Scientific Reports, a Nature Publishing Group publication, is introducing the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license as an option for authors. The CC-BY license will be available to authors submitting articles on or after July 1, 2012, in addition to the two non-commercial Creative Commons licenses currently on offer. All content published in Scientific Reports is open access and is freely accessible to all, immediately on publication.
In 2011, 73 percent of authors publishing with Scientific Reports opted for the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA) license that permits derivative works, while 27 percent opted for the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND) License. Across all NPG journals with open access options, the picture was quite different. On the 1,113 open access articles NPG published in 2011, 39 percent of authors opted to permit derivative works and 61 percent opted for the 'no derivatives' license.
Scientific Reports is committed to publishing technically sound research articles quickly and efficiently. From June 2011 to April 2012, the average time from submission to publication of the final article, including peer review, has been 99 days. By comparison, over the same time period, the average time from submission to publication in PLoS One is 155 days.
All Scientific Reports papers are handled by an external Editorial Board of over 500 practicing scientists, and their support over the first year has been instrumental to the journal's success.
Hosted on the nature.com platform, papers are discoverable and widely read.
The journal publishes technically sound, original research papers of interest to specialists within their field. This includes papers that describe negative results. Launched in June 2011, the title covers all areas of the biological, chemical, physical and earth sciences. It has been accepted for indexing by PubMed and the Thomson Reuters Web of Science.
The CC BY license allows for articles to be distributed and amended, including for commercial opportunities. Papers can be developed upon, as long as attribution is given to the original work and its authors.
The European Science Foundation has published a new report, ‘Central and Eastern Europe Beyond Transition: Convergence and Divergence in Europe.’ The report aims to identify new themes for social science research in and on Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), which can be promoted and endorsed by national and European funding institutions.
Three interdisciplinary thematic clusters have been identified - Populations in change; New Geographies of Europe; and Social Cohesion. ‘Populations in change’ seeks to look into how out/in migration, regional population change, ethnic minorities and integration all affect the basic structure of CEE populations. ‘New Geographies of Europe’ focuses on the ‘return to Europe’, overcoming the West-East divide, on the influence of cohesion funds on local governance and on the expanding borders of Europe eastwards. Social Cohesion focuses on the degree of socio-economic transformation that post-communist Europe has undergone over the last 20 years, especially in terms of social mobility and social trust.
The report also outlines eight structural recommendations for social science research in and on CEE. These underline the need to ensure a stronger presence of CEE scholars and CEE social research issues in international level research projects. They also highlight real needs in terms of the development of research infrastructure and human capital and call for the implementation of good practices in terms of governance, scientific excellence and independence.
The Book Industry Study Group (BISG), a US-based book industry trade association, has announced the publication of a report titled Development, Use, and Modification of Book Product Metadata. The 37-page report details how publishers, retailers and other industry stakeholders create and use metadata.
The report, prepared for BISG by Brian O'Leary of Magellan Media Consulting, presents both process and future proofing recommendations to improve product metadata in the supply chain. It was compiled from interviews with more than 30 industry stakeholders and a survey of the entire BISG membership. The report is projected to serve as an important document for BISG's Metadata Committee.
A key component of the best practices document is the identification of 31 core metadata elements -- price, publication date, ISBN, etc. -- that should be included or acknowledged in every metadata feed. The new report identifies an additional 39 data element, largely in the area of marketing that have become increasingly important to both data senders and receivers.
A five-page executive summary of the report is available free to all BISG members, and for a nominal fee to non-members. The full report is available for purchase at member and non-member prices. Both documents can be ordered at http://www.bisg.org/publications/product.php?p=27&c=437
McGraw-Hill Education CEO Lloyd "Buzz" Waterhouse has announced a restructuring of the company's international business in order to create an integrated organisation that leverages content, global distribution, and regional expertise to better capitalise on higher education, professional, and school publishing opportunities worldwide. Philip Ruppel, president of McGraw-Hill Professional and a 30-year publishing industry veteran, has been appointed to the additional position of president for McGraw-Hill Education International.
Ruppel has been president of McGraw-Hill Professional since 2007, responsible for leading the ongoing global and digital transformation of the business. Earlier, he was vice president and group publisher, responsible for all aspects of McGraw-Hill Professional's core and digital publishing.
During his 20 years with McGraw-Hill, Ruppel has successfully accelerated business growth through global expansion, digital initiatives, as well as content and partnership development.
Academic publisher Oxford University Press (OUP), UK, has announced the launch of PASSit, an online service which will meet doctors’ demands for high quality exam revision tools on their PCs and tablets.
Oxford’s medical publishing is trusted for its authority and reliability by doctors all over the world. The Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine is projected as a must-have, and according to the company, Oxford Specialty Training programme of textbooks, revision guides and self-testing resources have become a staple of the junior doctor’s arsenal.
