Enhancing content discovery of open repositories : an analytics-based evaluation of repository optimizations

Ensuring open repositories fulfil the discovery needs of both human and machine users is of growing importance and essential to validate the continued relevance of open repositories to users, and as nodes within open scholarly communication infrastructure. Following positive preliminary results reported elsewhere, this submission analyses the longer-term impact of a series of discovery optimization approaches deployed on an open repository. These approaches were designed to enhance content discovery and user engagement, thereby improving content usage. Using Strathprints, the University of Strathclyde repository as a case study, this article will briefly review the techniques and technical changes implemented and evaluate the impact of these changes by studying analytics relating to web impact, COUNTER usage and web traffic over a 4-year period. The principal contribution of the article is to report on the insights this longitudinal dataset provides about repository visibility and discoverability, and to deliver robust conclusions which can inform similar strategies at other institutions. Analysis of the unique longitudinal dataset provides persuasive evidence that specific enhancements to the technical configuration of a repository can generate substantial improvements in its content discovery potential and ergo its content usage, especially over several years. In this case study, COUNTER usage grew by 62%. Increases in Google ‘impressions’ (266%) and ‘clicks’ (104%) were a notable finding too, with high levels of statistical significance found in the correlation between clicks and usage ( t=14.30,df=11,p<0.0005 ). Web traffic to Strathprints from Google and Google Scholar (GS) was found to increase significantly with growth on some metrics exceeding 1300%. Although some of these results warrant further research, the article nevertheless demonstrates the link between repository optimization and the need for open repositories to assume a proactive development path, especially one that prioritises web impact and discovery

Crowdsourcing HCI for the institutional repository

It is said that one must not judge a book by its cover, but does that extend to researchers and cover sheets? Cover sheets excite enough discussion for technical and policy reasons – impact on metadata, necessity of use, branding , impact on publishers and so forth – to relegate the questions of their usability and efficacity to the bottom of the pile. In this era of cutting costs and trimming budgets, who has the money to spend on detailed investigation of anything that does not immediately impact on the core functions of institutional repositories: encouraging deposits, repository upkeep and so forth? In this paper we demonstrate the use of a crowdsourcing platform to run an extensive between-subjects HCI experiment designed to explore the impact of cover sheets upon common user tasks such as identification of document elements such as publication date and location of publication, and evaluate user perceptions of document layout

Repository optimisation & techniques to improve discoverability and web impact : an evaluation

In this contribution we experiment with a suite of repository adjustments and improvements performed on Strathprints, the University of Strathclyde institutional repository powered by EPrints 3.3.13. These adjustments were designed to support improved repository web visibility and user engagement, thereby improving usage. Although the experiments were performed on EPrints it is thought that most of the adopted improvements are equally applicable to any other repository platform. Following preliminary results reported elsewhere, and using Strathprints as a case study, this paper outlines the approaches implemented, reports on comparative search traffic data and usage metrics, and delivers conclusions on the efficacy of the techniques implemented. The evaluation provides persuasive evidence that specific enhancements to technical aspects of a repository can result in significant improvements to repository visibility, resulting in a greater web impact and consequent increases in content usage. COUNTER usage grew by 33% and traffic to Strathprints from Google and Google Scholar was found to increase by 63% and 99% respectively. Other insights from the evaluation are also explored. The results are likely to positively inform the work of repository practitioners and open scientists

Promoting content discovery of open repositories : reviewing the impact of optimization techniques (2016-2019)

Ensuring open repositories fulfill the discovery needs of both human and machine users is of growing importance and essential to validate the continued relevance of open repositories to users, and as nodes within open scholarly communication infrastructure. Following positive preliminary results reported elsewhere, this submission reviews the longer term impact of a series of discovery optimization approaches deployed on an open institutional repository. These approaches were designed to support improved content discovery and user engagement, thereby improving content usage. Using Strathprints, the University of Strathclyde repository as a case study, this submission will review the techniques and technical changes deployed on Strathprints and examine the impact of these changes by studying data on web impact, COUNTER usage and web traffic over a 4-year period. Analysis of this unique dataset provides persuasive evidence that specific enhancements to the technical configuration of a repository can generate substantial improvements in its content discovery potential and ergo its content usage, especially over several years. COUNTER usage grew by 62%. Increases in Google 'impressions' (266%) and 'clicks' (104%) were a notable finding, with high levels of statistical significance found in the correlation between clicks and usage (t = 14.30; df = 11; p < 0.0005). Web traffic to Strathprints from Google and Google Scholar was found to increase significantly with growth on some metrics exceeding 1300%. Although some of these results deserve additional scrutiny, the paper nevertheless demonstrates the link between repository optimization and the need for open repositories to assume a proactive development path, especially one that prioritises web impact and discovery

Implementing the Global University Publications Licence: a new open scholarship model for advocating change

Universities want a voluntary, non-exclusive licence from authors to disseminate publications. This practitioner case study explores an innovative model to communicate and advance open and equitable scholarship through the implementation of the Global University Publications Licence at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. This article explains the licensing policy and key influences, including, the copyright law of the People’s Republic of China and the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA). The University approved the Global University Publications Licence, with implementation from 1 August 2019. It is available in Chinese and English. Since implementation, the University has retained rights for 74% of research publications submitted. 100% of those publications are available through the University with a CC-BY licence and zero embargo. The open scholarship model provides an equitable approach to versions and citation. The article concludes by suggesting university libraries can exploit copyright law in China to progress open scholarship strategies, including recognition of employers as authors of works, a priority right to the exploitation of works and an embargo protection of two years after the completion of the work. The author’s final version of publications can be open, discoverable, cited and preserved through trusted universities with global reputations for high-quality research

