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International Open Access Week: Open Access – facilitating global development

Research assessment

In our final blog post to mark International Open Access Week, Professor Edwin van Teijlingen, Chair of BU’s REF Outputs Sub-Committee, writes about the role of open access research in supporting the REF and facilitating global development…

The REF (Research Excellence Framework) is the periodical (every seven years or so) assessment of the quality of research in the UK at universities and research institutes.

Every university prepares a submission comprising its best publications, evidence of impact in wider society, and a description of its research environment.  The next REF – 2029 – will be in just over four years’ time.

The relevance of open access to the REF is that it is a requirement that academics at UK universities and research institutes make their publications in papers open access. This means making publications available to any reader without them having to pay a fee.

The underlying argument is that publicly funded research, be it funded by charities or by the government, should be freely available for all to read, i.e. for the greater good!

One important side effect of the REF’s push for open access is that people who would otherwise not have access can see and use the research.

The three main groups in my view are those not based at universities with subscriptions to loads of scientific journals:

(1) practitioners, in our field health and social care staff who are not working in universities;

(2) members of the public interested in their own conditions and relevant care;

(3) those involved in patient pressure groups and charities; and

(4) students and academics in low-income countries, such as Nepal and Bangladesh.

These groups are now getting access to up-to-date research findings that otherwise would be hidden behind a paywall.

The latter is of key importance, as Bournemouth University colleagues work in many low-income countries.

For me personally, I have been teaching sessions in Nepal on research methods for nearly two decades and I have noticed the enormous improvement in access to up-to-date research publications amongst students during this period, since some many more international publications are now freely available in Nepal.

It is gratifying to know that Bournemouth University academics, together with colleagues all over the world, are contributing to global development through open access publishing.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Chair of Bournemouth University REF Outputs Sub-Committee

Visiting Faculty, Centre for Disability Studies, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala, India
Honorary Professor, School of Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, UK.
Visiting Professor, Nobel College, affiliated with Pokhara University, Nepal.
Visiting Professor. Manmohan Memorial Inst Health Sci affiliated with Tribhuvan University, Nepal

 

 

Emerging Issues for Research Impact: A Horizon Scan

In early 2024, the Parliamentray Office of Science & Technology (POST) conducted a comprehensive consultation with hundreds of experts from across the UK to identify pressing issues that parliament might need to address within the next five years.

Through this extensive consultation, over 100 significant issues were identified, spanning a wide range of topics, from prison reform and countering extremism to rebuilding trust in public institutions and preventing disease. POST are now in the process of preparing articles on many of these issues to assist parliamentary Select Committees and Govt departments in determining appropriate courses of action.

Emeritus Prof. John Oliver has been advising POSTs Horizon Scanning & Foresight Committee on a range of methodology and policy issues. Indeed, his research into horizon scanning and scenario planning has been used to underpin the methodological process involved in the consultation.

More information can be found on the link below and will provide BU researhcers with a valuable insight into the questions that will guide societal and economic impact from their research. It will also build the ‘Case for Support’ in funding applications.

https://post.parliament.uk/horizon-scan-2024/#heading-1

Good luck!

Emeritus Prof. John Oliver

International Open Access Week: Library support for open access

open access, Publishing

It’s Day 4 of International Open Access Week! Today we are focusing on how Library and Learning Services (LLS) supports Open Access at BU.

LLS plays a key part in promoting open access across the University, managing journal funding deals and making research outputs available via Bournemouth University Research Online (BURO) and the Bournemouth Online Research Data Repository (BORDaR).

Our Open Access guide helps with understanding OA and promoting our funding deals, enabling BU academics to publish Gold Open Access for free (or in some cases for the cost of VAT) in over 10,000 journals.

Gold open access publications will be made available via publisher web pages, and BURO, but it is the work of the BURO and BORDaR Teams that allow your Green open access work to be made publicly available, such as this paper on tourism or this dataset on cyber security.

Populating BURO involves

  • Scanning alerting services weekly for BU research outputs to ensure BRIAN is comprehensively populated with records
  • Ensuring full text is uploaded to BURO via BRIAN where it is missing (around 20% of all BRIAN records are resolved by LLS)
  • Processing all records uploaded by academics and ensuring the correct version is made available and copyright compliant

In the past 12 months 1400+ records were reviewed and processed by the BURO Team. Amongst the 10 most popular downloads over the last 12 months include this Green open access paper from 2019 on social media (4000+ downloads), this BU doctoral thesis from 2015, also on social media.

