has been made available to support aspects such as extra cleaning, playwork settings are concerned with being able to open and continue to operate.

Academic Publishing: Research Leadership in the Context of Digitalization and Globalization of the Business Environment

The aim of the present study is to recreate the new role that academic publishing houses perform in the conditions of digital transformation and the growing number and volume of scientific publications in the conditions of oligopolistic competition, of structuring the ecosystem of academic publishing as an opportunity to build a network of mutually intersecting interests. The chosen approach analyzes the dynamic environment in which academic publishing houses function under the influence of subsequent crises and changes in the business model of accumulation and dissemination of scientific knowledge. Bearing in mind the special role of academic publication and distribution, it has a key role in the exchange of scientific knowledge, expanding the possibilities of access and use of already created and distributed scientific production to increase academic institutions’ competitiveness. Academic publishing and knowledge dissemination are facing the need for digital transformation and redesign of the access system. Only in such a case will it realize its practical goals of creating added value and return on the resources invested in the system. This change in the role of academic publishing makes it relevant. It strengthens its contribution to limiting the opportunities for abuse of authors’ copyright on the results of their scientific research. Academic publishing and distribution form a changing and relatively new field that, in the current market conditions, is tasked with satisfying the interests of universities, researchers and end-users for access to scientific knowledge. The main challenges faced by academic publishing include: the provision of open access to scientific information; the protection of intellectual property; the realization of economic efficiency based on invested resources and increased competitiveness. In the end, academic publishing houses are economic agents, using various funding sources, and hence realize to varying degrees the effect of their improved market positioning. In this way, this industry contributes to the promotion of scientific knowledge and copyright protection for researchers, the possibility of comparisons and new searches, and for investors in the publishing business − to receive a real return for the resources invested. The present study is tasked with giving a new perspective to the business of academic publishing and distribution as a socially significant ecosystem subject to basic economic laws and its role in sharing scientific knowledge to improve the welfare of society.

Academic Publishing: Research Leadership in the Context of Digitalization and Globalization of the Business Environment

The aim of the present study is to recreate the new role that academic publishing houses perform in the conditions of digital transformation and the growing number and volume of scientific publications in the conditions of oligopolistic competition, of structuring the ecosystem of academic publishing as an opportunity to build a network of mutually intersecting interests. The chosen approach analyzes the dynamic environment in which academic publishing houses function under the influence of subsequent crises and changes in the business model of accumulation and dissemination of scientific knowledge. Bearing in mind the special role of academic publication and distribution, it has a key role in the exchange of scientific knowledge, expanding the possibilities of access and use of already created and distributed scientific production to increase academic institutions’ competitiveness. Academic publishing and knowledge dissemination are facing the need for digital transformation and redesign of the access system. Only in such a case will it realize its practical goals of creating added value and return on the resources invested in the system. This change in the role of academic publishing makes it relevant. It strengthens its contribution to limiting the opportunities for abuse of authors’ copyright on the results of their scientific research. Academic publishing and distribution form a changing and relatively new field that, in the current market conditions, is tasked with satisfying the interests of universities, researchers and end-users for access to scientific knowledge. The main challenges faced by academic publishing include: the provision of open access to scientific information; the protection of intellectual property; the realization of economic efficiency based on invested resources and increased competitiveness. In the end, academic publishing houses are economic agents, using various funding sources, and hence realize to varying degrees the effect of their improved market positioning. In this way, this industry contributes to the promotion of scientific knowledge and copyright protection for researchers, the possibility of comparisons and new searches, and for investors in the publishing business − to receive a real return for the resources invested. The present study is tasked with giving a new perspective to the business of academic publishing and distribution as a socially significant ecosystem subject to basic economic laws and its role in sharing scientific knowledge to improve the welfare of society.

How the scientific community responded to the COVID-19 pandemic: A subject-level time-trend bibliometric analysis.

