Altmetrics as new indicators of scientific impact

In recent years, researchers and academics in growing numbers are starting to move their everyday work onto the Web, exploring new ways to spread, discuss, share and retrieve information outside of the traditional channel of scholarly publishing. As scholarly communication moves increasingly online, there is a growing need to improve the ways in which the impact of scientific research output is evaluated. Altmetrics, even if they are still in an early stage, have the potential to develop as complements to traditional metrics and to provide a useful insight into new impact types not included in existing measures. This paper summarises the major trends, opportunities and challenges of these new metrics for both researchers and academic research libraries

Towards new models in academic publishing.

The origin of the scientific journal lies in the need of researchers to communicate with each other. But the traditional scientific journal has been confronting the academic community with a number of problems. These are especially due to the sluggishness of the system and its high and ever increasing costs. Actually, since the start of the first journals, their emphasis has gradually shifted from communication to quality assessment. Thus the traditional journal is rather an obstacle than an instrument for efficient scientific communication. Several initiatives have been started to realise other ways of scientific publishing, using modern information technology. In several disciplines, however, a relatively large number of academics still are reluctant to make use of completely new ways of publishing. Thus a gradual transition from the present model to more innovative models is necessary. The article presents: 1. an overview of the background of these developments; 2. some examples of emerging new publishing models; 3. an example of an innovative European project, FIGARO, which aims at: - Setting up an infrastructure for supporting services for academic electronic publishing; - Building a network of academic content providers in Europe using this infrastructure

Current and Evolving Models of Peer Review

New models of scientific publishing and new ways of practicing peer review have injected a recent dynamism into the scholarly communication system. In this article, we delineate the context of the traditional peer review model, reflect upon some of the first experiences with open peer review and forecast some of the challenges that new models for peer review will have to meet. Our findings suggest that the peer review function has the potential to be divorced from the journal system, so that the responsibility to judge the significance of a paper may no longer fall exclusively to formal reviewers, but may be assessed by the whole readership community

Dalla crisi della comunicazione scientifica alle strategie Open Access: nuovi modelli di circolazione del sapere

The "serial pricing crisis" that has hit the Scholarly Communication system generated a great deal of initiatives and projects designed to transform radically the ways in which knowledge circulates. The first reaction to this crisis was new forms of cooperation between libraries which led to the creation of consortia for the shared purchasing of electronic resources. The academic community, resorting to sustainable electronic Publishing and Open Access to scientific literature, then sought new channels of communication able to satisfy the demand for widespread and rapid circulation of ideas and research findings. Open models of scientific communication achieved by the two strategies of "Open Access Publishing" and "Open Access Self-Archiving" represent an innovative approach that is capable of guaranteeing the dissemination of research literature. Some Open Access Journals, a new generation of freely accessible electronic periodicals, are already acclaimed. However, the affordability of their business model and their financial and other repercussions has generated a lively debate that still rages within the international community involved in the evolution of new models of Scholarly Communication

The Roquade project: towards new models in scientific communication

Due to a number of problems the traditional scientific journal has become an obstacle for efficient scientific communication. Several initiatives have been started to realise other ways of scientific publishing, using modern information technology. In several disciplines, however, a relatively large number of scientists still are reluctant to make use of completely new ways of publishing. The extraordinary aspect of the Roquade project is marked by the fact that it offers a variety of possibilities, which together constitute an expeditious way for gradually changing the publication behaviour of scientists. This project, initiated by the university libraries of the Dutch universities of Delft and Utrecht, aims at creating an infrastructure that conglomerates the swiftness of publication which hitherto could only be realised by grey publishing, with quality judgement without the serious delay of the traditional review procedures. Roquade offers a wide number of facilities to a broad audience, based on a common organisational and technical infrastructure. In the paper the philosophy and organisation of the project are described, as well as the first results

Publishing to Progress Science: Shifting the Paradigm from Self to Selfless

“Publish or perish is a phrase coined to describe the pressure in academia to rapidly and continually publish academic work to sustain or further one\u27s career to the next level of academic promotion and to build an academic reputation1. Prolific publishing increasingly affects funding as well as the reputation of individuals, their institutions, and journals themselves2. While the drive behind this increase can be attributed to many factors, the impact can further both the author and the larger medical community. This leads to the juxtaposition of self and selflessness and suggests the question: How is this quantitative increase in publishing reflected in an improvement in patient care? Publishing in academia requires a new mindset. The essence of scholarly publication is the dissemination of knowledge for the advancement of humanity. When one publishes, he/she initiates a scholarly communication with other scholars and becomes part of the scientific community with a greater mission to improve the world. New knowledge and exchange of ideas sparks further inquiry and becomes the base of a research pyramid upon which future scientists can build. The crux of scientific publication is the progression of science. In the field of medicine, dissemination of one’s work can lead to tremendous developments in new perspectives, therapies, cures, and preventions. An unbiased and thorough peer review process is an integral component that ensures the scientific quality of journals. Whether they are unique clinical cases or original research outlining therapeutic interventions, or ways to improve the quality of patient care, scholarly articles are enhanced by the constructive inputs of reviewers and editors. Investigations and interpretations presented in a peer-reviewed journal offer the medical community a vantage point from which to meet on the global platform and progress the scholarly conversation. This ultimately benefits the patients and provides teachable moments to future physicians and scientists

The Roquade project: an infrastructure for new models of academic publishing.

