Whilst it’s relatively early to predict what Brexit will mean for Open Access in the UK, JISC recently released a blog post outlining the main issues that will arise from the UK’s decision to leave the EU.
The blog post raises issues around the future of EU OA policy and also funding.
At the present time, it appears the main effect of Brexit will be to create greater reliance on Green OA (usually accepted, peer-reviewed versions of outputs) rather than gold paid open access owing to fluctuating financial markets and uncertainty surrounding future European funding.
Library and Learning Support have recently created a OA support video, looking at the benefits of OA and how you can make your research OA through engaging with BRIAN and BURO.
Please contact the BURO team with any queries you may have and we will be happy to help.
Mr. Jib Acharya (FHSS) gave an interesting presentation yesterday about the qualitative research findings of his PhD at Liverpool John Moores University. Jib’s PhD research focused on the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs of poor women in Nepal about healthy eating and the study also identifies major food barriers.
His mixed-methods approach combines a quantitative questionnaire survey with qualitative research. Jib’s research project is supervised by Dr. Jane Murphy, Dr. Martin Hind and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. Some of the preliminary findings of this FHSS thesis have already been published in two scientific journals [1-2].
References:
Acharya, J., van Teijlingen, E., Murphy, J., Hind, M. (2015) Assessment of knowledge, beliefs and attitudes towards healthy diet among mothers in Kaski, Nepal, Participation 17(16): 61-72.
In this blog post, Jisc Collections provides an update on how the Springer Compact agreement is progressing in the UK.
In March 2015, Jisc Collections announced that it had reached an agreement with Springer for an offset model to contain the costs of publication and subscription access for UK institutions. Six months have passed since the agreement launched in January 2016, with an additional 368 articles published free of charge in the pilot phase between October and December 2015.
The Springer Compact agreement is a flipped model which enables researchers from 91 participating UK institutions to publish their articles immediately as open access in ~1,600 Springer journals as well as to access all content published in ~2,500 Springer journals. In this flipped model, rather than paying a subscription fee and an unknown number of APC charges, the institution pays a set fee for unlimited APCs based on their 2014 APC expenditure with Springer and a top up fee to cover access to all the subscription content – thus containing the total cost of ownership.
This model moves away from the traditional historical print spend model aiming to reduce costand administration barriers to hybrid open access publishing and to increase open access. All UK articles published in eligible Springer Open Choice hybrid journals are made immediately open access upon publication and are automatically compliant with funder requirements.
Since January, 1259 articles have been published by authors from 92% of UK institutions participating in the agreement (Figure 1). In only five months (January to May), 86% of UK institutions have already published open access articles equivalent to or in excess of their total 2014 APC spend. This means that researchers from these institutions are publishing more OA articles than they did in 2014 but the cost to the institutions is capped. If we look at the pro-rata (Jan-May) of the total fee paid to Springer for this year (2014 APC spend and subscription top up fee), 23% of these institutions have already published open access articles to value of the total combined fee.
Figure 1 Articles published by month.
In addition, the number of articles published on open access through Springer’s hybrid journals has increased by 25% in the first five months of the agreement when compared to the total number of articles published in 2015 (Figure 2).
Figure 2 Articles published by UK authors in Springer hybrid journals in 2015 (subject to APC payment) and 2016 (under the Springer Compact deal).
The subject areas where more articles have been published include Medicine (22%), Biomedical and Life Sciences (18%), Education (9%), Earth and Environmental Science (7%), Chemistry and Materials Science (6.6%), Engineering (6.5%), and Mathematics and Statistics (5.8%) (Figure 3).
Figure 3 Articles published by subject.
Examples of journals with the highest number of publications include Diabetologia (26 articles), Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology (22 articles), Synthese (19 articles), Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (17 articles), Psychopharmacology (17 articles), and The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology (17 articles) (Figure 4).
Figure 4 Journals with the highest number of publications.
The feedback received from libraries at Jisc’s offsetting workshops[1] suggests that this is a workable and efficient model that other publishers could adopt. The administration has been easier for institutions, for instance, by rationalising the eligibility, approval and payment processes which consequently saves staff time. Institutions have reported that it is relatively easy to determine eligibility and that there is no need for authors to consider different application processes or funding routes. This model is also seen as beneficial for institutions given the fact that there are no fixed limits on the number of articles that authors can publish and authors are not required to use a code or a voucher to pay for APCs.