BackgroundCOVID-19 has triggered an avalanche of research publications, the various aspects of which need to be assessed. The objective of this study is to determine the scientific community’s response patterns to COVID-19 through a bibliometric analysis of the time-trends, global contribution, international collaboration, open-access provision, science domains of focus, and the behavior of journals.MethodsThe bibliographic records on COVID-19 literature were retrieved from both PubMed and Scopus. The period for searching was set from November 1, 2019, to April 15, 2021. The bibliographic data were coupled with COVID-19 incidence to explore possible association, as well as World Bank indicators and classification of economies.ResultsA total of 159132 records were included in the study. Following the escalation of incidences of COVID-19 in late 2020 and early 2021, the monthly publication count made a new peak in March 2021 at 20505. Overall, 125155 (78.6%) were national, 22548 (14.2%) were bi-national, and 11429 (7.2%) were multi-national. Low-income countries with 928 (66.8%) international publications had the highest percentage of international. The open-access provision decreased from 85.5% in February 2020 to 62.0% in April 2021. As many as 82841 (70.8%) publications were related to health sciences, followed by life sciences 27031 (23.1%), social sciences 20291 (17.3%), and physical sciences 15141 (12.9%). The top three medical subjects in publications were general internal medicine, public health, and infectious diseases with 28.9%, 18.3%, and 12.6% of medical publications, respectively.ConclusionsThe association between the incidence and publication count indicated the scientific community’s interest in the ongoing situation and timely response to it. Only one-fifth of publications resulted from international collaboration, which might lead to redundancy without adding significant value. Our study underscores the necessity of policies for attraction of international collaboration and direction of vital funds toward domains of higher priority.

EmoSocio: An open access sociometry-enriched Emotional Intelligence model

• Open release of EmoSocio as an EI model that represents emotional and social traits. • Blending of sociometric indexes with emotional intelligence traits. • Semantic alignment of constructs from dominant EI models. • Conceptualization and release of the EmoSocio model in the form of an ontology. • High internal consistency indexes and correlation with dominant EI models. Significant efforts have been allocated over the last thirty years towards the definition and measurement of the Emotional Intelligence (EI) construct. Several EI theories and models have been produced to support psychological assessment processes. However, barriers are identified for their wide adoption and exploitation by social scientists. The absence of a common structured format to represent concepts in EI models has resulted in lack of clarity and consistency, while hindering comparison, validation and extensive evaluation processes. Provision of open access to such models and measurement instruments has not been promoted so far, however, considered crucial for their wide adoption. Furthermore, the inclusion of indexes from the sociometry domain can facilitate participatory modeling by multidisciplinary scientists during the development of social and emotional training programs. To address these challenges, we propose EmoSocio, an open access Emotional Intelligence Model, built upon a detailed comparison and synthesis of the main constructs represented in widely accepted EI models and enriched with sociometric indexes at an individual and group level. Upon detailing the methodological approach followed for the development of the EmoSocio model, we present the EI and social constructs of the model, followed by an assessment of the EI part in terms of reliability and validity. EmoSocio is also represented in a semantically-enriched format in the form of an ontology. Our ambition is to provide an open access EI model that can be used by multidisciplinary scientists to evaluate psychological assessment processes and develop interventions, aiming to strengthen interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies.

The Paradox of Platform-Based Entrepreneurship: Competing while Sharing Resources

A large share of today’s entrepreneurship occurs “on top” of platforms. On the one hand, operating on top of a platform provides entrepreneurs with access to powerful platform tools and resources to facilitate innovation, entrepreneurial experimentation, and commercialization. On the other hand, we theorize that the provision of open access to a common set of powerful and easily-accessible platform resources can limit the scope for developing sustained competitive advantage. Entrepreneurs who turn out to be successful will then face challenges in sustaining their superior performance. We implement a precise statistical methodology to study the sustained success of market leaders in a representative context: game publishers operating in distinct submarkets on the Apple AppStore. Consistent with theory, we find that in the majority of cases the games publishers who do rise to a position of market leadership within their niches are no more capable of sustaining their performance and market position than are market followers. Consistent with a need to urgent shift beyond just exploiting platform resources, but to develop and harness “off-platform” resources, we find that the cases of market leaders statistically outperforming their followers are associated with continuously (re)exploiting unique intellectual property, in a highly deliberate and focused manner. We discuss implications for platform-based entrepreneurs, platform owners and platform design.