Due to a number of problems the traditional scientific journal has become an obstacle for efficient scientific communication. Many initiatives have been started for realising alternative ways of scientific publishing thereby using information technology. In various disciplines, however, a relatively large number of scientists are still reluctant to make use of completely new ways of publishing. The extraordinary aspect of the Roquade project is marked by the fact that it offers a variety of possibilities. Together they constitute an expeditious way for gradually changing the publication behaviour of scientists. This project, initiated by the university libraries of the Dutch universities of Delft and Utrecht, aims at creating an infrastructure that encompasses the swiftness of publication which hitherto could only be realised by grey publishing, with quality judgement without the serious delay of the traditional review procedures. Roquade offers a wide number of facilities to a broad audience, based on a common organisational and technical infrastructure. So far already 18 journals and other types of scientific work have been published within the Roquade infrastructure, whereas the project continues until 2002, In the paper, both project philosophy and organisation are described, as well as the preliminary results, experiences and best practices, technical XML based choices, web marketing and of course the needs and demands of authors and readers. The advantages of co-operation and the role of the university library in facilitating scientific communication are dealt with too. An outline of the Roquade business model after the project stage will also be presented

Putting the Journal of eScience Librarianship on the Map

This case study explores the evolution of the library published Journal of eScience Librarianship (JeSLIB), as it evolves to continue to serve librarians faced with the many challenges of a data driven environment. JeSLIB is an open access, peer-reviewed journal published by the Lamar Soutter Library at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The library publishes JeSLIB through its eScholarship@UMMS repository on the bepress Digital Commons platform. JeSLIB was at the forefront of thinking about the “library as scholarly publisher” and sought to fill a need for librarians to learn about new challenges related to scientific research data. The journal provides mechanisms for authors to confidently share their work under an appropriately selected Creative Commons license. JeSLIB is also committed to spreading the scholarly work of the profession, and uses Altmetrics to track where readers are sharing articles to. Additionally, the adoption of social media platforms, including YouTube and Twitter, has allowed the journal to interact with readers and authors in new ways. The journal’s team of librarian editors has acquired new skills and expertise in all facets of scholarly publishing to the benefit of the library. Running a publishing program can serve as a critical tool to help librarians cultivate new partnerships and roles. Since starting the journal five years ago, the editorial team has reworked its scope to include newer developments within data science. In thinking about reframing the journal to remain relevant and current, the editors recently conducted an extensive review and revision of the journal’s policies as well as updating the journal’s website. Through this presentation, the editors will share their experiences supporting open access of research, rethinking scholarly publishing, and advancing scientific communication

Under Siege : Journal Publishing in the 1990s

Budget cutbacks are the theme of the '90s, and all aspects of advanced education are under intense pressure from severely reduced federal and provincial funding. The realm of scholarly communication is no exception. At a time of rising production costs, reduced postal subsidies, and subscription cancellations from under-funded university libraries, publishers of scholarly journals are now faced with the outright elimination of funding sources such as the Scientific Publication Grants Program of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). According to NSERC, the support of scientific journals is a "non-core program" and is therefore being terminated to allow more funding to be directed to research grants. It is difficult to understand how the dissemination of knowledge came to be defined as a non-core program. The goal of ensuring adequate funds for the direct costs of conducting research is certainly laudable. Nevertheless, the loss, through inadequate funding, of scholarly journals as a major forum for scientists to communicate the results of their work has serious consequences for the entire scientific endeavour. There is little point in funding research that will remain unknown to the broader academic community and to Canadian tax-payers who support that community. Such a move could easily result in the research being available only to a privileged few (relatively speaking) through informal networks of communication such as the Internet. ... The move to on-line publishing may somewhat ease the budgetary pressures on journal support programs and university libraries as more and more new journals are offered directly in the electronic media rather than in print. ... Until such time as the print journal has disappeared, publishers will continue to seek ways to make the production process as efficient and cost-effective as possible, while maintaining the quality and integrity of scholarly journals. ... Fiscally responsible journal management means maintaining subscriber rates that will cover the costs of production and distribution. But we need to look elsewhere to cover the myriad other costs associated with scholarly publishing. ..

New techniques of scientific publication. Third Medes-Lilly workshop

The proliferation of new communication technologies and the numerous websites that provide health information are a source of unimaginable new possibilities for improving health information and care due to their interactivity, ability to customize relationships with users, and ease of content publishing and updates. However, the particular sensitivity of health information for the health and lives of individuals may pose risks that must be foreseen and curbed. In its third edition, the Jornada Medes analyzes the evolution of the dissemination of scientific knowledge through new technologies. The meeting addressed the process of transforming the printed journal to the electronic one and the various ways in which this process happens. How new technologies are applied to complex editorial processess, and the respective advantages and disadvantages, were examined