Scholarly Communication

How Has the NIH Public Access Policy Affected You?

Heather Joseph at SPARC writes, “It’s hard to believe, but April 7, 2011 will mark the 3rd Anniversary of the implementation of the policy opening up access to articles reporting on the results of NIH-funded research.” (Read more about the NIH Public Access Policy here.) SPARC is gathering stories from authors as well as readers about how having wider access to taxpayer-funded research has affected them. Joseph continues:
The policy has shown tremendous signs of success. PubMed Central now contains more than 2 million full text articles reporting on the latest NIH-funded research, and nearly a half million individuals access these articles each day. With this new wealth of information now available, we’d like to know what your experience has been with it. Specifically, we’d like to hear: 1. How have you been using the database? 2. Have you used the articles to help inform yourself about new developments in a specific area? 3. Has the availability of these articles through PubMed Central helped you advance your research in ways that would not have occurred if they were not available? 4. Have articles that you have authored appeared in PubMed Central as a result of the policy? 5. Have you been contacted by other researchers who have found your work in the database, or vice versa? 6. Have you taken any of the articles to your doctor or other health care provider? 7. Has your healthcare provider used this database as a resource? (if you don’t know, please ask her/him!) 8. Has the availability of the articles in PMC had an impact on how you (or anyone in your community) manage your health care? We’ve heard from people who have used the latest research in various ways, and the stories are extremely powerful. If you have one, please share it! It will help us to not only ensure that PubMed Central remains open as an important public resource, but also to make the case to open up additional publicly funded databases from HHS and other federal agencies as well.
If you’d like to contribute your story about PubMed Central and the NIH Public Access Policy, you can e-mail Heather Joseph directly at heather@arl.org. (Source: http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/issues/nih/nih_action/callforstories.shtml)

Announcing BioMedCentral Institutional Membership

The Northeastern University Libraries are pleased to announce a new institutional membership in BioMedCentral, effective March 1, 2011. Northeastern joins over 350 institutions worldwide who support BioMedCentral, an online publisher with a pioneering policy of providing free and open access to the peer-reviewed research papers they publish. All research articles published in BioMedCentral’s 213 biomedical and clinical journals are freely and universally accessible online with no barriers to access. And authors keep the copyright to their articles, allowing them to freely reuse and redistribute their research in print and online. Northeastern’s institutional membership helps sustain this publishing model through direct support of BioMedCentral as well as providing to its affiliated authors a 15% discount on the article processing fee paid upon acceptance of their submitted articles. As well as securing Open Access to research, publishing in BioMedCentral’s journals brings many additional benefits, including: • Immediate publication upon acceptance • No extra charge for extensive datasets, comprehensive methods, color figures, and video footage • The ability to track how many people have viewed a paper on BioMedCentral’s website • A large number of journals to choose from, covering all subjects in biology and medicine with different levels of selectivity For more information about BioMedCentral, visit http://www.biomedcentral.com/. For more information about Northeastern’s BioMedCentral membership and how it can benefit you, please contact me at h.corbett@neu.edu.

“Profiling” a Popular Honors Project in IRis

From time to time, I like to feature an object in IRis, our digital archive of research and scholarship at Northeastern, that’s been getting a lot of hits. I get a weekly report e-mailed to me of the most frequently accessed content in IRis, and there’s one honors project that’s been appearing near the top of that weekly list for quite a while now. “Profiling Pros and Cons: An Evaluation of Contemporary Criminal Profiling Methods” was submitted by Theresa M. Young in fulfillment of the Honors Program’s Junior/Senior Project requirement in 2006. In the past year, it’s been accessed 546 times, making it the second most-accessed document in IRis! We use Google Analytics to track usage of both the library website and IRis, and there’s a lot of fascinating information to be found in those metrics. For example, almost 81% of visitors found Theresa’s project through Google searches; the most commonly searched phrase that brought them to her project was “criminal profiling pros and cons,” where it’s the top result. Although the majority of visitors came from the United States, people in a total of 18 countries accessed Theresa’s project. I found it particularly noteworthy that of the 5 visits from Iraq, 3 of them came via the Department of Defense. Is Theresa’s research having an impact on criminal justice in Iraq? Regardless of how it’s being used, the popularity and relevance of her work, both in the US and around the world, is undeniable. (After graduating from Northeastern in 2006, Theresa Young went on to law school at the University of Richmond. While there, she served as Executive Editor of the Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest.)

