Open Research Online

Researchers are increasingly being expected to record the details of research outputs associated with an externally funded project in external systems (such as the Research Outcomes System and Researchfish).

OU researchers are already expected to record their research outputs in ORO.  So, rather than re-key the data into external systems it would be desirable to export this data from ORO.  In order to achieve this we are restructuring the existing funder field in ORO to allow data to be exported from ORO into external systems.

The Funder field will now comprise a Funder name, a Project name and Project ID.  To aid data entry we have implemented predictive text against a set of know funded projects, but you will also be able to enter a project that is not recorded in this dataset.  The field is not mandatory but it is in everyone’s interest to populate this field whenever appropriate as it should save re-keying data at a later date!

Over the next few months we will be migrating data from the existing Funder field to the new fields and working with researchers to ensure this data is correctly recorded in ORO to ensure effective export of data.

Any questions, please mail the ORO mailbox at lib-oro@open.ac.uk

Chris Biggs

ORO Team, Library Services

February generally saw fewer downloads due to the short month, with the usual exception of Jan Draper’s book chapter.

ORO top 15 Feb 2013

Top downloads for August.  Several new faces this month in the 21 items that comprise the list. ORO-downloads-11-08

Most dowloaded items in ORO for July are available.  Good mix of new and familiar this month. 

July Downloads

Here are the top downloads from ORO for June. Social Sciences have just pipped IET to the most entries.

ORO-downloads-11-06

This is a brief reminder of why it is a good idea to deposit the full text of your items into ORO.

Most of all it will enable interested parties to gain access to your research more easily. This is especially true if we are able to make the text downloadable. The ‘accepted manuscript’ (aka ‘postprint’) is the version most likely to achieve this. This is the final post-peer-review version that you send to the publisher. We can convert from Word to PDF if necessary.

Please note we cannot accept a preprint (pre-peer-review) version.

Also, we check publishers’ copyright rules before making text downloadable and err on the side of caution – we can also set embargo periods – so please don’t let uncertainty over permissions put you off.

Even if we cannot make the text downloadable, having it stored in ORO offers benefits:

•    When a request for a copy of the text comes in via ORO you will have the option to click to ‘Accept the request’ within the email – ORO then sends a copy to the enquirer, saving you time and effort.

•    It also helps to preserve your work – offering a safe back-up in case your copy is lost or corrupted.

•    ORO will be the source of the OU’s REF submissions, so depositing relevant items now will make us better prepared.

We are happy to add the full text to items retrospectively – please email to lib-ORO-team with the item title or ORO item number.
When you email a text in response to an enquirer, please copy us in and we can then upload it into ORO.

Here are the top downloads from ORO for April - I blame the lower overall numbers on the Easter break. I have included information on risers and fallers and year to date – let me know if you find this information useful as it does take a while to compile: ORO-downloads-11-04.

After a long hiatus, the ‘most downloaded’ feature is back! As there has been a few months’ break we are starting again from scratch, so there will be no risers and fallers or total downloads this month. Please click through to the full list: ORO-downloads-11-03-ver2

By popular demand, it’s a return to a Top 15 this month. For the first time, it’s a PhD thesis that tops the downloads. Click here for the full list: ORO downloads 10_2010.

This month, I’ve decided to switch things back to a Top 10 rather than a Top 15, for no other reason than there were far too many downloads to report on should I have stuck with the latter. From memory, 14th place was tied between about 12 articles, and 15th even more!

On a related note, we do intend (this year) to implement within-item download stats. So, in the not too distant future, for any full-text article in ORO, you will be able to see how many times it has been downloaded in the current month, and in total. I’ll still compile a monthly Top 10, as I think it’s nice to highlight the most-downloaded, but for anyone who doesn’t appear in the list and is curious about downloads for their work, this will offer a solution.

Anyway, here’s the full list for September: ORO downloads 09_2010.