The Springer Compact agreement also helps researchers to comply with funders and institutions open access mandates. It does so by enabling compliance with the key requirements stated in various research funders open access policies: articles are made immediately available on open access (no embargo periods apply), articles are made openly available under CC BY licences, and a copy of the final peer-reviewed manuscripts will be deposited in repositories via Jisc’s Publications Router.
Paul Ayris, Director of UCL Library Services, said: “The Springer Compact deal is an excellent new model that enables UK authors to achieve Gold open access at no additional cost. As well as the significant financial benefits, it simplifies administration for authors and institutions, and streamlines the process of complying with funders’ open access policies. UCL wholeheartedly supports this model, and hopes to see other publishers following suit.”
Veronika Spinka, Open Access Manager, Springer Nature, added: “Springer Compact is a workable model that reduces the manual effort and workload for authors and institutions. Workflows provide a high-quality service level to accommodate all parties. Based on customer feedback, we continue to make our processes more efficient and reliable so that OA publishing becomes as easy as possible.”
By working with Springer and UK institutions to implement this model we continue to identify a number of areas where further improvements could be made. Some of these are about ensuring consistency in reporting (for example, by ensuring that research funders such as RCUK are acknowledged in the articles), others are about communications with authors and continuing to simplify the administration. We will continue to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of this agreement over the year and to share findings and recommendations for best practice with institutions and publishers. We also hope that other publishers will be encouraged by our initial evaluation of the Springer Compact model and consider exploring similar flipped models.
Information on the articles published on open access can be consulted on the OpenAPC initiative website.
[1] Jisc has been running a series of workshops on ‘Getting the most from open access offsetting deals’ to inform staff in higher education institutions about our negotiated deals to help reduce the costs of publishing open access articles. These workshops have been attended by more than 40 participants from higher education institutions. The next workshop will be held on 25 July 2016 (https://www.jisc.ac.uk/events/getting-the-most-from-open-access-offsetting-deals-25-jul-2016).
There has been a 206% increase in journal article deposits in BURO (via BRIAN) from January-June 2016 compared with the same period last year, 469 deposits compared to 228.
Journal article deposits January – June 2016
Journal article deposits January – June 2015
Below is the breakdown by Faculty for January – June 2016:
Faculty of Science & Technology = 176
Faculty of Management = 122
Faculty of Health & Social Sciences = 90
Faculty of Media & Communication = 65
Remember, to be eligible for submission in the next REF, journal articles and conference proceedings (with an ISSN), accepted for publication after 1 April 2016, must be made open access.
In practice, this means the accepted version must be deposited in an institutional repository (BURO via BRIAN) or subject repository within a three-month period from the point of acceptance for publication. This generally means creating a brief manual entry rather than waiting for the data feed.
Do contact the BURO team if you need any help with uploading your publication details or files to BRIAN for BURO and remember our useful guide to open access and depositing your research
Today saw the publication in BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth of the paper ‘Dirty and 40 days in the wilderness: Eliciting childbirth and postnatal cultural practices and beliefs in Nepal’ with as lead author FHSS PhD student Sheetal Sharma [1]. This paper argues that pregnancy and childbirth are very much socio-cultural events that carry varying meanings across different societies and cultures. These are often translated into social expectations of what a particular society expects women to do (or not to do) during pregnancy, birth and/or the postnatal period. The study explored beliefs around childbirth in Nepal, a low-income country with a largely Hindu population. The paper then sets these findings in the context of the wider global literature around issues such as periods where women are viewed as polluted (or dirty even) after childbirth.
Sheetal is doing very well with her PhD publications as a few weeks ago her major quantitative findings paper was published in PLOS One[2]. Both papers are published in Open Access journals and therefore easily available to researchers, health promotors, health care providers and health policy-makers in low-income countries. Sheetal evaluated a research project funded by the London-based charity Green Tara Trust. Her PhD is supervised by Dr. Catherine Angell, Prof. Vanora Hundley and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen all nbased in CMMPH with external supervision from BU Visiting Faculty Prof. Padam Simkhada (liverpool John Moores University).
BU academics are editors on a wide range of scientific journals. As editors we often write editorials for academic journals which have a number of specific functions. It is a key means of communication between the editor(s) and the journal’s readership. It is also vehicle to highlight topical academic and political issues related to the journal and the discipline(s) it represents.
