Monthly Archives: May 2017

Library advice regarding the responsible use of quantitative research indicators

Image of data visualisations

We have written some Library advice regarding the responsible use of quantitative research indicators (the preferred term for metrics/bibliometrics). This outlines our approach to such indicators, representing current good practice and acting as a guide for future activities.

We believe that this is important because, whilst useful in certain circumstances, quantitative research indicators need to be understood to be used fairly and effectively.

Library Services provides support and guidance to The OU research community regarding quantitative research indicators. If you would like any more information on this subject, please see our website or contact library-research-support@open.ac.uk

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrate the Year of Open at The Open University

Celebrate #YearOfOpen at The Open University

You may be aware that 2017 is #YearOfOpen … a 365 day celebration of open education and the anniversary of a number of key milestones in its development, including  the Cape Town Declaration, 15 years since the Budapest Open Access Initiative, and the 5th anniversary of the Paris OER Declaration.  We’re excited to announce that, in addition to all the excellent events happening around the world, we’ll be taking part in the OER Hub’s Year of Open event here at The Open University, UK (OU) on Tuesday 20 June 2017! 

For more information, visit the OER Hub blog.

Image credits:The Year of Open logo is licensed CC BY 4.0. 

 

Finding images and copyright – a learning activity

We often get asked about how to find images for academic purposes (e.g. for use in presentations) online and how to navigate associated copyright issues. It is a tricky area but our Finding images and copyright learning activity will help you out.

It takes approximately 60 minutes to complete this activity.

 After working through this activity you should be able to:

  • recognise copyright and understand how it applies to using images
  • find and evaluate images using Google image search
  • find images using Creative Commons licences

So, have a go and let us know what you think!

 

 

 

Web of Science

Web of Science is a renowned abstract and citation database. It has wide coverage and facilitates analysis of its content, which can help identify links between past and current research, between collaborators or between funding and research impact, for example.

It is well-known among researchers but, for those of you who have yet to use it in anger, here are a few reasons for taking a closer look:

It has a lot of content

Web of Science contains over 33000 journals. It also covers books, conference proceedings, data sets and patents back to 1900. Whilst its index is not as big as Scopus and some other sources, its size is still considerable  and makes it worth considering as a place to start finding literature for your research or as a dataset for analysis.

The content is tightly curated

Many people believe that one of Web of Science’s main strengths is that its content is chosen by a team of experts. The idea is that only high-quality and relevant publications are included. Furthermore, it is generally felt that the metadata and citation data is high quality.

It is a source of bibliometrics

You can easily see the citation count for an article (highlighted red here) on the search results page:

You can also click Create Citation Report from a search results page to get more insight into the citation data:

Furthermore, Web of Science provides Journal Impact Factor scores. Journal Impact Factor is a contested metric (see this Science article or this piece on Occam’s Typewriter to get a flavour of the criticisms) but, for better or worse, it is still used and it can be useful to know how to access it. Simply click on a journal’s title from a search results page to see its Impact Factor and related metrics:

You can also link through to Journal Citation Reports form Web of Science, which allows you to explore Journal Impact Factor and other journal-level metrics in more detail. Follow the “Journal Citation Reports” link (highlighted red here) at the top of the page:

Indeed, if metrics are your bag, than Web of Science is one of the main sources worth investigating. You can get more general information on our bibliometrics page.

However, as an abstract and citation database, Web of Science requires you to link out to access the full text of articles. Indeed, there is no guarantee that The OU will subscribe to the full text – use the “Checks if the OU offers full text” link for an article (highlighted red below) to find out:

You can log into Web of Science (OU student or staff credentials required) to investigate for yourself.

Scopus – a large abstract and citation database for research

Scopus is a large, multi-disciplinary abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature, including scientific journals, books and conference proceedings.

Here are just a few of the features that make it worth considering as a researcher:

It has a lot of content

Scopus boasts over 65 million records and claims to be the biggest database of its kind (we understand that Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic may index more records but that their content is not curated in the same way). This alone means it is worth investigating, if you want to discover literature for your research.