Publishing Workshop with Gordon Hutner, Editor of American Literary History

Students in the humanities should consider attending this event on Thursday, January 27th. Even if you’re not an English major or grad student, if you’re considering a career in research and publishing in the humanities, I recommend hearing what Dr. Hutner will share about what goes into publishing a scholarly journal! Here are the full details of the event, from the NU calendar: 440 Egan Research Center Thursday, January 27, 2011, 12 – 1:15pm Professor Gordon Hutner, a distinguished scholar of American literature and founding editor of the journal American Literary History, will be conducting a publication workshop to discuss how to publish work in a journal such as ALH. This is an incredible opportunity for students to meet an important figure in the field and to receive an inside view of the publication process. Prof. Hutner will also deliver a talk the same afternoon as part of the Barrs Lecture Series. The talk is titled “The 21st Century American Novel: A History” and will be held at 5:30 p.m. in 340 Egan. Please plan to attend both of these events, and come prepared for lively and valuable discussions. Type of Event: Workshop/Training Audience: Faculty/Staff, Students, Public Cost: None Sponsor: Department of English, Co-Sponsored by the Humanities Center Contact Name: Department of English Contact Phone: 617-373-4540 Contact Email: m.daigle@neu.edu More info: www.english.neu.edu

Student-Run Publications Keep NU Informed, Entertained, and Impressed

It’s pretty common for universities to have a student-run newspaper and a yearbook, and ours, of course, are excellent. But until I started compiling this list, I didn’t realize what a wide variety of other student publications we have on campus. They showcase student research, journalism, literary and artistic talent, and more. (And they’re practically indistinguishable from professionally produced magazines that have much bigger budgets and staffs that aren’t also going to school full-time.) ⇒ The Cauldron http://www.cauldron.neu.edu/ Back issues available online through the Internet Archive! Publishing frequency: Annual Established in: 1917 About: Northeastern University Yearbook ⇒ ECONPress http://www.econpress.org/index.php/econpress Publishing frequency: Twice a year Established in: 2010 About: “ECONPress is a student-run undergraduate research publication that is published twice a year at the beginning of each fall and spring semesters. Each issue features the best economic research of undergraduate students in the local Boston area. ECONPress provides a forum for the economic undergraduate community to engage in active discussion and debate about the topics, theories, and applications they’ve learned in the classroom. Students may submit within three different categories: articles, essays, and research papers. In addition to the publication, ECONPress hosts a biannual conference where authors will have a chance to present their research to the local economic community. Invited authors featured in ECONPress will have the opportunity to present their findings as part of an itinerary that includes a prominent economist. At ECONPress we hope to assist in the preparation of the next generation of economists by providing current undergraduate students a resource to experience and engage in a significant part of the professional research field.” ⇒ The Huntington News http://huntnewsnu.com/ Publishing frequency: Weekly during fall and spring semesters; biweekly during summer Established in: 1926 About: “For 82 years, The Northeastern News was a major source of news at Northeastern University. Now known as The Huntington News, the paper went independent from the university and relocated its office to a leased space at 295 Huntington Avenue in the summer of 2008. In the new space, undergraduate students work alongside Northeastern alumni to maintain the high standard of quality the community has come to expect from its student newspaper.The News is published on Thursdays during the fall and spring semesters with more than 50 students contributing to its production. During the summer semesters, it is published every other Wednesday. The News is the most frequently published and well-read publication on campus. It features news, sports, entertainment and editorial sections, as well as a rotating special section with alternating subject matter.” ⇒ Northeastern University Political Review http://www.nupoliticalreview.com/ Publishing frequency: Quarterly in print with more frequent web updates Established in: 2009 About: “The Northeastern University Political Review seeks to be a nonpartisan platform for students to publish essays and articles of the highest possible caliber on contemporary domestic and international politics, as well as critical reviews of political media. The Political Review aspires to foster a culture of intelligent political discourse among interested individuals while promoting awareness of political issues in the campus community. The organization envisions itself as a place where students with a common interest in politics and world affairs may come together to discuss and develop their views and refine their opinions. The Political Review hopes to reflect the diversity of thought and spirit at Northeastern, including the dual ethic of academic and experiential education our school embodies.” ⇒ NUScience http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nu-Science-Magazine/ Publishing frequency: Twice a semester Established in: 2009 About: “NU Science is Northeastern University’s first ever on-campus science magazine. We are a student-formed and student-run group that meets every Wednesday to discuss scientific events and create a product that educates and enlightens the NU community.” ⇒ Spectrum, Northeastern’s Literary Arts Magazine http://www.spectrum.neu.edu/ Publishing frequency: Three times a year Established in: 1965 About: “Spectrum Literary Arts Magazine is dedicated to showcasing the unique and extraordinary talents of the Northeastern University community. Each issue includes a wide variety of original material submitted by students and faculty. Spectrum’s editors and members work to publish the magazine three times per year: an issue at the end of both the Fall and Spring semesters, and a calendar issue at the beginning of the school year. With the continued efforts of its editors, members, and generous submitters, Spectrum tries to spread the appreciation of literary and visual art.” ⇒ Tastemakers http://tastemakersmag.com/ Publishing frequency: Bimonthly Established in: 2007 About: “tastemakers magazine provides northeastern university students with the opportunity to comment on and interact with the music industry. we print a bi-monthly magazine, publish on the web, produce the tastemakers presents concert series, and host a podcast on iTunes, tastemakers radio. our goal is to bring honest, informed opinions to our readers and help our members develop their craft.” Other student publications that have existed in recent years include The Onyx Informer, The NU Patriot, and Times New Roman, but I was unable to find up-to-date information about them. If you are involved in any of these publications and know that they are still actively publishing, please leave a comment and I’ll update the post. Or, if there are student-run publications (either print or online) that aren’t in this post at all, leave a comment about that, too!