Join in the conversation around open access week on social media using  #OAweek, or contact us at research@bournemouth.ac.uk if you’d like to share your thoughts via the research blog.

Find out more about Open Access at BU on the RKE Sharepoint site

Centre for Wellbeing and Long-Term Health (CWLTH)

The next CWLTH Research Seminar and Centre Meeting will be at 14:00-15:00 on Wednesday 13th November 2024.  Dr Steve Trenoweth (Principal Academic in Mental Health Nursing and CWLTH Workstream Lead for Mental Health and Psychosocial Care) will speak about ‘New directions in mental healthcare: international perspective’.  Steve will be drawing on his experiences of working with colleagues and CWLTH members at Bern University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland.  The second half of the meeting will be an opportunity to reflect on CWLTH activities and future plans.  All are welcome to join this event.  Click HERE to join the meeting and for more information contact CWLTH@Bournemouth.ac.uk.

International Open Access Week: BU ranked in top 20 universities worldwide for proportion of open access research outputs

open access, Publishing

BU has been ranked 13th in the world for the proportion of our research outputs which are published open access.

The CWTS Leiden Ranking provides information about the scientific performance of over 1,500 major universities worldwide – including their scientific impact, collaboration and open access publishing.

In the 2024 rankings, BU is placed 13th for the proportion of research outputs that are published open access – with 91.5% of our publications being freely available.

Around half of all BU publications were green open access publications and around 22% were published gold open access, with biomedical and health sciences, and physical sciences and engineering having the largest proportion of open access publications.

This week marks International Open Access Week, which aims to showcase the benefits of publishing open access and build momentum for the open sharing of academic knowledge.

We are committed to supporting open access research at BU and strive to make our research data as accessible as possible. By having the research of our academics and students online for everyone to access, this enables our research to reach communities worldwide and have greater impact.

Professor Sarah Bate, Interim Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange, said: “Open science is immensely valued by the BU research community, not only underpinning the integrity and transparency of the research that we do, but allowing this work to be freely accessed by readers from within academia and beyond.

“Our high position in the Leiden ranking is a testament to our researchers and those promoting research excellence in professional services, highlighting the strength of our commitment to open science.”

Join in the conversation around open access week on social media using  #OAweek, or contact us at research@bournemouth.ac.uk if you’d like to share your thoughts via the research blog.

Find out more about Open Access at BU on the RKE Sharepoint site

Research process seminar. Navigating the Publishing Process: Tips for Successful Journal Submissions. 19th November @2pm on Zoom

Publishing

Join us for an opportunity to engage with journal editors from two of the eminent journals in media, communication and journalism studies, but covering content that will be of interest of scholars across the university.

Folker Hanusch, editor in Chief of Journalism Studies.

Emily Keightley, editor of Media, Culture and Society.

Our speakers will share their insights, tips, and best practices on navigating the world of academic publishing including:

– how to interpret journal aims and scope.

– choosing the right journal for your article.

– effective approaches for addressing reviewers’ comments.

– managing rejections and resubmissions.

Whether you’re a seasoned researcher or an emerging scholar, this event promises to be a valuable platform for learning about the editorial process, and gaining insider perspectives on crafting impactful scholarly contributions. On registering, please send us your questions for the editors in advance, and they will do their best to cover them in the session.

Tuesday 19th November at 3pm.

Please register in advance, here: https://bournemouth-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEkd-ioqTMuGN31lwPbjfBcSrzdDsw5oDIn

 

Open Access drop in session

open access, Publishing

Got any questions about Open Access?  Which journals are covered under transformative deals?

Come to our Open Access drop-in session on the ground floor of Fusion (FG19) tomorrow, Wednesday 23rd October, from 12:00-13:00. No sign-up is required, just come along with any questions you may have about our transformative deals, applying to the Open Access Publication Fund, or anything else open access related! Look out for the posters on the glass rooms………Or you can email openaccess@bournemouth.ac.uk.

RKEDF: Introduction to RED – Research and Enterprise Database

Do you need to know about the Research & Enterprise Database? Book now for 13 November!

 

This online session on Wednesday 27 November 2024, 13.00 to 13.30, is aimed at all academics to provide an overview of the Research & Enterprise Database.

Including how to access the system, the information available to view, budget management via RED, and how to use RED to identify your supporting pre and post award officers.

Book your place here

For any queries regarding this workshop, please contact RKE Development Framework

RKEDF: Principal Investigation – Post Award for RKE

Post-award

Are you a Principal Investigator or planning to be one? Then book now for 6 November.

