Author Archives: Nicola Dowson

About Nicola Dowson

Nicola is Senior Library Services Manager for Research Support at the Open University Library. Her role involves working in partnership across the University to develop products and services that support the University’s research activity.

From open research towards open (and engaging) research communication

by Richard Holliman

I recently published an article for the Times Higher Education, where I explored practical approaches to fostering open and engaging research communication. The article explores a series of questions, with some suggested solutions, to support researchers in developing communication strategies that connect with various ‘constituencies’ (researchers, interested and affected parties, and members of the public) throughout the research cycle.

In this article I propose an underlying rationale for moving from open research towards open (and engaging) research communication. Put simply, my argument is that open and engaging research communication can help to promote ‘fairness in knowing’. This is particularly important for minoritized constituencies, groups of people that have been, and continue to be, excluded and oppressed by dominant sections of society.

Opening up research

Notwithstanding obvious and ongoing challenges, including the cost vs. price of publication, the proliferation of ‘predatory’ journals, and ownership of intellectual property, I’d argue that open research (encompassing forms of open access publication and open data) has the potential to drive positive change in academia and wider society. (Martin Weller’s book, The Battle for Open, offers an insightful review of key arguments in this space.)

Following concerted moves to open up research beyond simply making research outputs publicly available we have seen changes to the requirements to publish research findings in some peer reviewed journals, such as ‘plain language’ summaries of, and/or key points (e.g. see America Geophysical Union). In a similar vein, some peer reviewed journals now require the publication of open data in combination the publication of a research output (e.g. PLOS ONE).

Research outputs: I’m using the term research outputs deliberately. Research can be represented in many forms. Depending on disciplinary norms this can involve publication in a peer reviewed journal, conference papers, monographs, edited collections and/or chapters therein, some other form of artefact, etc. Whilst the possibilities are not endless, there are a wide range of forms for effective research communicated, in ways that will be readily understood by academics with analogous training to those seeking to publish.

From open research to open and engaging research communication

Increasing access to knowledge offers the potential for a wider range of constituencies to scrutinise the outputs from research processes. But who does open access really benefit, by which I mean, who really gains access to research data and findings through greater openness?

Research was defined in the 2021 version of the UK’s Research Excellence Framework as: “a process of investigation leading to new insights, effectively shared”. This was a necessarily broad definition that applied to all forms of academic research. In my experience what was meant by effectively shared, with whom, and at what points in the research cycle was defined in practice, in large part, through internal assessments of what would be likely to score highly in this assessment. The question follows: did academic concerns about what would score highly through this UK-wide research audit serve the interests of wider constituencies and social and economic forms of impact?

My contention is that open data and open access publication is most likely to extend access to a wider range of disciplinary-based and multidisciplinary-based researchers who may not have access through their institutional libraries, and a small number of additional users, e.g., freelance authors, independent researchers without institutional affiliations.

Open access publication, even with the inclusion of ‘plain language’ summaries and/or open data sets is therefore less likely to be useful and relevant to wider constituencies that may be affected by new research and/or members of the public without direct interest in a given research field.

Does this matter? I’d argue that it does, in part because knowledge (particularly publicly funded knowledge) should be open and easily accessible. To do this effectively should involve consideration of wider constituencies, exploring forms of communication and engagement that work for them.

Communicating the findings from research, however, should not be the only goal. Opening up research processes offers wider constituencies opportunities to engage throughout the research cycle, gaining authentic experiences, and contributing relevant forms of expertise and lived experience. Developing sophisticated communication and engagement strategies, researchers and wider constituencies can improve the quality of that research by drawing on relevant expertise and experience. If researchers adopt engaged research practices, there is wisdom in the distributed crowd.

‘Blue skies’ and ‘Applied’ Research

One of the issues that’s often raised when I discuss the possibilities of embedding open and engaged communication within a research project is the distinction between ‘blue skies’ and ‘applied’ research. The challenge for ‘blue skies’ researchers, so the argument usually goes, is that it is harder to be ‘engaging’ when compared to ‘applied’ research.

I’ll start by noting that I don’t agree that applied researchers are getting an easier ride when it comes to planning for open and engaging research communication. But I am happy to agree that ‘blue skies’ researchers have a different set of challenges when they’re planning for open and engaging research communication. For a start, the constituencies for ‘blue skies’ researchers are different in certain key regards. While all researchers could seek to communicate research via media professionals with a view to disseminating findings to the wider public, for example, they are likely to have fewer bespoke ‘publics’, i.e., those directly affected by a research agenda or its immediate impacts and/or implications.

‘Publics’: By ‘public’s I mean interested and affected parties, institutional actors, NGOs, representatives from economic or societal entities, user communities, members of the public, and/or groups who come into existence or develop an identity in relationship to the research process.)

