OPEN SCIENCE
Generalist Repository Comparison Chart. There are a number of generalist repositories available for researchers to use. This handy comparison chart compares the main players.
PUBLISHING
cOAlition S has published its “Rights Retention Strategy”, which stipulates that the author accepted manuscript retains a CC-BY license if published in a repository, even if the journal version of record is published in a subscription journal. The strategy clarifies one of the routes to Plan Sopen access compliance, via repositories.
A few days later, the European Research Council (ERC) has announced that it is withdrawing as a supporter of cOAlition S. The argumentation regarding withdrawal from Plan S mentions, for example, concerns about the future of young researchers from European countries that may lack the resources to finance open access publishing.
In their response, cOAlition S points out, to paraphrase, that the present state of publishing hardly is ideal for young researchers, and that in fact many organizations representing early career researchers do support Plan S.
Robert-Jan Smits also weighed in, saying that the decision “shows that the ERC Council is facing a leadership issue.”
A day later, it was announced that former ERC president Jean-Pierre Bourguignon returns to steady the European Research Council as interim president.
RESEARCH
The charity Cancer Research UK has been forced to reduce its operations significantly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and predicts a drop in fundraising of £160 million this year, leading to a staff reduction by 500.
Siberian heat wave sparks fires that scorch Arctic Circle and melt sea ice. Record temperatures in Siberia have dramatically reduced the Arctic Sea ice in the area.
PLOS
Our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. I’m excited that we have committed to step up our efforts at all journals to improve diversity and reduce bias in a number of areas, from journal leadership to manuscript handling to being a publishing platform committed to the highest standards of ethics. More to follow.
EVENTS
Pre-results Review in Economics: Lessons Learned from Setting Up Registered Reports. Webinar organized by the Center for Open Science. July 28, 2020, 2pm US Eastern Time.
OTHER
Ed Pentz is remaining Executive Director at Crossref after all. He cites as an inspiration a recent decision by Crossref’s board to commit to “the collaborative development of open scholarly infrastructure”. This is great to see. Must have been interesting discussions.
Publishers: let transgender scholars correct their names. A comment in Nature by Theresa Jean Tanenbaum.