Earlier this week the latest issue of the Journal of Asian Midwives came out with an editorial which is an illustration of the first point giving information to the readers [1]. The topics addressed in this editorial included the announcement that this new journal was now indexed in the CINAHL Database, a recent major international conference in the field and a call for the forthcoming 2017 ICM (Internation Confederation of Midwives) tri-annual conference. Today saw the publication of an editorial on the Zika virus and its potential impact in Nepal in the journal Medical Science [2].This guest editorial co-written by BU’s Visiting Faculties Dr. Brijesh Sathian and Prof. Padam Simkhada with Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health) calls for action in Nepal. A country where malaria is endemic. The Zika virus uses mosquitoes like the ones spreading Dengue fever and malaria. Zika is a virus we do not wish to see spreading in countries where malaria is already rife. The editorial warns that precautionary measures are needed to prevent a Zika outbreak as the spread of the virus to the country seems inevitable, the only uncertainty is when it will be arriving.
Both journals are Open Access which means these editorials can be read by anybody with internet access free of charge.
Congratulations to Preeti Mahato in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) on the publication of a paper based on her Ph.D. research. Her paper ‘Birthing centres in Nepal: Recent developments, obstacles and opportunities’ can be found in the June 2016 edition of the Journal of Asian Midwives (JAM) [1]. All articles in JAM are Open Access to ensure midwives and researchers in the poorest parts of Asia can freely access the scientific articles in the journal.
This literature review was appraised the relevant literature on birthing centres in Nepal, South Asia, and other similar settings. Preeti and her co-authors concluded that birthing centres in Nepal have the potential to improve both (a) the institutional delivery rate; and (b) the proportion of births that benefit from the presence of a skilled birth attendant (SBA). However, accessibility, socio-demographic characteristics, and cultural factors act as barriers to pregnant women attending birthing centres and hospital facilities.
Preeti’s Ph.D. is supervised by Dr. Catherine Angell and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in CMMPH and Prof. Padam Simkhada at Liverpool John Moores University. Padam is also Visiting Faculty at the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS).
Reference:
Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Angell, C. (2016) Birthing centres in Nepal: Recent developments, obstacles and opportunities, Journal of Asian Midwives3(1): 17-30.
Best Paper for 2015 Award in the international journalHeart. A paper published by Bournemouth University PhD student, Edward Carlton, and his supervisors, Prof. Ahmed Khattab (FHSS) and Prof. Kim Greaves from the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia in collaboration with world-renowned hospitals: John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford; Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital in Australia; and Christchurch Hospital in New Zealand has been announced as the Winner of the “Heart Best Paper 2015 Award” [1]. This award is in recognition of the high quality and clinical impact of the paper. The winner for this award were chosen by the Editorial Team from the top 10 papers in each of the following three categories: downloads, citations and Altmetrics Score.
Dr. Edward Carlton has just finished his PhD at BU and he is now working as an Emergency Medicine Consultant in Bristol.
Congratulations!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Reference:
Carlton EW, Cullen L, Than M, Gamble J, Khattab A, Greaves K. A novel diagnostic protocol to identify patients suitable for discharge after a single high-sensitivity troponin. Heart. 2015 Jul;101(13):1041-6. doi: 10.1136/heartjnl-2014-307288. Epub 2015 Feb 17.
Today BU staff and post-graduate students published our latest diabetes paper. In the International Journal of Food, Nutrition and Public Health (IJFNPH) publish by the World Association for Sustainable Development (WASD) you’ll find ‘Diabetes prevention and management in South Asia: a call for action‘.
The lead BU author is Dr. Pramod Regmi. he is joint by Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS) PhD student Ms. Folashade Alloh as well as Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen of the Centre for Midwfiery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH). Further national and international co-authors are: Dr. Om Kurmi based at the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford; Dr. Nirmal Aryal, from the Department of Medicine, University of Otago, New Zealand; Dr.Puspa Raj Pant based at the Centre for Child and Adolescent Health, University of the West of England; and Amrit Banstola based in the Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences, also at the University of the West of England.
The paper can be found here! Please note, you need to be a WASD member to login and download this paper. Once you are logged in you will see a ‘Download’ button in the box above. If you do not have a login, you can register to join WASD free of charge.
All publicly funded scientific papers published in Europe could be made free to access by 2020, under a “life-changing” reform ordered by the European Union’s science chief, Carlos Moedas.
The Competitiveness Council, a gathering of ministers of science, innovation, trade and industry, agreed on the target following a two-day meeting in Brussels last week.
The move means publications of the results of research supported by public and public-private funds would be freely available to and reusable by anyone. It could affect the paid-for subscription model used by many scientific journals, and undermine the common practice of releasing reports under embargo.
At present the results of some publicly funded research are not accessible to people outside universities and similar institutions without one-off payments, which means that many teachers, doctors, entrepreneurs and others do not have access to the latest scientific insights. In the UK, funding bodies generally require that researchers publish under open access terms, with open access publishing fees paid from the researcher’s grant.
