Combinatorial Theory Publishes First Issue! - eScholarship and California Digital Library - 12/15/2021

 The eScholarship Publishing program at the University of California is delighted to announce the publication of the first issue of Combinatorial Theory, a new open access journal focused on mathematical research in Combinatorics, with applications throughout the mathematical, computational and natural sciences. As described by its editors, Combinatorial Theory is “owned by mathematicians, dedicated to Diamond Open Access publishing with no fees for authors or readers, and committed to an inclusive view of the vibrant worldwide community in Combinatorics.” Combinatorial Theory was founded in September 2020, when most of the editorial board for one of the oldest and most prestigious […]

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15th BERLIN OPEN ACCESS CONFERENCE ADAPT AND ADVANCE - Sept.28-Oct.1, 2021 - Plenary Presentations, Posters, Outcome Summaries

 15th BERLIN OPEN ACCESS CONFERENCE

ADAPT AND ADVANCE

September 28 – October 01, 2021
Co-Hosted by the University of California and the Max Planck Society’s Open Access 2020 Initiative

Stakeholders and decision-makers in research and scholarly communication from 46 countries came together at the 15th Berlin Open Access Conference (B15) to reflect on their progress in transforming the current subscription-based system of scholarly journal publishing to a system based on open dissemination of research results for the benefit of science and society. 

In recent years, institutions and national consortia globally have successfully negotiated transformative agreements (TAs) with a range of publishers to (1) empower authors to grant free and universal access to their peer-reviewed research while retaining their copyright, and (2) empower institutions to integrate, rationalize and rein in their financial investments in scholarly publishing. 

Reflecting on insights shared by panelists from Australia, Colombia, Germany, Japan, Kenya, Lithuania, Nepal, Portugal, South Africa, Sweden, the United States of America and the United Kingdom, the B15 cohort discussed current challenges and highlighted opportunities for further adapting, improving and advancing their transformative negotiation strategies to foster a scholarly publishing system that is open, sustainable and equitable.

Key insights affirmed at B15

Open access to scholarly journals is essential for progress in science and society. 
Open access is advancing thanks to transformative agreements. 
Negotiations with scholarly journal publishers are a pathway to openness and equity. 
Open access publishing must be enabled under equitable economic conditions. 
Increasing transparency of funding flows and reorganizing just a tiny share of investments can have immeasurable impact.
Further open access developments require bold new partnerships. 
Scholarly publishers are embracing open access. 
Mature open access strategies include different synergistic approaches.

The enormous progress made in open access, since the cohort of the last (14th) Berlin Open Access Conference first affirmed transformative agreements as a viable pathway, is the result of the individual and collective efforts of librarians, scholars and scientists, consortium leaders, university rectors/presidents, and research funders who utilized their agency to drive positive change.

Individuals and organizations can find a summary of key insights emerging from B15 and opportunities for action to advance transformative agreements that drive openness, sustainability and equity in scholarly publishing in the B15 Executive Summary.

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UC Irvine alumnus wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry - October 6, 2021

 

 

UCI alumnus wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry David MacMillan is one of two awarded for work with molecule-building catalysts   David W.C. MacMillan, who earned his Ph.D. in chemistry at UCI has been awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in developing better catalysts for converting and building molecules. MacMillan, now the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry at Princeton University, shares the prize with Benjamin List from the Max Planck Institute in Mulheim an der Ruhr, Germany. MacMillan was advised through the course of his graduate studies at UCI by Larry Overman, Distinguished Professor emeritus of chemistry. The Nobel Prize winner has another connection to UCI: While at UC Berkeley and later at Caltech, he was Ph.D. advisor to Vy Dong, UCI professor of chemistry. Metallic and enzyme-based catalysts are important tools in chemistry, playing a role in energy production and storage, the treatment of diseases and the removal of harmful molecules from the environment. In 2000, MacMillan and List, working independently from one another, developed a third approach, called asymmetric organocatalysis, which works with small organic molecules that are less environmentally harmful and are inexpensive to produce. “The award of this year’s Chemistry Prize to List and MacMillan will be broadly welcomed by the chemistry community,” Overman said. “The organocatalytic chemical synthesis methods developed by David MacMillan are used every day around the world in the discovery and development of new medicines. What sets Dave apart is his remarkable creativity and vision. These attributes, together with his delightful personality, were apparent early in his graduate studies at UCI.” MacMillan was an inaugural inductee of the UCI School of Physical Sciences Alumni Hall of Fame. If you are wondering what asymmetric organocatalysis is, and why it’s important, read UCI Chemistry's commentary piece.

UC secures landmark open access deal with world’s largest scientific publisher - March 16, 2021

UC secures landmark open access deal with world’s largest scientific publisher: UC secures landmark open access deal with world’s largest scientific publisher

"The University of California today (March 16) announced a pioneering open access agreement with the world’s largest scientific publisher, Elsevier, making significantly more of the University’s research available to people worldwide — immediately and at no cost. The deal will put more UC research into the hands of individuals across the globe at a time when international collaboration to fight COVID-19 has illuminated the value of open access to scientific findings.