It doesn’t cover everything (no database does) and it’s subject coverage isn’t equal (there is more content in the sciences than in the arts for example) but it can still provide a good starting point for a lot of people . Learn more on the Scopus Content page.

It has powerful search features

As well as intuitive basic search features, Scopus allows you to search by author and affiliation (i.e. the university, company or other organisation that an author works for). It also has a potent advanced search feature, which allows for the constructions of complex searches – really useful if you are after something specific.  Learn more on the Scopus Features page.

It is a source of bibliometrics 

Scopus records the citations that publications get, as well as providing metrics on things like social media mentions, uses on Mendeley and Citeulike and mentions in the mass media.

You can easily see the metrics for an article by looking at the “Metrics” box on its “Document details” page:

Indeed, if metrics are your bag, than Scopus is one of the main sources worth investigating. You can get more general information on our bibliometrics page.

However, as an abstract and citation database, Scopus usually requires you to link out to access the full text of articles. Indeed, there is no guarantee that The OU will subscribe to the full text  – use the “Checks if the OU offers full text” link  for an article (highlighted red below) to find out:

You can log into Scopus (OU student or staff credentials required) to investigate for yourself.

 

Getting to grips with Research Data Management

Yesterday I held a workshop for research staff and students on Research Data Management. As always this was an excellent opportunity for researchers to share their own experiences of data management and exchange tips (and grievances!). In particular there was lots of interesting discussion around the ethical implications of data sharing, which I will be taking forward to help evaluate the advice that we give researchers regarding managing and sharing sensitive, confidential and personal data.

This session was oversubscribed, so if you would have liked to attend but were unable look out for more RDM workshops on the Research Career Development programme next year; or if you are a research group we may be able to set up a bespoke training session with for you – please get in touch.

Using other universities’ libraries via the SCONUL Access scheme

OU Library Services do our best to meet all our users’ needs but we appreciate there are times when you may need to use other universities’ libraries.

One of the most convenient ways of doing this is via the SCONUL Access scheme. It is quick and easy to sign up and gives access to the majority of UK university libraries.

Please note that conditions on registration and restrictions on the use of other libraries do apply – what each library can offer varies. Please see the SCONUL Access section of our Libraries near you page for more information and to sign up.

ORDO on tour… on your desktop!

ORDO online drop-in: Tuesday 23rd May 14.30-15.00

As part of our ORDO on Tour series of events, we have arranged an online drop-in session at 14.30 on Tuesday 23rd May for any research staff or students who would like to find out more about the system.

ORDO is the OU’s data repository, provided by Figshare. In this session, Megan from Figshare and Dan from the OU will demo the system, including how to upload items, using project spaces for collaborating work, and curating data into collections or branded groups. There will be time for questions at the end, so feel free to bring examples of your own data and explore the opportunities around storing and/or sharing your research outputs!

If you would like to attend, but this time doesn’t work for you, please let us know as we may consider running future online drop-ins should this prove popular.

Instructions for joining
There is no need to sign up  ahead of time; at 14.30 on 23rd May simply:

Add this event to your calendar:
iCalendar  •  Google Calendar  •  Outlook  •  Outlook Online  •  Yahoo! Calendar

ORDO on tour… in IET

As you may have heard, we have a new open data repository, ORDO (Open Research Data Online), where you can store, share and preserve your research data.

To give as many people as possible the chance to see a live demo and to ask any questions we’re taking it on tour!

Next Tuesday we’ll be in IET, where Dan Crane from the Library Research Support team will give a short introduction and demo of ORDO, and then be on hand to answer any questions you have about managing and sharing your data.

Please come along – you bring the coffee, we’ll bring the cake!

Tue 16th May, 14:00 to 15:00. IET Meeting Room 5 – ASH

And if you’d like us to come and speak with you and your colleagues where you are, please get in touch at library-research-support@open.ac.uk and we’ll arrange a date.

image by Dino Reichmuth ‘Arches National Park Entrance Station, Moab, United States’