New Web Page for HYMS Researchers

We know that the research landscape can seem like an over complicated place. As if just doing the research and writing up isn’t hard enough, there’s: RDM, OA, ORCID, REF and no doubt a whole host more acronyms out there, and they are important! But getting your head around what they all mean, what’s best for your publication, or just getting to grips with how an ORCID can help you, or how to make your research REF-ready is not always easy. We also appreciate that our parent institutions use different pieces of kit to help manage the scholarly communication process, does PURE or Hydra mean anything to you? With all that in mind, and from some of our conversations with you, we thought we would set up a page that contains key guidance on the entire research process, linking out to relevant training, guidance, or contacts from either York or Hull as relevant. We hope you find this page useful, let us know if you love it, or would like to suggest how we can improve it by emailing library@hyms.ac.uk.  

In the meantime best of luck with your research!

Post Graduate Skills Development

Photo credit: Ryan McGuire Gratisography

If you're a HYMS post grad then this autumn we have some treats for you! Whether you want to sharpen your skills or learn something new; there's support at Hull and York with sessions covering everything from open access publishing to computing for research, and everything in between. 

York are running PG Wednesdays: Staff from across the University run most of the sessions and they also provide opportunities for you to get involved, for example to showcase your own research or talk about your ‘top tips’ for research practice. PG Wednesdays run every Wednesday afternoon. The 2016-17 programme starts on Wednesday 5 October 2016 and runs through to Wednesday 27 September 2017.

At Hull you can check out the PG Skills Development Programme which provides development opportunities for postgraduate students (taught/research), researchers and staff.

Also coming up at Hull is a credited module on Research Data Management

Don't forget that as a HYMS student you are able to take advantage of the training offered at both sites, so if you're interested, click on the links for further information and booking details.

Share Your OA Story for a Full APC Waiver at BioMed Central

Share Your OA Story to Win a 100% APC Voucher at BioMed Central Open access continues to grow and I Open Access celebrates and showcases individuals around the world who support the movement. I Open Access does just what the name suggests – it puts the "I" in open access by highlighting a community of active, enthusiastic, and informed supporters. For our grand opening we would like to encourage you to share your open access story: In one sentence, give us your answer to the question "Why Open Access?" Send us an image of you holding up your single "Why Open Access" sentence Your entry will be showcased by I Open Access through our website, social media, and events Visit us online to submit your OA story Five Grand Prize Winners will receive a voucher that can be used to cover one article processing charge (APC) in any BioMed Central, Chemistry Central, or SpringerOpen journal. The discount can be used personally or gifted to a colleague. Contest ends at the close of OA Week 2014 (Oct. 26th). If you've thought about publishing in an OA journal, this is the time to do it. Tell us your story today! Brought to you by…

"Nobel winner declares boycott of top science journals"

"Randy Schekman, a US biologist who won the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine this year and receives his prize in Stockholm on Tuesday, said his lab would no longer send research papers to the top-tier journals, Nature, Cell and Science....

Schekman said pressure to publish in "luxury" journals encouraged researchers to cut corners and pursue trendy fields of science instead of doing more important work...

A journal's impact factor is a measure of how often its papers are cited, and is used as a proxy for quality. But Schekman said it was 'toxic influence' on science that 'introduced a distortion'..."



See the report by Ian Sample in the Guardian online, 9th December 2013 for the full article and related comment postings.

EU and World Bank step up pressure to make research available for free

Full-text available online at http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20120411232234891

EU and World Bank step up pressure to make research available for free

Three significant blows were struck this week for the international cause of achieving open access to scientific research.

Neelie Kroes ..., vice-president of the European Commission, who is responsible for the Digital Agenda for Europe, has confirmed that the commission is drawing up a proposal to open up access to the results of research funded under its proposed €85 billion (US$111 billion) Horizon 2020 research programme.

The World Bank announced that it is to make findings of research that it funds freely available under Creative Commons licensing.

And the Wellcome Trust, one of the world's largest biomedical charities, announced that it will launch its own free online publication to compete with subscription-based journals and enable scientists to make their research findings freely available.

.......................
The Wellcome Trust, which provides £400 million (US$636 million) a year in funds for research on human and animal health, announced on 10 April that it too would throw its weight behind efforts by scientists to make their work freely available to all.

It said it would launch its own free online publication to compete with existing academic journals in an effort to force publishers to increase free access. Currently most scientific journals are only available by subscription.

Sir Mark Walport, head of the Wellcome Trust, said: "One of the important things is that up until now if I submit a paper to a journal I've been signing away the copyright, and that's actually ridiculous.

"What we need to do is make sure the research is available to anyone to use for any purpose."

He said the peer review system would operate in the same way on open access sites as subscription journals.

Speaking to BBC Radio's Today programme, he said the paradox was that peer review was one of the biggest costs of publishing papers: scientists do it for free and then the fruits of their review work are "locked behind a paywall".

This week's moves will be welcomed by nearly 9,000 researchers who signed up to a boycott of journals that restrict free sharing, initiated by Tim Gowers, the British mathematician. It is part of a campaign that supporters call the 'academic spring', due to its aim to revolutionise the spread of knowledge.


.....

Kroes said the EC was working with international partners – the G8 but also major emerging economies – to come up with a global approach, to make the world's scientific resources inter-operate and open to discovery.

Alongside that, the commission is working with the US, Canada and Australia to create a global coordination mechanism that puts scientific communities in the lead to define the global web of knowledge.

"With these initiatives, we can create a resource to link up researchers and their data wherever they are, whatever their field," she said.

The UK government has already signalled its intention to press for increased access to public knowledge or data created by publicly funded research and universities. In its December 2011 Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said: "We believe publicly funded research should be freely available."

Independent groups of academics and publishers have been commissioned to review the availability of published research, and to develop action plans for making it freely available.

In the long run there is a huge potential cost saving to make, since British universities spend £200 million a year on subscriptions to electronic databases and journals and many of Britain's big universities spend around £1 million a year with publishers, according to a report in the Guardian.

Call to share research papers: Wellcome Director in Radio 4 interview

"Sir Mark Walport, chief executive of the Wellcome Trust, explains why the organisation is throwing its weight behind a growing campaign to break the stranglehold of academic journals and allow all research papers to be shared online":

Available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/today/hi/today/newsid_9712000/9712028.stm.