The agreement is the largest of its kind in North America to date, bringing together UC, which generates nearly 10 percent of all U.S. research output, and Elsevier, which disseminates about 17 percent of journal articles produced by UC faculty. The deal will double the number of articles made available through UC’s transformative open access agreements.

“This groundbreaking agreement will allow for more open, equitable access to information,” said UC President Michael V. Drake, M.D. “As more universities and research institutions support open access, scientific knowledge will advance at an unparalleled pace.”

...

"Under the four-year deal, all research with a UC lead author published in Elsevier’s extensive portfolio of hybrid and open access journals will be open access by default. It is the first such agreement to include open access publishing in the entire Cell Press and Lancet families of journals, which are considered among the world’s most prestigious scientific and medical titles. University researchers will also be able to read articles published in Elsevier journals."

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Green, Gold, Diamond, Black – what does it all mean? - Academic publishing - Oct. 22, 2018

 

Green, Gold, Diamond, Black – what does it all mean?

Academic Publishing•Oct 22, 2018

 https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0173.0089

Lucy Barnes  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1425-6985

There’s a lot of jargon surrounding Open Access publication, and as with all jargon it can confuse and obfuscate. Here is a simple glossary:

Diamond / Platinum	Immediate Open Access publication by the journal or book publisher without payment of a fee. Copyright may be retained by the author and permission barriers to share or reuse are generally removed. OBP fits this description: our authors retain their copyright, and we recommend this as best practice. We recommend a CC BY licence for all our books, unless an author chooses a more restrictive licence.
Gold	Immediate Open Access publication by the journal or book publisher. In some cases, a fee is charged. Copyright may be retained by the author and permission barriers to share or reuse are generally removed.
Bronze	The content is free to read and/or download on the publisher’s website, but it is not published under an open licence that permits sharing or reuse. The publisher is able to withdraw access at any time. This form of so-called ‘Open’ Access is often used to make content free to read for only a brief period, perhaps immediately after publication or in response to a catastrophic event such as the COVID-19 pandemic. However, since there is no open license it is not, in fact, Open Access at all.
Green	A version of the publication is archived online, e.g. in a repository. It does not include any of the work typically carried out by the publisher, such as e.g. copyediting, proofreading, typesetting, indexing, metadata tagging, marketing or distribution. It is usually not listed on the publisher’s website. It can be freely accessed but sometimes only after an embargo period, and there can be barriers to reuse. The author usually does not retain the copyright.
Black	A publication that is not openly licensed, or for which reuse rights have not been granted, which is shared online illegally (e.g. via Sci-Hub).
Hybrid	‘Hybrid’ is usually applied to journals. A hybrid journal is a subscription journal in which some articles are made Open Access on payment of a fee. This model has attracted particular criticism for its expense and its vulnerability to abuses such as ‘double dipping. Some book publishers offer chapter-level Open Access, particularly for collected and edited volumes. These are sometimes referred to as ‘hybrid books’.
Gratis	Open Access that is free to read, but there are barriers to reuse.
Libre	Open Access is free to read and permission barriers are generally removed. Source:   https://blogs.openbookpublishers.com/green-gold-diamond-black-what-does-it-all-mean/

OA Diamond Journals Study. Part 1: Findings - March 9, 2021

 

OA Diamond Journals Study. Part 1: Findings

 Bosman, Jeroen;  Frantsvåg, Jan Erik;  Kramer, Bianca;  Langlais, Pierre-Carl;  Proudman, Vanessa

Project manager(s)

 Mounier, Pierre

Project member(s)

 Becerril, Arianna; Bjørnshauge, Lars;  Redhead, Claire;  Torny, Didier

Context
From June 2020 to February 2021, a consortium of 10 organisations undertook a large-scale study on open access journals across the world that are free for readers and authors, usually referred to as “OA diamond journals”. This study was commissioned by cOAlition S in order to gain a better understanding of the OA diamond landscape.

Presentation
The study undertook a statistical analysis of several bibliographic databases, surveyed 1,619 journals, collected 7,019 free text submissions and other data from 94 questions, and organised three focus groups with 11 journals and 10 interviews with hosting platforms. It collected 163 references in the academic literature, and inventoried 1048 journals not listed in DOAJ.

The results of the study are available in the following outputs:

• References Library - DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4562816
• Journals Inventory - DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4562828
• Dataset - DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4553103
• Findings Report - DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4558704
• Recommendations Report- DOI:10.5281/zenodo.4562790

Findings:

• A wide archipelago of relatively small journals serving diverse communities
• OA diamond journals are on the road to full compliance with Plan S
• A mix of scientific strengths and operational challenges
• An economy that largely depends on volunteers, universities and government

Source;  https://zenodo.org/record/4558704#.YEfWjGhKhaQ

Related identifiers:

Supplementary material

• 10.5281/zenodo.4562790 (Report)
• 10.5281/zenodo.4553103 (Dataset)
• 10.5281/zenodo.4562816 (Other)
• 10.5281/zenodo.4562828 (Other)