Open Library of Humanities

A consortium of libraries and academics has banded together to create a platform (or what they're called a mega-journal) to support gold open access  in the Humanities. It's called the Open Library of Humanities and there are already an array of editors and referees in place, so anything published in the library will be subject to double-blind peer review and editorial scrutiny. They plan to launch and host 5 new open access journals in September 2015 and are currently welcoming any other OA journals in the humanities that might like to join up. More about the OLH plans and model can be found here.

What's interesting about this model is that there will be no Article Processing Charge (APC) for publishing in the journals. Because the economics of the Humanities are different from other disciplines in the natural and social sciences, the OLH recognises that coming up with the requisite £600-£2000 to publish in gold OA journals isn't going to be possible for most humanities researchers. There's a major funding agreement in place with JISC, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and an institutional subscription model from universities (Leah's alma mater, Wesleyan, is one of the most recent universities to sign up).

The names and institutional affiliations of the librarians consulting on the project are impressive. Does it look like something that's going to be useful in your discipline?

OpenLibHums Twitter feed.

Elsevier's Open Access Policies

Elsevier have updated their policies on green open access and there has been some initial, critical reaction (suprised?) which you can read about on this scholarly communication blog. If you'd like to talk more about what green open access means to you at YSJ and how our research repository can help improve the reach and impact of your research, please come along to ILS' next Researcher Support session on RaY, Thursday 7 May at 9:00AM in DG 104.

More on impact factors and complementary metrics

As promised in the most recent post, here is the presentation we gave on impact factors, altmetrics, and all that jazz.

Impact factor, altmetrics etc. from Information Learning Services, York St John University

There have been various updates in this area this week, especially when it comes to altmetrics. The company that runs this service announced some changes in the way they display metrics data to users. Some researchers, having looked into this further, are worried that it will affect their ability to evaluate how their work is being used. We're going to look into this more ourselves, but it is clear that measuring research impact and influence has moved far beyond the traditional journal impact factor already.

Impact factor, altmetrics, and all that jazz

This week we will be running a support session on impact factors, altmetrics and related topics. It is likely you will hear these terms used in relation to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and on other occasions when the impact and influence of your research is assessed. If you would like to find out more about these concepts and measures (and all have their supporters and critics), come along to the library at 9am on Tuesday 28th April. Later this week, we will publish a fuller outline here. In the meantime, here is a presentation we gave to the PostGraduate Research Supervisor's Forum a few months ago along similar lines.

Measuring Research Impact from YSJ_ILS

Using Pocket for Keeping Track of your Reading

Keeping track of what you'd like to read can be a full time job (if you're interested in this as a career path, come talk to us in ILS!) and it's something we're passionate about. After looking through your email, scrolling through Twitter and spending a leisurely 10 minutes on Facebook, you may well have seen several articles you'd be interested in reading further. After this digital feast, however, you  likely won't have the time or energy to explore each thing in-depth. There are a variety of tools available to keep track of what you'd like to read from all their various sources and in all their various formats (our support session on it introduces a number of useful and fun ones). Another one we haven't mentioned yet is Pocket.

As a part of their 10 Days of Twitter training program, our friends of TEL introduced me (Leah) to Pocket: a bookmarklet you can install in your browser which allows you to save any webpage immediately with a click of a button. Using Pocket, you might, for example, find and save a tweet or a journal article in one browser while at your desk, save it to your 'pocket' and read it later on your phone while riding the bus. Day 9 of TEL's Twitter program explains it well, have a look!

CORE: Researching in Institutional Repositories

You will be noticing a lot of buzz around Open Access research this year and next, including the introduction of RaY, YSJ's research repository. RaY hosts your research outputs and makes them available open access in-line with publisher requirements.

RaY is not an isolated research repository. UK institutions who want to comply with funder mandates on open access and the new HEFCE requirements for REF will also be implementing and filling their respositories. You may notice your Google searches are pulling up more and more results from repositories but if you'd like to limit your searches to a database which searches solely in research repositories, try out CORE, a freely available database which searches hundreds of research repositories worldwide. Those of you whose research involves policy makers, schools, healthcare workers or really anyone who works outside of academia will find tools like CORE to be very useful, as it can provide access to research to those who usually don't have subscriptions.

If you're interested in hearing more about it, we'll be offering an introduction to RaY on Thursday 7 May at 9:00AM in DG104 and an introduction to Open Access on Wednesday April 22 at 9:00AM on the ground floor of Fountains. Please also keep an eye out for a researcher's goody bag from ILS with information on RaY, which will be arriving shortly.

Tools for reflection

It is often recommended that those undertaking extended research keep a personal, reflective diary. This can then help you recall why decisions were made in the research process, if you are challenged at a later date.  Here we describe some tools which may help you with this.

A notebook!
For some, nothing replaces a handwritten, paper diary. And there is nothing wrong with that - just make sure you keep it safe.

Evernote
An online tool which allows you to combine written records with others such as pictures.  If you prefer to work and reflect with different types of media, this could be the answer. You can use it in a browser, or via an app on your mobile device.

Google Docs
If you like to keep a word-processed document, but want to be able to access it anywhere, then a Google Doc may help. You'll be able to access it anywhere there is an Internet connection and on any device.

Dropbox
Like Google Docs, this service allows you to access documents wherever there is an Internet connection. However, this acts like a folder in the sense that the source formatting and type is retained.  So, you could keep a Word document in here and access it anywhere.

NVivo Memo
If you are already using NVivo (something available to all YSJ staff and students) as part of your research management strategy, you could use its memo feature to keep reflections.



Scrivener
This is a paid-for service, but a free trial is available if you want to give it a go. It is a tool originally designed for those writing novels, but can be used for anyone producing a long piece of work.

A blog
There are lots of blogging tools out there, e.g. Wordpress. You can get a free York St John blog if you want (see contact details below for more information). If you want to make your reflections public, this could work for you. However, you can restrict access easily if you want to keep it more private.

Whatever you choose to do, remember to make sure you stick to any ethical considerations or data management you have in place for your research.

We have a dedicated team to help you with your digital needs. So, if you have any queries about these tools, why not contact Annette and Ian at digitaltraining@yorksj.ac.uk ?

Staff are also able to access some great training on tools such as these through the Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) team and the Research Skills Development programme.