NYA guidance offers blueprint to revitalise youth work services

National Youth Agency sets out what sufficient, high-quality youth services should look like, with emphasis on securing open-access provision, making greater use of digital support and investing more in the workforce

Success factors of academic journals in the digital age

Since the early 1990s, when digitalisation began to open new opportunities for disseminating information, many academic journals started to introduce online services. However, while some studies suggest that online availability and free access to journal articles are positively connected to the number of citations an article receives, little is known about whether being an early adopter of digital services provides journals with a (long-term) competitive advantage in times of digital change. We use data from SSCI-listed management journals to examine which journals pioneered the introduction of digital services, to what extent first-mover advantages can be identified, and which journal characteristics are associated with citation-based performance indicators. Our results show that lower ranked journals were the first to introduce digital services and were beneficiaries of the digital age. Furthermore, we find a negative correlation between general submission fees and journal performance and that the top-performing journals of our sample are those of non-commercial publishers. Our analysis of the relationship between journal performance and the provision of open access contradicts previous studies, as we find no positive correlations between performance and open access on the journal level.

Global academic response to COVID-19: Cross-sectional study.

This study explores the response to COVID‐19 from investigators, editors, and publishers and seeks to define challenges during the early stages of the pandemic. A cross‐sectional bibliometric review of COVID‐19 literature was undertaken between 1 November 2019 and 24 March 2020, along with a comparative review of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) literature. Investigator responsiveness was assessed by measuring the volume and type of research published. Editorial responsiveness was assessed by measuring the submission‐to‐acceptance time and availability of original data. Publisher‐responsiveness was assessed by measuring the acceptance‐to‐publication time and the provision of open access. Three hundred and ninety‐eight of 2,835 COVID‐19 and 55 of 1,513 MERS search results were eligible. Most COVID‐19 studies were clinical reports (n = 242; 60.8%). The submission‐to‐acceptance [median: 5 days (IQR: 3–11) versus 71.5 days (38–106); P < .001] and acceptance‐to‐publication [median: 5 days (IQR: 2–8) versus 22.5 days (4–48·5‐; P < .001] times were strikingly shorter for COVID‐19. Almost all COVID‐19 (n = 396; 99.5%) and MERS (n = 55; 100%) studies were open‐access. Data sharing was infrequent, with original data available for 104 (26.1%) COVID‐19 and 10 (18.2%) MERS studies (P = .203). The early academic response was characterized by investigators aiming to define the disease. Studies were made rapidly and openly available. Only one‐in‐four were published alongside original data, which is a key target for improvement.Key points COVID‐19 publications show rapid response from investigators, specifically aiming to define the disease.Median time between submission and acceptance of COVID‐19 articles is 5 days demonstrating rapid decision‐making compared with the median of 71.5 days for MERS articles.Median time from acceptance to publication of COVID‐19 articles is 5 days, confirming the ability to introduce rapid increases at times of crisis, such as during the SARS outbreak.The majority of both COVID‐19 and MERS articles are available open‐access.

Реєстр дослідницьких інфраструктур як засіб реалізації державної політики відкритої науки в країнах ЄС та в Україні