 

This session on Wednesday 6 November 2024 at 13.00 to 14.30 is for researchers who are or plan to be a Principal Investigator for an externally funded research or knowledge exchange project.

Topics covered include:

• What is post award?
• Roles and responsibilities
• Systems
• Key policies
• Starting your awarded project
• Making changes to your project and reporting
• Hints and tips

By the end of the session, attendees will have a strong foundation of what to expect when being responsible for their awarded projects.

Book your place here.

For any queries regarding this workshop, please contact RKE Development Framework

International Open Access Week: BU support for open access

open access, Publishing

It’s Day 2 of International Open Access Week! Today we are focusing on why Open Access is important, and how we support it at BU.

As highlighted in yesterday’s blog, open access publishing allows research to be disseminated quickly and widely, the research process to operate more efficiently, and increases the use and understanding of research by business, government, charities and the wider public.

Research shows that open access publications are likely to be more highly cited and disseminated than those published behind a paywall. Open access can increase research and researcher visibility, facilitate collaboration, and accelerate developments and innovation in the research field.

As well as the clear benefits open access brings, many funders, including UKRI (and any of its councils), Wellcome, and the NIHR, have open access policies which require that in-scope outputs produced from their grant-funded research are published open access.

Similarly, to be eligible for submission to the REF, journal articles and conference proceedings with an ISSN must be available open access. Until the REF2029 open access policy is confirmed, this means that for BU authors, these outputs must be uploaded to BURO (Bournemouth University Research Online) by depositing a copy of the accepted manuscript via BRIAN (Bournemouth Research Information and Networking) within three months of acceptance for publication.

How we support Open Access at BU.

There are two main routes of making research findings open access – Gold or Green.

Gold Open Access

The Gold open access route is where an Article Processing Charge (APC) is paid to the publisher to make the article available free of charge to readers immediately on publication. At BU, we support gold open access publishing via:

  1. Transformative agreements with publishers

BU is signed up to a number of transformative deals with major publishers including Elsevier, SAGE, Springer Nature, PLOS, Wiley and more. This means that BU authors can publish gold open access for free, or at a discounted rate, in thousands of journal titles which are covered under the deals, subject to eligibility.

More information on these agreements can be found on the Bournemouth University Library and Learning Support guide.

  1. A dedicated fund for UKRI grant holders.

BU is in receipt of a UKRI Open Access block grant, which can be used by UKRI-funded authors to cover APCs associated with publishing in fully open access journals and platforms that are not covered by our transformative deals. The cost of open access publishing in subscription or hybrid journals cannot be supported by the award in most cases.

  1. The BU Open Access Publication fund

Researchers can also apply to the centralised BU Open Access Fund for support to cover all, or part, of the costs of open access publishing in journals not covered by our transformative deals. Budget is limited and application for funding is extremely competitive. It is important that authors apply to the fund before submitting their article to fully open access journals.

Green Open Access

Also referred to as self-archiving, BU authors can publish green open access at no cost to them, by depositing the final, full-text, peer-reviewed version of their article (usually known as the author-accepted manuscript) in our institutional repository BURO. The article will be made freely available, either immediately upon publication or after an embargo period as stipulated by the journal publisher.

Want to know more?

Come to our Open Access drop-in session in FG19 tomorrow, Wednesday 23rd October, from 12:00-13:00. No sign-up is required, just come along with any questions you may have about our transformative deals, applying to the Open Access Publication Fund, or anything else open access related! Or you can email openaccess@bournemouth.ac.uk.

 

Join in the conversation around open access week on social media using #OAweek, or contact us at research@bournemouth.ac.uk if you’d like to share your thoughts via the research blog.

Find out more about Open Access at BU on the RKE Sharepoint site

Launching the Mental Capacity Toolkit teaching and practice resource featuring new voices from living experience

Following the recent research collaboration with Parkstone Connect day service, and funded by CRN Wessex Small Grant Scheme, members of the social work team are delighted to be relaunching the Mental Capacity Toolkit.
Team members and members of Parkstone Connect will be demonstrating the Toolkit between 2-4 on 30th October in BGB 302. No need to book, just drop in and:
  • Have a go with the toolkit and discover how it can enhance your practice
  • Talk to us about our recent research with a local day service and meet participants
  • Help us develop the toolkit further

 

BU PIER Partnership welcomes three new PIER Research Champions to the team

The BU PIER (Public Involvement in Education and Research) partnership welcomes Dr Chloe Casey (Lecturer in Nutrition), Dr Linda Agyemang (Lecturer in Adult Nursing) and Dr Aisling Flynn (Lecturer in Occupational Therapy) to the team as PIER Research Champions. Chloe, Linda and Aisling will be supporting the core PIER team, working closely with Professor Mel Hughes (Academic Lead) and Dr Kate Jupp (PIER officer) in our remit to develop meaningful and impactful public and community involvement in research at BU.