How then should researchers seek to engage with different constituencies when planning communication and engagement strategies for ‘blue skies’ or ‘applied’ research. Figure 1, produced by the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE), offers a tool to start mapping potential publics for research.

The questions that follow Figure 1 act as prompts for ‘creating publics’ for ‘blue skies’ research, also when and how to communicate and engage with them in the research cycle. (The latter is an issue that is addressed in more detail in my article in the THE: fostering open and engaging research communication.)

There are an equivalent set of prompts for applied research in the following open access research output: A case study from Guyana of adapting engaged research design to promote ‘fairness in knowing’.

A diagram showing possible publics for engagement. The publics include: public sector; business community and third sector organisations.

Figure 1: Mapping ‘publics’ for research. Source: NCCPE.

Mapping publics for ‘blue skies’ research:

  • Who should have a voice in planning for open and engaging research?
  • What forms of expertise and/or lived experiences could inform your planning for open and engaging research?
  • What opportunities could be offered to allow existing and emergent ‘publics’ to connect with research through: a) forms of dissemination that can inform and educate; b) bespoke interactive events and activities that can inspire and entertain; c) knowledge sharing activities that facilitate consultation; and d) advice and advocacy that promotes partnership and/or collaborative working?
  • How will you communicate and engage in ways that are inclusive to different publics, including those who have previously been excluded (e.g., minoritized groups)?

Summary

Communication and engagement need to be recognised as core components of research, with associated rewards for exceptional and sustained contributions. Conceptualising research as both open and engaging involves a broader conceptualisation of effective sharing of new insights. To be genuinely open and engaging researchers should develop sophisticated research communication plans to communicate with interested and affected parties throughout the research cycle.

If we are to genuinely promote ‘fairness in knowing’ researchers need to meet groups that have experienced historical and contemporary forms of discrimination and disadvantage on ‘shared territory’. Researchers need to build their capacity in equitable approaches to communication and engagement based on the principles of doing no (more) harm combined with support for positive change.

How do researchers view the research environment and culture? A survey

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.

Icons made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com

ACS Publications announces a series of webinars to celebrate International Open Access Week!

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

Apply today for the BioInnovation Institute and Science Prize for Innovation!

Just under 2 weeks left to apply for the BioInnovation Institute and Science Prize for Innovation!

Behind every life-changing solution is an entrepreneurial scientist – a creative mind who proved an idea in the lab and dared to carry it out in the world.

To encourage more scientists to translate their research, BioInnovation Institute (BII) and Science collaborate to host an annual award. Through the BioInnovation Institute & Science Prize for Innovation, the editors of Science seek to recognize bold researchers who are asking fundamental questions at the intersection of the life sciences and entrepreneurship.

The three winners will have their essays published in Science and will be invited into BII’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. In addition, the Grand Prize winner will receive a prize of USD 25,000 and each runner-up will receive USD 10,000 at a grand award ceremony in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The call for applications closes on 1 November 2022. Head over to their website to read more about how to submit your 1000-word essay to the editors at Science.

 

Questionnaire for researchers on PIDs

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.

New ORCID and ORDO Integration

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 –

First you’ll need to connect your ORDO profile to your ORCID account. In order to do this, please follow these steps:

  • In your profile page in ORDO (pictured), click the CONNECT button to enable syncing with your ORCiD
  • This will take you to ORCID. Log in and click to authorise ORDO/Figshare to access your ORCiD account

You’ll then be presented with 3 options, all off by default.

FAQs

1. Push data to my ORCID

This option creates a record in your ORCID account of any items that you publish on ORDO. This will create a record using the base DOI only, versioned DOIs are omitted. The base DOI will always point to the latest version of your item. This long-requested functionality avoids the issue of significant duplicate entries within your ORCID account.

An important note, if you have a synchronisation set up from a DOI provider like Datacite and you enable this option, there is a chance you’ll get duplicate records in your ORCID account.

This feature will only kick in for items created after the integration has been performed. Any existing items in your ORDO account will not be pushed using this method. If you need to get historic items into your ORCID account and they have not been captured by the existing Datacite integration, this will need to be done manually.

2. Pull data from my ORCID to my ORDO account

This one is all about your ORDO profile and your profile only. Nothing imported here will interact with your My Data area (that’s where option 3 comes in).

This will import everything in your ORCID works section to the publications area of your ORDO profile. Unlike the previous setting, this will import everything before the integration was performed as well as anything created ongoing.

3. Create draft records from my ORCID data

After the integration has occurred, any new records created within the works section of your ORCID account will automatically create a new draft metadata record within your My Data area. As much available metadata as possible will be pulled in, and this option will also create the metadata record with the DOI of the original object.

Once a new draft item has been created from this integration, you’ll get two kinds of notifications: an email to your account email address and a notification within the platform. You can then choose to add a file for this record, such as an open access version of a publication, and any additional metadata or delete the draft record if it’s not needed.