Problem setting. One of the modern common directions for the development of the European Research Area is the introduction of a new approach to scientific research. The basis of this approach is the paradigm innovation, Open science, Open to the world. The full implementation of this paradigm within the European Research Area is possible only if the implementation of open science policy at the level of individual countries is ensured.The essence of open science policy is the provision of open access to research data, scientific publications and research infrastructures and the like.Open access to research infrastructures should be noted separately, as research infrastructures are one of the main means of obtaining scientific output. Accordingly, there is a need to analyze existing and develop new approaches to maximize access to research infrastructures with a view to their continued use in the process of public policymaking of open science in Ukraine.Recent research and publications analysis. Some foreign scientists (Foster I., Hey T., Trefethen A., and others) have researched open science and access to research infrastructures as part of it, but the focus of their research is placed on a particular variety of research infrastructures - on e-infrastructure, while the issue of open access also applies to the so-called classic research infrastructures. Ukrainian scientists researched the importance of digital information resources, including portals and registers, for the development of the state (Karpenko O. V., Vatkovskaya M. G., Kulak N. V., and others), but some focused research into the role of such resources in public policy on open science has not yet been conducted.The paper objective. The article aims to substantiate the need to create an open register of research infrastructures as one of the important conditions for implementing a public policy of open science, to demonstrate the benefits of using such a register in general and for Ukraine in particular, and to consider the example of a Romanian open register of research infrastructures.The paper main body. The article demonstrates the importance of creating an open registry of research infrastructures to ensure the implementation of public open science policy, as well as its importance for particular research infrastructures. The list of advantages that the state and the average user of R&D and technical services received in the conditions of creation and operation of such an open register are outlined. The importance of the visibility of research infrastructures to search users and partners for further collaborative research is demonstrated. The functioning and algorithm of user actions on the example of the Romanian open register of research infrastructures are considered.Conclusions of the research. The European Commission and other European institutions, which influence the formation of rules and the direct pursuit of research within the European Research Area, are currently implementing the paradigm innovation, Open science, Openness to the world. Open science policy, as a component of it, is divided into several areas, in particular, open access to research infrastructures. However, without ensuring the visibility of research infrastructures to the end-user, efforts spent to increase the openness of research infrastructures can be considered wasteful.Creating an open register of research infrastructures helps to systematize information on existing research infrastructures and the services they provide, to increase the visibility of research infrastructures for all stakeholders, and to facilitate the accounting, monitoring and evaluation of their status and activities, etc.Besides, the creation of such a registry and a platform that provides effective access to it facilitates easy and clear communication between providers and consumers of scientific and technical services, which is an important prerequisite for accelerating scientific and technological progress in general.The example of Romania illustrates a possible algorithm for the operation of such a registry and platform. A well-defined mechanism of work, limits of liability and user instructions for access and communication can serve as a benchmark for Ukraine when creating similar digital resources. Given the international development of ERRIS services, it is advisable to consider using them for Ukrainian research infrastructures.The areas of further research may be to study the process of creating open registers of research infrastructures in other countries of the European Research Area to use their experience in Ukraine. Also, research openings may include mechanisms for ensuring the openness of research infrastructures.

Opinions of citizen scientists on open access to UK butterfly and moth occurrence data

Citizen science plays an increasingly important role in biodiversity research and conservation, enabling large volumes of data to be gathered across extensive spatial scales in a cost-effective manner. Open access increases the utility of such data, informing land-use decisions that may affect species persistence, enhancing transparency and encouraging proliferation of research applications. However, open access provision of recent, fine-scale spatial information on the locations of species may also prompt legitimate concerns among contributors regarding possible unintended negative conservation impacts, violations of privacy and commercial exploitation of volunteer-gathered data. Here we canvas the attitudes towards open access of contributors (104 regional co-ordinators and 510 recorders) of species occurrence records to two of the largest citizen science biodiversity recording schemes, the UK’s Butterflies for the New Millennium project and National Moth Recording Scheme. We find that while the majority of participants expressed support for open access in principle, most were more cautious in practice, preferring to limit the spatial resolution of records, particularly of threatened species, and restrict commercial reuse of data. In addition, citizen scientists’ opinions differed between UK countries, taxonomic groups and the level of involvement volunteers had in the schemes. In order to maintain successful and democratic citizen science schemes, organisers, funders and data users must understand and respect participants’ expectations and aspirations regarding open data while seeking to optimise data use for scientific and societal benefits.