Over the past two years, the PIER partnership has become increasingly involved in supporting public involvement in research at BU. Building on the strong foundations of harnessing lived experience expertise in education across the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences (led by Angela Paget and Peter Atkins, PIER officers), PIER received core HEIF funding in 2022 to expand our reach to offer a BU wide provision to support public involvement in research. We now support public and community involvement in research in every faculty at BU. Typically this involves supporting researchers to develop a meaningful and impactful approach to harnessing lived experience in the design of their study at pre-award stage and connecting research teams to community partners and public contributors with relevant lived experience; and then being costed in to support public involvement through all stages of the research cycle once a funded project is underway. PIER research activity also involves co-designing and evaluating inclusive public and community involvement methodologies; providing training, coaching and mentoring to external partners; building capacity within the voluntary and community sector to collaborate on research opportunities; contributing to local and national steering groups and advisory boards, and presenting and publishing our work with PIER members and partners. The demand for PIER involvement now far outweighs our capacity and we very much welcome the addition of the PIER Research Champions to support this work. Chloe, Linda and Aisling all bring a wealth of expertise in collaborating with communities in research and we look forward to continuing to grow the PIER partnership with them along with Pete, Angela, Kate and our PIER members and community partners.

If you would like to find out more about the PIER partnership and our activities in education or research, or to become involved, please get in touch.

International Open Access Week 2024 – 21-27 October

open access, Publishing

This week marks International Open Access Week, which aims to drive momentum for the open sharing of research knowledge.

The theme of this year’s International Open Access Week is ‘Community over Commercialisation’, in recognition of a growing need to prioritise approaches to open scholarship that serves the best interests of the public and the academic community.

Open access publishing allows research to be disseminated quickly and widely, the research process to operate more efficiently, and increases the use and understanding of research by business, government, charities and the wider public.

We are committed to open access research at BU and strive to make our research data as accessible as possible.

We’ll be sharing content on the research blog throughout the week so you can find out more about open access at BU and how we support open research.

You’ll also be able to drop in and chat to staff involved in supporting open access at BU in FG19 (Fusion Building) from 12pm – 1pm on Wednesday 23rd October. No need to sign up – just drop by.

A range of other events are taking place nationally and globally as part of the week.

Coventry Open Press will be holding a hybrid event tomorrow from 1pm – 2.30pm tomorrow (Tuesday 22nd October), busting myths around open access and sharing the experiences of authors and publishers.

Publishers Wiley are hosting Publishing Open Access in Wiley Journals and Publication Tips for Authors, which also takes place on Tuesday 22nd October, from 9am – 10am. The event will offer valuable guidance for authors seeking to enhance their writing skills and maximise the impact of their work.

Further events can be found on the International Open Access Week website.

Join in the conversation around open access week on social media using  #OAweek, or contact us at research@bournemouth.ac.uk if you’d like to share your thoughts via the research blog.

Find out more about Open Access at BU on the RKE Sharepoint site

SUNRISE for sustainability research event – Wednesday 23rd October

Join us on Wednesday for the SUNRISE event, the final and largest event of a series of interactive hybrid events designed to celebrate sustainability research.

The SUNRISE project is a collaborative initiative between BU and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), funded by The British Council. The project aims to enhance UK-Malaysian Higher Education cooperation by fostering innovation, research collaboration and sustainable mobility.

The event will run from 8:30-11am on Wednesday 23rd October in F104 and on Zoom, with a light breakfast provided for those joining in person.

The main focus of the event is around enhancing research capacity. We will begin by celebrating the sustainability projects of BU PGR and USM, as they present their innovative work.

In addition, attendees will participate in discussion panels, sharing what inspires them about sustainability, reflecting on their experiences, and exploring potential opportunities to connect and collaborate with fellow students and colleagues.

We welcome those doing sustainability-focused research and anyone else who is passionate about sustainability: faculty members, students of all levels, alumni, and individuals from diverse professional and educational backgrounds.

The session will culminate with the launch of the SUNRISE Sustainability Champion Award introduced by the BU Sustainability team to recognise and celebrate students’ contributions to sustainability within their BU experience.

Please complete the registration form or scan the QR code below to reserve your place at the event.