The council said this data must be made accessible unless there were well-founded reasons for not doing so, such as intellectual property rights or security or privacy issues.
The changes are part of a broader set of recommendations in support of Open Science, a concept that also includes improved storage of and access to research data, Science magazine reports.
Open Science has been heavily lobbied for by the Dutch government, which currently holds the presidency of the Council of the EU, as well as by Moedas, the European commissioner for research and innovation.
Moedas told a press conference: “We probably don’t realise it yet, but what the Dutch presidency has achieved is unique and huge. The commission is totally committed to help move this forward.”
“To achieve that, Europe must be as attractive as possible for researchers and startups to locate here and for companies to invest. That calls for knowledge to be freely shared. The time for talking about open access is now past. With these agreements, we are going to achieve it in practice.”
The League of European Research Universities called the decision “a major boost for the transition towards and Open Science system”.
But while the council has called for immediate open access “without embargoes or with as short as possible embargoes”, some said the 2020 target was unrealistic.
A spokesperson for the council told Science magazine that it “may not be an easy task”, but spoke of the council’s resolve. “This is not a law, but it’s a political orientation for the 28 governments. The important thing is that there is a consensus.”
Congratulations to FHSS PhD student Sheetal Sharma on her latest paper [1]. The paper ‘Measuring What Works: An impact evaluation of women’s groups on maternal health uptake in rural Nepal’ appeared this week in the journal PLOS One. Sheetal’s innovative mixed-methods approach was applied to a long-running maternity intervention in rural Nepal. The paper concludes that community-based health promotion in Sheetal’s study had a greater affect on the uptake of antenatal care and less so on delivery care. Other factors not easily resolved through health promotion interventions may influence these outcomes, such as costs or geographical constraints. The evaluation has implications for policy and practice in public health, especially maternal health promotion.
Today saw the publication of a paper analysing the long-term development of Nepal [1]. It offers insight into Nepal’s position in the country’s demographic transition in relation to its nutrition transition. In traditional societies both fertility and mortality are high and in modern post-industrial society both are low.
The lead author Yagya Prasad Subedi is a Ph.D. student at the University of Aberdeen and his co-authors are based at Liverpool John Moores University (Prof. Padam Simkhada, who is also BU Visiting Faculty) and in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinal Health (CMMPH) in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences (Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen).
Reference:
Subedi, Y.P., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2016) Where is Nepal in the Demographic Transition within the wider context of the Nutrition transition? Open Journal of Social Sciences, 4: 155-166. The paper is freely available, click here!
Dr. Khurshid Djalilov and Professor Jenny Piesse recently published with the Research in International Business and Finance on ‘Determinants of bank profitability in transition countries: What matters most?’.
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to investigate the determinants of bank profitability in the early transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), and in the late transition countries of the former USSR. We apply a GMM technique for the period covering 2000–2013. The results show that profitability persists and the determinants of bank profitability vary across transition countries. Particularly, the banking sector of early transition countries is more competitive. However, the impact of credit risk on bank profitability is positive in early transition countries, but negative in late transition countries. Government spending and monetary freedom negatively influence bank profitability only in late transition countries. Moreover, better capitalised banks are more profitable in early transition countries implying that these banking sectors are more robust. A range of possible approaches that governments can take to further develop banking sectors are discussed.
The full article is currently open for access and download for a short period of time through this link – http://authors.elsevier.com/a/1SvF0~fX5-j4z so please make use of this temporary open access opportunity to read/or download the paper for your own use.
RKEO and the library have signed a new Jisc agreement with Springer that covers all Article Processing Charges (APCs) for articles published in Springer Open Choice (hybrid) journals (see http://www.springer.com/gp/open-access/springer-open-choice/for-uk-authors-intro/731990). This means that with effect from 15th October 2015 you do not need to pay Springer an APC to make your article open access in a Springer Open Choice journal as we have already paid for it as part of this new agreement.
To make sure that your article is covered by this new agreement, when your article has been accepted for publication, Springer will ask you to confirm the following:
My article has been accepted by an Open Choice eligible journal
I am the corresponding author (please use your institutional email address not your personal one)
I am affiliated with an eligible UK institution (select your institutions name)
My article matches one of these types: OriginalPaper, ReviewPaper, BriefCommunication or ContinuingEducation
Springer will then verify these details with us and then your article will be made available in open access with a CC BY licence.
Please click here, for a list of all eligible journal titles. Please note that 30 Open Choice journals are not included in this agreement as they do not offer CC BY licensing.