Success Factors of Academic Journals in the Digital Age

Since the early 1990s, when digitalization began to open new opportunities for disseminating information, many academic journals started to introduce online services. However, while some studies suggest that online availability and free access to journal articles are positively connected to the number of citations an article receives, little is known about whether being an early adopter of digital services provides journals with a (long-term) competitive advantage in times of digital change. We use data from SSCI-listed management journals to examine which journals pioneered the introduction of digital services, to what extent first-mover advantages can be identified, and which journal characteristics are associated with citation-based performance indicators. Our results show that lower ranked journals were the first to introduce digital services and were beneficiaries of the digital age. Furthermore, we find a negative correlation between general submission fees and journal performance and that the top-performing journals of our sample are those of non-commercial publishers. Our analysis of the relationship between journal performance and the provision of open access contradicts previous studies, as we find no positive correlations between performance and open access on the journal level.

Between tradition and innovation: the discursive construction of a “world-leading” university

This paper applies critical discourse analysis to two discursive samples (“texts”) produced by Harvard University: a sample from the official course catalogue and the list of courses provided as “HarvardX” on the MOOC platform EdX. The analysis shows how Harvard legitimates its role across “innovative” and traditional forms of provision, employing an apparently neutral language to shape identities and practices. The analytic section considers the generic structure of both texts and how semiotic relationships are realised through stylistic choices and grammatical structures. The analysis suggests that the differences between traditional and open access provision at Harvard are simultaneously educational and socio-political. The analysis also opens a window onto the instructional practices at Harvard - something that seems to be missing in the educational research literature.

THE REHABILITATION JOURNAL (TRJ)

On behalf of the entire editorial board, I am delighted to inform you that we are releasing a new multidisciplinary International Journal named ‘The Rehabilitation Journal’ (TRJ), which will be an open access, peer reviewed, and online journal. This journal will cover all topics related to medical rehabilitation including but not limited to musculoskeletal rehabilitation, neurological rehabilitation, cardiopulmonary rehabilitation, sports rehabilitation, psychosocial rehabilitation, speech and language rehabilitation and community based rehabilitation etc. The primary aim of TRJ is to provide the readers with a platform to access high quality research associated with rehabilitation, which will not only deliver scientific basis to the clinicians for evidence-based practice but also promote rehabilitation research with the aim of improvising the existing research with new ideas and bridging the gaps. We intend to build up an international base of the journal and therefore encourage authors from all around the world to participate and make their work published in an International refereed journal. We ensure strict adherence to International guidelines of reviewing to maintain a high standard of an international journal. Every manuscript submitted to TRJ, which falls under the umbrella term of Rehabilitation, will go through a basic process of scrutinizing by the related associate editors, and then will be sent to experts in the relative field for a detailed review. Based on the comments and recommendations made by the reviewers, the final decision will be made by the managing editor. The most distinct feature of TRJ is continuous publication of articles online after acceptance without waiting for a sufficient number of articles for an issue. The review time will be regularly monitored by the editorial board to ensure faster publications avoiding any unnecessary delay. Other features include the provision of open access and online tracking of the status of manuscript. Open access research articles provide fast and efficient sharing of the findings across the globe. This also ensures high quality work to help influence rehabilitation practice in the shortest possible time to the broadest possible population of scientific researchers. Finally, I would like to pay my sincerest gratitude to entire editorial board for their continuous hard work behind launching of this journal. We hope that you will enjoy reading this new journal and contribute to make it an international platform for sharing good quality work in all fields of rehabilitation.

A Resonant Message: Aligning Scholar Values and Open Access Objectives in OA Policy Outreach to Faculty and Graduate Students

INTRODUCTION Faculty contribution to the institutional repository is a major limiting factor in the successful provision of open access to scholarship, and thus to the advancement of research productivity and progress. Many have alluded to outreach messages through studies examining faculty concerns that underlie their reluctance to contribute, but specific open access messages demonstrated to resonate most with faculty have not been discussed with sufficient granularity. Indeed, many faculty benefits and concerns are likely either unknown to the faculty themselves, or unspoken, so the literature’s record of faculty benefits and perceptions of open access remains incomplete at best. DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM At Rutgers University, we have developed a targeted message that both addresses these unspoken/unknown concerns and benefits and speaks to the promise and inevitability of open access in a changing scholarly communication landscape. This paper details that message and its rationale, based on a critical review of the literature currently informing outreach programs, in order to provoke further discussion of specific outreach messages and the principles underlying them. NEXT STEPS A robust scholarly communication organization, open access policy advisory board, expanded outreach, and sustained momentum will be critical to ensuring success with measurable outcomes. Metrics used to evaluate both OA policy implementation efforts and institutional repositories should be reevaluated in light of the governing objectives of open access outreach efforts and tools. It is hoped that a reassessment of the message and the metrics will better align both with the true promise and prerequisites of open access.

