JISC Collections, the membership organisation that supports the provision of digital content for education and research in the UK, has published a report titled 'UK Scholarly Reading and the Value of Library Resources.' The report is based on research carried out by Prof. Carol Tenopir from the Center for Information and Communication Studies at the University of Tennessee.
The report examines how valuable scholarly reading has become for academics, especially in terms of access to journal articles. It surveyed academic and associate staff at six UK Higher Education institutions in 2011.
From the academics' perspective, the University Library remains the first choice for access to scholarly material as it provides a wide range of high quality articles in a timely and cost-effective manner. In this respect, the University Library can rightly stake its claim to having an integral role in the academic research process, not just a supporting one, it is felt. The report includes comments from academics about how they are engaging with library-provided resources and why it is so important that access is maintained. Typical outcomes from these scholarly readings include inspiring new thinking and improving research results.
The research also examined what academics would do if library resources were not available. The findings suggest that without the library, academics and their departments would not find articles of such quality, that they would find fewer related articles, and that it would be a significantly more costly and time-consuming process.
An examination of searching and browsing habits also shows the value of library-provided search tools in saving academic time in finding quality material more rapidly.
The report is also seen to be encouraging for JISC Collections which is responsible for negotiating journal and database deals for the community as a whole, including the NESLi2, SHEDL and WHEEL consortia. The findings provide further evidence of the value derived from journals included in 'bundled deals', both in terms of current journal articles and archival collections.
Although the survey focuses on academics, it is worth noting that the article readings are also used to support teaching, so staff and students alike are benefiting from access to these resources.
The research is part of a wider international Lib-Value project being coordinated by the Center for Information and Communication Studies at the University of Tennessee.
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InTech, a Croatia-based open access (OA) publisher, has published the results of a survey appraising attitudes and awareness of the research community towards the OA business model in scholarly publishing.
The InTech white paper, titled 'Open Access: Awareness and Attitudes amongst the Author Community', is based on a review of current research and a survey sent to 20,000 STM researchers worldwide. The survey attracted an overall response rate of 1.3 percent, with 275 participants taking part and 253 (92 percent) completing it. The majority of respondents were researchers (75 seventy) based at a university (70 seventy).
Key findings from the report reveal that of 258 participants who responded when asked, 51 percent said they understood OA publishing, and 36 percent said they had some knowledge of it. The report notes that the OA publishing experience is lower but still strong. Twenty six percent of the respondents said that they had published with an OA publisher for a journal article and 10 percent for a book.
It was found that researchers in biological sciences had greater awareness and experience, particularly in journals, while participants from the earth sciences and technology had lower awareness and less OA publishing experience. Over 25 percent of researchers are aware of OA publishers such as PLoS, InTech, BioMedCentral and Hindawi.
For OA journal publications, it is the image and reputation of the journal itself that is the most important factor for authors when considering where to submit their work; but for books it is the image and reputation of the publisher. The survey highlighted that authors want more support from publishers in getting their work noticed - services provided by publishers where the level of satisfaction scored lowest centred on PR and media support; post-publication information on usage / citations / peer feedback; and promoting the author effectively alongside their work.
The survey also explored the most common concerns surrounding OA publishing; among these were author fees. Over 65% (of the 256 participants who responded) said they were willing to pay author fees, 30% said they would be willing to pay if it helped ensure the widest possible audience for their work, while 38% would only pay in exceptional circumstances. The full results can be downloaded from: http://www.intechweb.org/js/ckeditor/kcfinder/upload/files/InTech_WhitePaper_FutureofOA_Dec11.pdf.
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Scientific publisher Nature Publishing Group (NPG), UK, has announced an expansion in open access among its society-owned titles. A new open access journal, Molecular Therapy - Nucleic Acids, has now launched at www.nature.com/mtna. In addition Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics and Spinal Cord now offer open access options.
Molecular Therapy - Nucleic Acids is the official journal of the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy and is a companion title to the high impact journal Molecular Therapy. It builds upon the success of Molecular Therapy in publishing important peer-reviewed research and cutting-edge reviews and commentaries targeted to advances in oligonucleotide and gene-based therapies. All content is freely available to researchers worldwide through the nature.com platform. An article-processing charge (APC) will be levied per article accepted for publication.
Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (CPT) is the official journal of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. It is a cross-disciplinary journal in experimental and clinical medicine devoted to publishing advances in the nature, action, efficacy, and evaluation of therapeutics. Spinal Cord is the official journal of the International Spinal Cord Society and is a multi-disciplinary title covering the whole-system of spinal cord injury.
Authors publishing original research in CPT and Spinal Cord can opt to pay an APC to make their paper open access immediately on publication. The articles are deposited in PubMed Central at the time of publication, and authors can self-archive the final, published PDF of their work immediately.
NPG has expanded open access options on journals published in China and Japan. Fifty five of its 59 academic and society publications have now introduced open access options or are open access journals.
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STM publisher Springer has announced a partnership with the Entomological Society of Brazil to publish the journal Neotropical Entomology and a new book series Entomology in Focus. Prof. Fernando L.Consôli of the University of São Paulo is editor of both the journal and the book series.
Founded in 1972, Neotropical Entomology is a bimonthly journal publishing original articles written by Brazilian and international experts in several sub-specialties of entomology, including bionomics, systematics, morphology, physiology, behaviour, ecology, biological control, crop protection and acarology. The Forum section publishes extensive reviews and thought-provoking articles on contemporary issues in entomology.