OUP’s newly launched PASSit matches the structure, coverage, and question types in the exams. On launch there are exam revision modules in medicine, surgery, radiology, psychiatry, and anaesthesia, with further modules scheduled for late 2012.
A rigorous approach has been taken to the quality of the questions and answers, with three levels of review. Questions are written by experts in their fields. Each question is reviewed by a specialty medical team, which includes previous examiners. Each module is overseen by an editorial board to ensure the highest quality.
PASSit provides a range of tools and resources to help doctors plan and enhance their revision. The results tools highlight strengths and weaknesses, with a subject-by-subject breakdown of results, identifying areas that need more practice and providing a focus for the next set of questions. Candidates can design their own tests, and their results can be compared to peers, thereby providing a gauge of progress.
PASSit has been designed to help candidates pass their exams first time. It is part of a suite of online resources from Oxford, including the Oxford Medicine Online platform for clinical content, and the Oxford Scholarship Online platform for research materials.
Non-profit scientific publisher IOP Publishing, UK, has announced that it will be moving to a new subscription fulfillment company for customers in North, South and Central America, effective immediately.
The company has selected Cambey & West, based in Congers, NY as their new service provider, as part of a company-wide review and investment in customer service. The move will mean that all orders and fulfillment of IOP published journals, including the AAS titles, for the Americas will be handled by Cambey & West, beginning June 25, 2012.
Customer accounts in North, South and Central America will continue to be managed by IOP’s team of Regional Managers, and customer service questions will continue to be handled by IOP Publishing.
Library automation solutions provider Ex Libris Group, Israel, has announced that the Library Network of Western Switzerland (RERO) has selected the Ex Libris Primo discovery and delivery solution. The network includes the universities of Geneva, Fribourg, Lausanne, and Neuchâtel; the University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Western Switzerland; and four colleges of education. Primo will complement the network’s current Ex Libris solutions - the SFX OpenURL link resolver and the MetaLib federated search system.
Following a thorough evaluation of commercial discovery products, RERO chose Primo for its international reputation in academic institutions and unmatched flexibility in consortial implementations.
RERO, an acronym for Réseau Romand (French-speaking Network), is the network of libraries in western Switzerland. Founded more than 25 years ago following the decision by several major libraries to collaborate, RERO now includes most academic, public, heritage, and special libraries in the cantons of Geneva, Fribourg, Jura, Neuchâtel, Valais, and Vaud, as well as the Courts of Confederation (2 of the included cantons are bilingual French-German). RERO manages a catalogue of about 240 libraries serving over 280,000 registered readers and 50,000 students in four institutions of higher education (the universities of Geneva, Fribourg, Lausanne, and Neuchatel); the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO); and teacher training colleges (Vaud, Valais, Fribourg, and BEJUNE).
Pearson, a US-based provider of educational content and services, announced the upcoming release of Equella 5.2 (QA 2) the latest version of its digital repository that enables users to search, create and manage content online. The release introduces advanced integration capabilities with Moodle 2.3, the latest version of the learning management system. Moodle is a software package for producing Internet-based courses and web sites.
The enhanced Equella and Moodle integration enables instructors within the Moodle community to select Equella content and populate it into their course without ever leaving the Moodle application.
It is projected to lead to other enhancements also. These include a simplified search functionality that retains previous searches for ease-of-use, and the extension of the filtering and sorting capabilities within the file picker, which are now shown in drop-down menus within the same page view. Other enhancements include direct access to the repository’s media content including streaming media, SCORM and IMS packages, zipped web pages, and other complex learning objects from within Moodle.
The integration is additionally expected to offer a new way of referencing internal and external content in Moodle, similar to an “alias” or a “shortcut” on traditional operating systems; and the introduction of bulk update, which enables a single piece of content to appear in multiple places throughout Moodle courses.
Engineers and technical experts association SAE International is offering a new book that addresses both basic and advanced concepts critical for the understanding and support of the developing field of Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM).
Edited by Ian K. Jennions, Integrated Vehicle Health Management: Perspectives on an Emerging Field is collaboratively written by experts from academia, research and industry. The book’s 13 chapters represent the collective voice of the most qualified authorities in the field.
The perfect introduction to the field for engineers, executives, academic instructors, and students, the book includes a single definition and taxonomy of IVHM. In addition to the basic principles of the field, the text identifies how and where IVHM should be implemented, as well as a look at the commercial value of IVHM. Additional highlights focus on algorithms and their impact on IVHM, IVHM future directions and issues, and a case study on Integrated Health and Usage Monitoring Systems, commonly known as IHUMS.
Scientific Reports offer authors Creative Commons Attribution license
New European Science Foundation report identifies hot research topics in and on Central and Eastern Europe 
BISG publishes report on use and modification of book product metadata 
RERO Consortium in Switzerland opts for Ex Libris Primo