Early warning systems for biodiversity in southern Africa – How much can citizen science mitigate imperfect data?

It is a hard reality that virtually all countries, no matter how well resourced, take conservation and land use decisions based on highly patchy and imperfect data - if indeed any data at all. Despite a mushrooming of scientific evidence and journals in the past decade, and open-access provision of many expensive global datasets, developing countries in particular often have to make do with inaccurate and coarse-scale global data, in the absence of targeted, local data to solve immediate conservation problems. To what extent can citizen science data compensate for the patchiness of conventional government-gathered scientific data in order to support planning, policy and management? We demonstrate how southern Africa's citizen science-based “early warning system for biodiversity” is used to support land-use planning and conservation decisions, including Red List, strategic and project-based environmental impact assessments and national protected area expansion and implementation strategies. This system integrates volunteer-based species atlases such as the Protea Atlas Project and Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP), species population monitoring such as the Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers (CREW) project, and site-based rapid assessment and monitoring such as MyBirdPatch and BioBlitz. Countries in southern Africa are on a sharp continuum of research capacity, funding, political engagement and own datasets. Yet there is the capacity for adaptive management systems based in significant part on civil society volunteerism. Crucially, these must be underpinned by statistically sound, simple, repeatable scientific protocols, which are still rare in Africa.

The Open Access provision in Dutch copyright contract law

On 1 July 2015 the Dutch Copyright Contract Act entered into force1 , including the new Art. 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act that relates to open access.2 This contribution discusses the background to the open access provision and what its introduction means. According to the explanatory memorandum, the new Art. 25fa of the Copyright Act that has been added by amendment meets ‘the growing need to make scientific work available in the form of open access’. Open access means, put briefly, that scientific works are made available online free of charge. In open access a distinction can be made between Golden Road open access and Green Road open access. With Golden open access the publisher directly puts the work online for users free of charge. In doing so, the publisher usually requests compensation from the author, his research institute or grant provider.3 With Green open access a work is first published in the traditional manner in a paper and/or online journal, with the work only being available to subscribers for a fee, before the work is placed in a repository or otherwise put online by the author or his research institution.

Does NTPC Have a Dominant Position? A Critical Analysis

The past two decades have witnessed huge changes in the electricity sector. The changes in this sector at a rapid pace world over have resulted in competition in some segments of the sector, such as, generation and in some cases in distribution. India is no exception to the reforms that are being undertaken. The provisions of Open Access, power trading, competitive bidding, mentioned in the Electricity Act of 2003 are expected to give a spurt to competition. The favourable impact of all these factors includes wide choice of electricity suppliers for consumers and electricity at cheaper rates, which is in fact one of the cherished goals of reforms in the sector. However, it is not necessary that competitive markets would produce competitive results. There could be significant distortions in the form of anti-competitive behaviour, which would get manifested in the form of collusions, abuse of dominant position, etc. Experiences of some countries reveal that anti-competitive behaviour of various players in the power sector is not very uncommon. In India also there are controversies regarding the provision of Open Access, which are pointer towards an anti-competitive conduct. There are also apprehensions regarding abuse of dominant position by some companies. The primary objective of this article is to examine whether NTPC Ltd., which is the largest power generating company in India, has a dominant position in the power sector. The article also discusses the possible ways in which a dominant power-generating company could abuse its position. The study is conceptual in nature and draws heavily from the secondary sources of information. The study uses two tools: Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI) and Residual Supply Index (RSI).