Enhanced journals - a case study with general remarks

The Information Bulletin on Variable Stars - a small astronomy journal published in Hungary - was an early Open Access journal. Now it offers several enhanced features to its reader community. Relying on the rather unique publishing environment existing in the field of astronomy, and on software developed locally, this journal is markedly different from other enhanced journals in certain aspects. We explore the key features of enhanced and common electronic journals: reference linking, database connections, data linking, multi-media content, feedback from the reader community, quality control. We argue that while exploring new avenues of scientific publishing, one should conservatively preserve some traditional values and features. Some aspects of article disassembly - dealing with items smaller than the usual basic publication unit, the article - are explored too. Figures, for example, are article components which might be re-used, used outside the original context

Observations and Publications in the VO: Is the VO Only for Big Science?

The Virtual Observatory (VO) got started by Big Science projects. We can ask: is the VO an exclusive tool to handle big catalogs from large surveys? We think the VO should contain information from journals, other publications, and non-survey, ``Little Science" observations too. Journals, observatory publications and repositories could be the vehicle to carry non-survey observations to the VO

Publications and Observational Data in the Archive of Konkoly Observatory

We present the status of ongoing digital preservation projects at Konkoly Observatory. The electronic IBVS, the Communications/Mitteilungen series and observational data digitization are discussed, with some open questions

From the AGE to the electronic IBVS: the past and the future of astronomical journals

Zach launched the first astronomical journals: the "Allgemeine Geographische Ephemeriden" and the "Monatliche Correspondenz". We will overview the road astronomical journals have covered, from the age of Zach to the present. Some major milestones on this road were the yearbooks, the first journals, the modern (refereed) journals, DTP and electronic publishing. With the help of a small journal, the Information Bulletin on Variable Stars, we explore the question of open access and possible paths to the future as well

Small Data Archives and Libraries

Preservation is important for documenting original observations, and existing data are an important resource which can be re-used. Observatories should set up electronic data archives and formulate archiving policies. VO (Virtual Observatory) compliance is desirable; even if this is not possible, at least some VO ideas should be applied. Data archives should be visible and their data kept on-line. Metadata should be plentiful, and as standard as possible, just like file formats. Literature and data should be cross-linked. Libraries can play an important role in this process. In this paper, we discuss data archiving for small projects and observatories. We review the questions of digitization, cost factors, manpower, organizational structure and more

IBVS — Novel Features of a Small OA Astronomical Journal

The Information Bulletin on Variable Stars (IBVS) is a small, specialized astronomical journal. It has served the variable star community since 1961. An Open Access electronic version was started in 1994. This electronic version offers innovative services to the reader: the use of third-party tools for visualization (Aladin) and third-party name resolution services (SIMBAD or GCVS for objects, and ADS for author names) for search. Considerable efforts have been made to interconnect the journal with other electronic resources such as publications, databases, and archives, like CDS, ADS, GCVS, NED, WFPDB and WEBDA. Additional aspects of this small electronic journal to be discussed are: archiving policies, copyrights and the use of OAI-PMH

Article Disassembly - New Ways to Handle Information in Publications

Articles and books - the basic publication units - could be disassembled to semantic building blocks. For scientific journal articles, such blocks include figures and tables, among others. Providing meta-data for figures and tables, and making them accessible per se opens up new ways of presenting and using scientific information - like producing an image-database on certain subjects, based on figures published in different journals. These meta-data and copyrights should be supplied by the publishers, who in turn might require authors to provide this information. Some examples are shown from a small astronomy journal, the Information Bulletin on Variable Stars

Transport as a location factor: new start-ups and relocations in Portugal

This paper analyses the spatial pattern of manufacturing plant location and relocation using municipality data in Portugal from 1986 to 1997. Over this period most of the Portuguese motorways have been constructed extending the network from just about 200 kilometres at the beginning of the 1980s to over 1,300 kilometres by 1998. This is an interesting development that offers opportunities to explore the role of road infrastructure and its improvements as a location factor. In addition to location determinants widely used in the literature, fine measures of motorway access and road accessibility calculated with GIS methodology are included in panel data estimations. Because plant birth and plant relocation result from two different spatial decision processes in the firm they are treated separately. The present study puts these two events in a dynamic context of the plant life cycle and finds evidence that fits with notions of business dynamics. Plant start-ups are positively influenced by the existence of a local pool of potential entrepreneurs, lower wage costs and a more diversified economic environment. Relocations, on the other hand, prefer areas with a greater availability of producer services and an already larger industrial share. These findings suggest that plant relocations, which are at a later stage of the plant life cycle, add to concentration and geographic specialisation, whilst first locations are primarily influenced by the availability of general inputs and cheap factors of production. A key finding of this paper is that road infrastructure matters for both, but more so for plant relocations. Relocations show a considerably larger attraction towards the new road transport corridors. This indicates that as firms grow, their spatial requirements change to accommodate a greater need for high-quality transport infrastructure to sell output over, and get inputs from, a wider geographic area.

Links and Hubs of Scientific Information - the Case of the MTMT

We present the Hungarian National Scientific Bibliography project: the MTMT. We argue that presently available commercial systems cannot be used as a comprehensive national bibliometric tool. The new database was created from existing databases of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, but expected to be re-engineered in the future. The data curation model includes harvesting, the work of expert bibliographers and author feedback. MTMT will work together with the other services in the web of scientific information, using standard protocols and formats, and act as a hub. It will present the scientific output of Hungary together with the repositories containing the full text, wherever available. The database will be open, but not freely harvestable, and only for non-commercial use