1. The impact of academia on Parliament: 45 percent of Parliament-focused impact case studies were from social sciences
How does academic research feed into the parliamentary process? Analysing the impact case studies of the 2014 REF, Caroline Kenny, in her post in The Impact Blog, draws out potential lessons on how Parliament is currently engaging with academics, and how it might in the future. Impact case studies referring to Parliament were found in all four of the main subject panels, but 45 per cent of the cases came from Panel C – the social sciences.
The blog post says (quote): I found 23 different ways that academics were engaging with and having an impact on, Parliament. The main way that academics are having an impact in Parliament is by them, or their research, being mentioned in Parliament, which was referred to in 43 per cent of the case studies. These mentions include research and/or researchers being referenced in a select committee report or cited in a parliamentary debate for example. The second key way that academics created impact is by providing evidence to Parliament, either written or oral, formally or informally. And it wasn’t just select committees that were benefitting from this. All-Party Parliamentary Groups and committees considering legislation were all receiving evidence from academics............ (Unquote)
The full entry can be read Here.
2. Who is your repository?
For Open Access week, BioMed Central is examining the role of the library in improving the impact and visibility of an institution’s research output. In her guest post in the BioMed Central Blog, Kimberly Chapman, Director of Campus Repository Services at the University of Arizona, discusses faculty relationships and their value in growing an institution’s repository.
The blog post says (quote): The repository makes content available in a central location and ensures access and preservation. Its value lies in the content being readily discoverable by search engines and other access points, as compared to individual websites which have limited search capability and are not optimized for discoverability. The delivery of statistical information on views and downloads is important to our campus collection managers. The integration with Altmetric and ORCID are timely and useful Open Repository enhancements that add value for authors as the Library builds out open access manuscript deposit, in collaboration with faculty, to support compliance with funder requirements............. (Unquote)
The full entry can be read Here.
3. The Battle for Open Access is Far from Over
It is now 25 years since the birth of the web, and more than 15 years since people started discussing open access. Yet we are still a long way from seeing the majority of the academic literature being open access. What’s more frustrating is that we have yet to maximise the opportunities offered by the internet in ways comparable to the effect it has had on our daily lives, notes Virginia Barbour, in her post in the Wire.
The blog post says (quote): Since the early 2000s, many hundreds of enterprises have sprung up to innovate in all aspects of publishing, ranging from new ways of publishing parts of articles, through to innovation in peer-review, and new business models for journals and books. Crucial infrastructure was also put in place to allow seamless cross referencing of papers, unique identifiers for articles (and parts of articles) and for individual academics. What will maximise all of these innovations is the scholarly literature being truly open, not just free............. (Unquote)
The full entry can be read Here.
4. The high-stakes online future of open-access science
The Internet turned academic publishing on its head. With it researchers and journals began opting to publish open access to improve visibility—paywalls be damned. But science can be strangely steadfast in its habits and most research articles are still not free and open to all. Some argue that may be a good thing while others—such as PLOS One and BioMed Central—think open access is the way of the future, notes Cynthia McKelvey in her post in The DailyDot.
The blog post says (quote): To understand open access, we need to understand how research is traditionally distributed—physically and at great expense. Academic journals would take papers from researchers, send them off to experts in the field for peer review, and then choose to accept or reject the paper based on those reviews. Then they would publish the article with figures and tables and circulate it to libraries, academic institutions, and whoever paid for a subscription.............. (Unquote)
The full entry can be read Here.
5. Big money, quiet storm – the silent revolution in education publishing
On the face of it, not much has changed in education publishing over the years. Major textbook publishers are still the world’s most profitable publishers. The top five players still have an 85 percent stake in an industry that is worth a dizzying estimated $14bn a year in the US alone. While nobody can contest the fact that this market is both highly lucrative and ripe for disruption, to date major education publishers haven’t really had to fight the same gruelling battles as their trade and academic cousins, notes Melissanne Scheld in her post in the ContentForward Blog.
The blog post says (quote): Nothing is more contentious in this industry than pricing. Since 1978 the price of textbooks in the US has gone up by an astonishing 945 percent – a higher rate than property and medical care. And this year a new milestone was reached when a $400 textbook was introduced. In addition to shouldering the burden of a lifetime of debt, the average US college student will spend around $1,200 on textbooks and related supplies each year............. (Unquote)
The full entry can be read Here.
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