The University of Bristol are conducting a survey in collaboration with Jisc and UKRI to better understand how researchers view aspects of the research environment and culture. This is a short, anonymous survey asking questions about researcher experiences and views of research culture and practises.

By filling out this survey, you will provide valuable insight into current perceptions around research culture, which will in turn serve to guide future decision making.

The survey is open to anyone who has worked on at least one research project that was published. The results will be published and circulated once they have been collated.

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International Open Access Week 2022 will bring together researchers, funders, institutions, librarians, publishers, and open access advocates in a week-long webinar series. Participants will learn about the latest developments in open access publishing from speakers at every stage in the academic publishing community. Below is a list of webinars and virtual events you may be interested in:

Monday, October 24, 2022

Mythbusting Open Access in the Chemical Sciences

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM EDT / 15:00 PM – 16:00 PM BST

Open access is an important part of reaching the widest possible audience with your research, but you may have heard conflicting information about the process and the benefits for choosing open access. This session aims to provide researchers with a primer on the differences between open access and subscription-based journals, and information that dispels some of the enduring myths surrounding OA.

• Sybille Geisenheyner, Director, Open Access Strategy & Licensing, American Chemical Society View Bio
• Prof. Lynn Kamerlin, Chair in Molecular Design, Georgia Tech View Bio
• Dr. Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances, Royal Society of Chemistry View Bio

VIEW AGENDA

The Role of Institutions in Fostering a Climate of Open Science

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT / 16:00 PM – 17:00 PM BST

Co-Sponsored by the ACS Division of Chemical Information

Open science is about more than just open access. This session looks at the various pillars of open science – including open data and open peer review – with presentations from a variety of speakers on how institutions are fostering a climate of open science in their research communities.

• Angie Hunter, Development Editor, American Chemical Society View Bio
• Gemma Solomon, Professor, University of Copenhagen View Bio
• Chris Banks, FRSA, Director of Library Services, Imperial College London View Bio
• Dr. Ye Li, Librarian for Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, MIT Libraries View Bio

VIEW AGENDA

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Understanding Copyright for Researchers

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EDT / 17:00 PM – 18:00 PM BS

Do you know your BYs from your BY-NC-NDs? Choosing a copyright license for your work can be tricky, especially when your institution or license funder may have particular rules that they expect you to follow. This session provides a brief overview of the common license types you’ll encounter when publishing your work open access; highlights when, where, and why these licenses might be used; and provides you with tools to identify how you can comply with institutional and funder mandates.

• Sybille Geisenheyner, Director, Open Access Strategy & Licensing, American Chemical Society View Bio
• Eric Slater, Senior Manager, Copyright, American Chemical Society View Bio
• Roy Kaufman, Managing Director, Business Development, Copyright Clearance Center View Bio

VIEW AGENDA

Thursday, October 27, 2022

Open Access for Early Career Researchers

7:00 AM – 8:00 AM EDT / 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM BST

Publishing open access for the first time can be a whirlwind for early career researchers. There’s a lot to consider, from identifying the best OA journal for your research through to compliance with any requirements set in place by your research institution or funder. This session provides a brief overview of the open access publishing process from start to finish, led by an experienced researcher.

• Dr. Greco Gonzalez Miera, Managing Editor, American Chemical Society View Bio
• Prof. Sabine Flitsch, Chair in Chemical Biology, Manchester Institute of Biotechnology View Bio

VIEW AGENDA

Friday, October 28, 2022

Preprints in Chemistry – Now and Next

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM EDT / 15:00 PM – 16:00 PM BST

Compared to other fields of research, chemistry has been relatively slow to adopt preprints – but the significant growth in the number of articles posted to ChemRxiv over the past five years indicates that attitudes are changing. This session looks at how ChemRxiv has grown and new developments that will benefit researchers and institutions alike.

• Dr. Ben Mudrak, Senior Product Manager, ChemRxiv, American Chemical Society View Bio
• Dr. Neil Hammond, Open Access Publisher, Royal Society of Chemistry View Bio
• Dr. Lynn Kamerlin, Chair in Molecular Design, Georgia Tech View Bio
• Prof. Wolfram Koch, Executive Director, GDCh View Bio

VIEW AGENDA

The OSTP Memo and its Impact on Chemistry

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT / 16:00 PM – 17:00 PM BST

Co-Sponsored by the ACS Division of Chemical Information

The OSTP ‘Nelson Memo’ sets an ambitious goal for research funders in the US: ensure free and immediate access to all grantees’ published research, beginning no later than January 1 2026. The implications of the memo are wide-ranging and will significantly impact all chemistry researchers in the United States.

This session brings together diverse viewpoints to discuss how the OSTP memo, the ensuing funder mandates, and publishers’ responses will shape the future of chemistry publishing.