Please note: Usually, open access versions of publications should be added to ORO rather than ORDO, however there may be reasons for adding a metadata record for a paper published elsewhere to ORDO (e.g. for gathering evidence of knowledge exchange/impact) – if you are unsure, please contact the Library Research Support team for advice.

For further information and answers to some FAQs head over to our webpage.

UKRI Open Access Policy: new requirements

If you are publishing research articles and are funded by UKRI you need to be aware that there are changes to the Open Access policy from 1 April 2022.

The new policy requires immediate open access for research articles and conference proceedings that acknowledge UKRI funding from AHRC, BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC, MRC, NERC, STFC, Innovate UK or Research England submitted for publication on or after 1 April 2022. This can be achieved by 2 routes:

    • Route one: publish the article open access in a journal or publishing platform. The version of record (final published version) must be immediately open access via its website with a Creative Commons attribution (CC BY) licence. Funds for Gold Open Access may be available from the University’s UKRI Open Access Block Grant. The Library has been taking out Journal Transitional Agreements with Jisc that include gold open access publishing in them.
    • Route two: publish the article in a subscription journal and deposit the Author’s Accepted Manuscript (AAM) (or Version of Record, where the publisher permits) at the time of publication in an institutional or subject repository with a CC BY license. A publisher embargo period is not permitted.

The policy also requires a Data Access Statement on research articles, even where there are no data associated with the article or the data are inaccessible

It is important that any UKRI funded researchers check before article submission that the journal they are submitting to is compliant with the UKRI Open Access Policy.

The policy has also been widened to include monographs, book chapters and edited collections published on or after 1 January 2024 and requires:

  • the final version of a publication or the author’s accepted manuscript (AAM) being made open access via an online publication platform, publishers’ website, or institutional or subject repository within a maximum of 12 months of publication.
  • CC BY licence is preferred to maximise opportunities for sharing and reuse. The open access version should include, where possible, any images, illustrations, tables and other supporting content.

UKRI will be providing dedicated funding to support open access monographs, book chapters and edited collections. Funding will be via a centralised fund held by UKRI that must be applied for by authors. Publication costs for monographs, book chapters and edited collections can also continue to be included in research grant applications. UKRI will provide updated guidance by the end of 2022.

Further details can be found on the Library Research Support website and the full policy can be found here along with a list of frequently asked questions.

The Library Research Support Team will be running two briefing sessions in Microsoft Teams (please note these will not be recorded):

10-11am Tuesday 5th April 2022. Book here.

3:30-4:30pm Thursday 7th April 2022. Book here.

For help and advice, please contact library-research-support@open.ac.uk.

 

New Subscription to Overton!

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. 

HAPPY LOVE DATA WEEK

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.

Want to publish Gold open access with SAGE at no cost to you?

This post is part of a series where we explore some of the biggest deals the Open University Library has in place which allow OU researchers to publish Gold open access at no or reduced cost. Today we are focussing on the deal with SAGE Publishing.

SAGE Logo

What do these deals mean?

We have been busy negotiating and investing in several deals with publishers over the past few years which look at ways to offset the costs of our journal subscription spending against the increasing institutional costs of open access publishing.

We have now invested in 20 of these ‘transformative deals’ with publishers which allow you to publish Gold open access (where the final journal article is immediately freely available to read or download from the publisher’s website) at a reduced or zero cost to you. Check out our website for full details of the agreements we have in place.

Transformative deals: SAGE

Our agreement with SAGE means that OU affiliated corresponding authors publishing in SAGE Choice (hybrid OA) journals can now publish Gold at no charge to the author.

They also offer a 20% discount off list price to publish in licensed SAGE wholly Gold OA journals. The 20% discount can be obtained by quoting code JISC2020 in the RightsLink portal. For Open Access Journals where RightsLink portal is not used, the corresponding author must contact apcqueries@sagepub.co.uk to request the discount. If the corresponding author does not request the discount via the code, they may request an amended invoice by contacting SAGE’s Open Access customer service team prior to payment being made (apcqueries@sagepub.com).

How do I make use of the deal?

Eligible authors will be contacted directly to ask if they would like to benefit from this deal, so you do not need to take any action. All articles published on or before 1st January 2020 are eligible, so authors may receive emails from SAGE asking if they would like to retrospectively make previously published articles Gold OA at no extra cost. You’ll need to be quick, authors have 5 days from the date of the email to confirm if they would like to publish Gold. All ‘article-type’ outputs are included in the agreement(book reviews are excluded).

Why Open Access?

Open access (OA) means making research publications freely available so anyone can benefit from reading and using research. Open access is part of a wider ‘open’ movement to encourage free exchange of knowledge and resources in order to widen access and encourage creativity.

Want to know more?

Please get in touch with the Research Support team if you have any further questions about the SAGE deal or any other transformative agreements we have.