In addition to covering the costs of all APCs, the new agreement we have entered into will also mean you will continue to have ongoing access to all subscription content in Springer journals.
This new agreement means that you can publish articles with Springer and automatically comply with funder mandates. In should also make things more efficient for you, for us and for the publisher.
If you have any questions about the agreement or the process, please contact Pengpeng Hatch.
On 11th, 12th and 13th of April, RKEO will team up with the Library to provide Open Access Drop-in sessions. Please do pop in to get some hands on support and advice on making your research open access to comply with the HEFCE post-REF2014 Open Access Policy.
Monday, 11th April – 12.30pm to 1.30pm – S117, Studland House
Tuesday, 12th April – 12.30pm to 1.30pm – S117, Studland House
Wednesday, 13th April – 12.30pm to 1.30pm – S117, Studland House
This new issue of the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology contains a systematic review by FHSS Visiting Faculty Prof. Padam Simkhada (based at Liverpool John Moores University). The review was produced in collaboration with Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in BU’s Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH). Their paper ‘Factors influencing sexual behaviour between tourists and tourism employees: A systematic review’ is co-written with a researcher from Green Tara Nepal and an independent Public Health Consultant based in the UK. [1] This systematic review reports on factors influencing sexual behaviour between workers in the tourism industry and tourists, including their risk perceptions when engaging in sexual activities and the knowledge of STIs (sexually transmitted infections).
This is the third paper from this group on sexual health and tourism. The previous two papers were written with BU’s Dr. Pramod Regmi. These two publications reported on sexual behaviour of male trekking guides in Nepal such as sexual interactions with tourists and locals. The qualitative paper based on interviews with trekking guides has been published in Culture, Health & Sexuality [2] and the quantitative survey paper appeared in Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences[3].
This week’s publication the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology is Open Access, hence freely available, as is the third paper listed below.
Simkhada, P., Bhatta, P., van Teijlingen E., Regmi, P. (2010) Sexual health knowledge, sexual relationships and condom use among male trekking guides in Nepal. Culture, Health & Sexuality 12(1): 45-58.
Since his arrival in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences last year postdoctoral researcher Dr. Pramod Regmi has been busy getting his publications out. Yesterday saw the latest of his articles appear in print, this time in the latest issue of the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology. The editorial, co-authored with Dr. Om Kurmi (University of Oxford) and Dr. Puspa R. Pant at the University of the West of England, addresses the growing problem air pollution in low-income countries such as Nepal. The paper is called: ‘Implication of Air pollution on health effects in Nepal: Lessons from global research’. [1]
The journal is Open Access so the article can be accessed by anybody across the globe for free.
Congratulations!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
References:
Kurmi O, Regmi PR, Pant PR. Implication of Air pollution on health effects in Nepal: Lessons from global research. Nepal J Epidemiol. 2016;6(1); 525-527. (online at: http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/14733/11949 )
HEFCE’s policy for open access states that all new peer-reviewed journal articles and papers from published conference proceedings (with ISSN) should be deposited in our institutional repository BURO (through BRIAN), in full text form. Full compliance with this policy is now crucial, as HEFCE’s requirements for the next REF include the condition that outputs can only be submitted to the REF if they are published as open access at the point of acceptance.
All researchers need to follow these three steps, to ensure that all your articles can be considered for the next REF.
1. Keep your Authors’ Accepted Manuscript1
Keep this version for journal articles and conference proceedings (with an ISSN). This is not necessary for books, chapters or other output types.
This is necessary even if the publisher will make the article Open Access on publication.
Whether you are the sole author, a co-author, a postgraduate or a professor, you need to keep this version of your paper.
2. Upload the Authors’ Accepted Manuscript to BRIAN as soon as it is accepted for publication2
When your publisher sends you an acceptance notification, log into BRIAN to add the basic publication details and upload the document.
The Library will ensure compliance with any embargo date.
You are now compliant!
3. Contact the BRIAN or BURO team for help or advice
RKEO and the Library will be available to provide relevant support during these drop-in sessions:
11 April – 12.30pm to 1.30pm – S117, Studland House
12 April – 12.30pm to 1.30pm – S117, Studland House
13 April – 12.30pm to 1.30pm – S117, Studland House
No booking is necessary, just turn up!
1 Authors’ Accepted Manuscript – this is the final peer-reviewed manuscript, before the proof reading starts for the published version. It is often a Word document, publisher template, LaTeX file or PDF.
2 This is when the publisher confirms to you that your article has been accepted.