• Dr. Jim Milne, President, ACS Publications, American Chemical Society View Bio
• Dr. Michele Avissar-Whiting, Program Manager for Open Science Strategy, HHMI View Bio
• Dr. Yulia Sevryugina, Chemistry Librarian, University of Michigan View Bio
• Dr. Jessica Tucker, Acting Deputy Director, Office of Science Policy, National Institutes of Health View Bio

If you’ve got 12 minutes to spare, please help our colleagues at the University of Strathclyde in filling out this questionnaire 🙂

The aim of the questionnaire is to better understand user perceptions of persistent identifiers (PIDs). They are principally concerned with researchers outside those working in repositories, scholarly communications, etc. and are looking for research active staff to complete.

https://strath.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bCmMiz8rc6CMMMC

Findings arising from this questionnaire will be published openly and data deposited. But more importantly, it should help the community determine the ‘digital scholar’ training priorities for academic staff, which is the underlying aim of the work.

As of September 2021, Figshare and ORCID have a new integration with significantly improved functionality. We’ve updated our webpage to give you all the details but here are the main points you need to know –

The OU Library now has a subscription to Overton!

Our mission is to help users find, understand, and measure their influence on government policy – Overton.

Overton is the world’s largest searchable policy database. It includes access to over 5 million policy documents and guidelines from over 29,000 organisations in over 185 countries which then link them to the research, people and other policy documents that they quote or reference.

It can be accessed via the Library database A-Z list Databases | Library Services | Open University.

To save searches, tag or bookmark items you will need to create an account. For further information or help please contact us here. 

Love Data Week is an international celebration of data, with the goal of raising awareness and building a community to engage on topics such as research data management, sharing, preservation, reuse, dissemination, and library-based research data services.

This year’s events are based loosely on the theme “Data is for everyone.” The hashtag is #LoveData22.

The OU Library are hosting some fun activities and events to commemorate Love Data Week (14-18 February 2022).

1. ORDO Treasure Hunt (ongoing for the duration of Love Data Week)

To take part you need to answer a range of questions using ORDO to find the answers. Once all the clues have been solved you will be able to access a surprise. Follow this link to start the hunt.

2. Upload competition (for the duration of Love Data Week)

This competition opened shortly after midnight today (14 February 2022). It will close at midnight on Friday 18 February 2022. For your entry to be valid, all data must be uploaded and published on The Open University’s Open Research Data Online (ORDO) repository between Monday 14 February 2022 and Friday 18 February 2022. All entries are free. Competition winners will receive their prizes by post.

3. POSTPONED due to the UCU strike. The Speed Data-ing webinar will now take place on the 7th March 12-12.45pm. Click the link for more details and how to sign up.

Researchers and research staff will give 5 minute quickfire presentations on their research projects and data, followed by a Q&A session at the end.

“The Open University used a top-down/bottom-up approach to research & create a new promotion route to recognize & reward social engagement for promotion & tenure”.

The OU has worked with DORA to publish a case study:

“In 2015 the UK’s Open University (OU) published “An Open Research University” a book outlining the outputs from a three-year project to create and implement an evidence-based strategy to embed the principles and practices of engagement with new processes for research assessment within the university. In keeping with the OU’s existing commitment to open research and knowledge exchange, the project aimed to steer their research culture toward recognizing and rewarding a broader range of contributions, specifically in “engaged research”. There were multiple examples of top-down/bottom-up cooperation to inform and promote the policies outlined in the report, such as the sponsorship of a working group to reform the university’s academic promotion criteria by the then Pro-Vice-Chancellor responsible for academic professional development. In 2020, the OU signed DORA and released a statement describing the university’s aim of creating a DORA Implementation Plan by 2021. These actions represent a continuation and codification of a growing institutional movement toward research assessment reform.”

Check out the full study here!

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) are undertaking a review of the bureaucratic load within the research process, with a view to identifying inefficiencies, improvements and future directions with a view to ” substantially reduce research bureaucracy, primarily for the benefit of individuals and teams conducting research.”.

They have released a call for evidence here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/independent-review-of-research-bureaucracy

It will stay open for submissions until Friday, 1st of October. Please note you should submit an individual response.

They have asked for the link to be circulated widely in the community and have said:

“We are grateful to all those who have already contributed to the Review’s evidence gathering. Responses to the call for evidence will be considered in addition to the evidence already gathered. Those who have already contributed should be reassured that their comments have been captured though they are welcome to provide additional input should they wish to.

Please don’t hesitate to contact the Review team should you have any questions. ”

This is a wide-ranging review and is an excellent opportunity for us all to help shape the future of research processes against the vision of open research.