OPEN SCIENCE
Conflict between Open Access and Open Science: APCs are a key part of the problem, preprints are a key part of the solution. Blog post by David Mellor, Brian Nosek, Nicole Pfeiffer, covering a fairly broad field from the issues with the APC model to preprints potentially helping to create a fair market place.
Springer Nature and OpenAIRE collaborate to further Open Science. The agreement will provide OpenAIRE with access to full-text content of the publisher for text and data mining.
PUBLISHING
Journal transparency index will be ‘alternative’ to impact scores. The Center for Open Science will assess journals’ measures around the transparency of research reporting. This will be a journal-based metric derived from journal policies.
Frontiers has signed a deal with the Norwegian Unit consortium to cover open access charges. The deal allows researchers from participating institutions to publish at a discounted rate.
RESEARCH
Open science and publishing-related updates on the coronavirus 2019-nCoV:
- 2019-nCoV preprints have seen intense discussions. bioRxiv and medRxiv now have dozens of early research studies posted. Concerns were raised that potentially problematic studies are publicly available without peer review. This is of course balanced by the fast dissemination of content and the opportunity of immediate and open expert comments that provide context.
One posted paper in particular has seen intense discussions, as it caused wild conspiracy theories about the origin of the virus. However, I see this case as a positive sign of a functioning community, because the paper has rapidly seen thorough, critical expert comments, and in response the authors have withdrawn the preprint. Meanwhile, bioRxiv has begun to post a prominent notice on all preprints warning readers about their preliminary nature. - A broad range of publishers (including PLOS), funders, and institutions have signed on to a statement calling on researchers, journals and funders to ensure that research findings and data relevant to this outbreak are shared rapidly and openly to inform the public health response and help save lives. Coordinated by the Wellcome Trust.
- PLOS has outlined its response and commitment to a rapid and open sharing of research data findings.
- Many subscription publishers now offer related content free to read online. This includes The Lancet, NEJM, Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, and Taylor & Francis.
What to do when you don’t trust your data anymore. A personal and detailed report by Kate Laskowski of when she discovered inconsistencies in published data, resulting in her requesting retractions from the affected journals.
The Renewed Debate About Blinding in Clinical Trials. Blog post by Hilda Bastian.
PLOS
Registered reports are now available as an option for all authors at PLOS ONE.
EVENTS
The Role of Generalist Repositories to Enhance Data Discoverability and Reuse. A NIH workshop on February 11 – 12, 2020, at the NIH Main Campus, Bethesda, MD.
Africa Open Science and Hardware Summit. From 14 – 16 May, 2020, in Yaounde, Cameroon. The theme is “Growing the Do-It-Yourself & Do-It-Together (DIY/DIT) Culture for Community Transformation.”
OTHER
Creative Commons Launches the Global Search for Its Next Chief Executive Officer.
This image from the new Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope is the highest-resolution image of the Sun’s taken so far. Each of these convection cells on the Sun’s surface is roughly the size of Texas. This and other recent telescopes on top of the Haleakalā volcano on Maui, Hawaii, have been criticized by Native Hawaiians during the construction phase.
Credit (CC-BY): NSO/AURA/NSF.