pick of the recent knowledgespeak linkouts...

Traditional academic publishers are ‘on the move’

SURFfoundation have released the results of an inquiry into the copyright policies of traditional academic publishers. A group of forty seven traditional publishers, who do not currently allow Open Access, were assessed and it was found that these publishers are increasingly interested in allowing the depositing of articles into a publicly accessible repository.
The study asked publishers if they supported principles formulated by SURFfoundation and JISC, regarding publishing in traditional journals. The conclusion was that a growing number of traditional publishers support some, if not all, of the current open access repository principles. Furthermore, many of these publishers were said to be looking into changing their current policies to encourage an environment of sharing academic materials.

Thomson Scientific Launches ScienceWatch.com For Top News On Scientific Discovery

ScienceWatch.com combines the newest Science Watch newsletter material and regularly updated data, analysis, interviews, and commentary that had been previously found in In-Cites and ESI Special Topics. The website provides the scientific community a convenient location for keeping up with the latest developments in science – what the leading scientists have to say, how the hottest topics are affecting research and everyday life, where the most significant research is taking place, and much more.

Note that J R Soc Interface is on the Rising Stars list for March!


Elsevier Launches Publishing Ethics Resource Kit

PERK is an online resource which contains links to Elsevier and non-Elsevier policy and procedures documents, decision trees and flow charts for dealing with different forms of publishing ethics abuse with the recommended action that can be followed, as well as COPE (Committee On Publication Ethics) charts for a second opinion. It also contains examples of appropriate letters for various situations and a large resource of useful information structured in the form of Questions and Answers.

Serials Solutions Releases Usage Reporting for 360 Search

Serials Solutions, a business unit of ProQuest, today announced the release of 360 Search Usage Reporting, a free enhancement that allows libraries to track resource usage through 360 Search federated search service. Usage Reporting enables librarians to analyze usage trends with graphically and textually represented statistics, then use this information to create the best possible search experience for library patrons.