Publishing at least three books a year, the new series Entomology in Focus seeks to deepen understanding of the diversity, life and ecology of insects. Books in this series will provide a comprehensive synthesis of basic and applied topics in the field of entomology, including insights into how humans can benefit from these organisms and at the same time diminish their negative effects.
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Healthcare publisher Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW), a Wolters Kluwer Health business, has announced that Willis-Knighton Health System has selected the expert clinical content in Lippincott's Nursing Procedures and Skills and Lippincott's Nursing Advisor to help their nurses deliver exceptional patient care.
Lippincott's Nursing Procedures and Skills gives nurses accurate, step-by-step guidance for more than 1,200 evidence-based procedures. The online resource provides skills checklists and competency tests for each procedure to help facilities verify staff competence. Each procedure undergoes a thorough annual review process to ensure the most up-to-date clinical information is provided. Facilities can customise and add procedures to meet their specific needs.
Lippincott's Nursing Advisor is designed to provide nurses quick and efficient access to the specific information needed to provide optimal patient care, including expert content from the best-selling Nursing Drug Handbook. Drug, disease, treatment, diagnostic test, and signs and symptoms monographs provide essential information to nurses quickly in their daily workflow. Customisation functionality allows hospital protocols to be added, improving staff awareness, compliance and care standardisation.
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The IP & Science business of Thomson Reuters and The Ohio State University have announced the upcoming launch of Research In View across the university's campus. Research In View is an enterprise-wide system for collecting and managing scholarly activity data across an institution to bring greater clarity to academic resources and performance.
Research in View leverages the unique expertise of Thomson Reuters in citations and bibliometric data, building upon Ohio State's foundational platform (OSU:pro), to support a full view of university activities and performance . The result of a multi-year partnership between the two organisations, this faculty profiling system collects data from multiple sources and in various formats, standardising it to provide a unified database and analytic interface for managing, searching and reporting on key areas within an institution. Ohio State is the first university to implement this comprehensive, campus-wide system.
The data captured in Research in View offers insight into the full spectrum of research, teaching and service activities, and will allow Ohio State to assess the impact of its strategic initiatives by quantifying its strengths and promoting its contribution to scholarship and the community. Faculty members can easily build and maintain profiles of their service, teaching, and research expertise, giving university administrators a complete picture of the university's intellectual assets and streamlining reporting activities.
Research in View was developed by the Research Analytics business at Thomson Reuters in consultation with university administrators worldwide. It is fully integrated with Thomson Reuters tools that support strategic research decisions and the evaluation and management of research, including ResearcherID and InCites. This suite of solutions is fuelled by content from Web of Knowledge and ScienceWire.
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Academic and professional publisher SAGE has announced that its entire online journal collection is now available in a mobile-optimised format with the help of HighWire Press' Mobile Web Interface.
Visitors to one of the more than 640 SAGE journal sites using their iPhones, Androids or other smartphones are automatically redirected to the mobile version. Subscribers can now view content in a format designed specifically for the small screen size and functionality of their mobile device.
Each of SAGE's mobile journal sites feature the full text content of the current issue (with user authentication), OnlineFirst articles, archives, and tables of contents, in addition to providing simplified search, personalisation, and article share options. The mobile sites maintain the look and feel of the full web versions for consistency. Mobile-optimised sites will be created for every new SAGE journal launched in the future.
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The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) has announced the availability of an app for the Apple iPad that delivers convenient access to the ASHP library of eBooks. ASHP is a 35,000-member organisation for pharmacy professionals who practice in hospitals and health systems.
The iPad app was developed by Impelsys, ASHP's eBooks technology partner, leveraging Impelsys' iOS delivery module within its iPublishCentral software platform.
The free app can be downloaded from Apple's App Store or searching within the iPad App Store for ASHP eBooks.
According to Carol Wolfe, vice president, publications and drug information systems of ASHP, there are already nearly 20 eBooks available for immediate download onto the iPad and the company expects to roll out additional titles in the coming weeks.
Impelsys is also working on an app for accessing the ASHP eBooks Store that will be compatible with Android-powered mobile devices as well. Launched last summer, the ASHP eBooks platform was also developed by Impelsys and runs on the company's iPublishCentral software.
With the ASHP eBooks library, members can browse books by category, search in a book, add bookmarks, change the font size of the text to suit their preferences, jump within the text between chapters, and move quickly to tables and references throughout the title.
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Mobile access for Knowledgespeak is now available in a mobile browser version and a Java application version.
Smartphones and Tablets – We publish a mobile browser version for smartphones and tablet PCs. This is accessible at www.myscoope.com, a site designed specifically for all types of smartphones and tablets including the iPhone, the iPad, and other smartphones like the BlackBerry and Android phones.
Some of SCOOPE STM Mobile's user-friendly features include:
» Easy Selection and viewing of desired news items
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» Navigating to the URL links listed in the news item
Subscribers are invited to send in their feedbacks as to their experiences with the service at kspeaknews@scopeknowledge.com
JISC Collections report examines value of library resources for academics
Authors increasingly aware of open access publishing, says InTech survey 
Springer and Entomological Society of Brazil announce publishing partnership
Willis-Knighton Health System selects online evidence-based tools to provide trusted information at the point of care 
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