Análisis de la implementación Schema.org en el repositorio RODERIC e impacto en el posicionamiento en Google y Google Scholar

Se presenta la implementación de Schema.org en el repositorio RODERIC de la Universitat de València. Para el análisis del impacto de la implementación se han definido ocho indicadores que se han analizado en Google Search y Google Scholar según el caso: visitas, visitas a registros bibliográficos, documentos descargados, impresiones, clics, CTR, posición media en la SERP y posición en la SERP que fueron analizados durante dos períodos consecutivos de un año, antes y después de la implementación. Los resultados obtenidos muestran resultados desiguales para ambos buscadores. En el caso de Google Search, a pesar de conseguirse un incremento considerable en el número de impresiones (21,05%), tanto los clics (10,38%), como el número de sesiones (15,03%) descienden. En el caso de Google Scholar, las sesiones se incrementan ligeramente (6,25%). El número de registros visualizados y de descargas de documentos del repositorio mejora en un 16,21% y 12,18%, respectivamente

Resource discovery in heterogeneous digital content environments

The concept of 'resource discovery' is central to our understanding of how users explore, navigate, locate and retrieve information resources. This submission for a PhD by Published Works examines a series of 11 related works which explore topics pertaining to resource discovery, each demonstrating heterogeneity in their digital discovery context. The assembled works are prefaced by nine chapters which seek to review and critically analyse the contribution of each work, as well as provide contextualization within the wider body of research literature. A series of conceptual sub-themes is used to organize and structure the works and the accompanying critical commentary. The thesis first begins by examining issues in distributed discovery contexts by studying collection level metadata (CLM), its application in 'information landscaping' techniques, and its relationship to the efficacy of federated item-level search tools. This research narrative continues but expands in the later works and commentary to consider the application of Knowledge Organization Systems (KOS), particularly within Semantic Web and machine interface contexts, with investigations of semantically aware terminology services in distributed discovery. The necessary modelling of data structures to support resource discovery - and its associated functionalities within digital libraries and repositories - is then considered within the novel context of technology-supported curriculum design repositories, where questions of human-computer interaction (HCI) are also examined. The final works studied as part of the thesis are those which investigate and evaluate the efficacy of open repositories in exposing knowledge commons to resource discovery via web search agents. Through the analysis of the collected works it is possible to identify a unifying theory of resource discovery, with the proposed concept of (meta)data alignment described and presented with a visual model. This analysis assists in the identification of a number of research topics worthy of further research; but it also highlights an incremental transition by the present author, from using research to inform the development of technologies designed to support or facilitate resource discovery, particularly at a 'meta' level, to the application of specific technologies to address resource discovery issues in a local context. Despite this variation the research narrative has remained focussed on topics surrounding resource discovery in heterogeneous digital content environments and is noted as having generated a coherent body of work. Separate chapters are used to consider the methodological approaches adopted in each work and the contribution made to research knowledge and professional practice.The concept of 'resource discovery' is central to our understanding of how users explore, navigate, locate and retrieve information resources. This submission for a PhD by Published Works examines a series of 11 related works which explore topics pertaining to resource discovery, each demonstrating heterogeneity in their digital discovery context. The assembled works are prefaced by nine chapters which seek to review and critically analyse the contribution of each work, as well as provide contextualization within the wider body of research literature. A series of conceptual sub-themes is used to organize and structure the works and the accompanying critical commentary. The thesis first begins by examining issues in distributed discovery contexts by studying collection level metadata (CLM), its application in 'information landscaping' techniques, and its relationship to the efficacy of federated item-level search tools. This research narrative continues but expands in the later works and commentary to consider the application of Knowledge Organization Systems (KOS), particularly within Semantic Web and machine interface contexts, with investigations of semantically aware terminology services in distributed discovery. The necessary modelling of data structures to support resource discovery - and its associated functionalities within digital libraries and repositories - is then considered within the novel context of technology-supported curriculum design repositories, where questions of human-computer interaction (HCI) are also examined. The final works studied as part of the thesis are those which investigate and evaluate the efficacy of open repositories in exposing knowledge commons to resource discovery via web search agents. Through the analysis of the collected works it is possible to identify a unifying theory of resource discovery, with the proposed concept of (meta)data alignment described and presented with a visual model. This analysis assists in the identification of a number of research topics worthy of further research; but it also highlights an incremental transition by the present author, from using research to inform the development of technologies designed to support or facilitate resource discovery, particularly at a 'meta' level, to the application of specific technologies to address resource discovery issues in a local context. Despite this variation the research narrative has remained focussed on topics surrounding resource discovery in heterogeneous digital content environments and is noted as having generated a coherent body of work. Separate chapters are used to consider the methodological approaches adopted in each work and the contribution made to research knowledge and professional practice

Cover Sheets Considered Harmful

The spread of the cover sheet is a divisive phenomenon. Their appearance is geographically bound and their content situated in the local political and financial context. In this article we discuss the arguments for and against the cover sheet in its guise as a fixture on institutional repository preprints, exploring the issue through statistical information gathered from survey material and from text analysis. We lay out the reasoning behind the use of cover sheets in the United Kingdom and discuss their prevalence and the underlying trends. In this manner, we identify concerns with the use of cover sheets from the perspectives of text mining and everyday use of repositories