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10 - The view of the research funder
- from Part 2 - Other players: roles and responsibilities
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- By Robert Kiley, Wellcome Library
- Edited by Deborah Shorley, Michael Jubb
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- Book:
- The Future of Scholarly Communication
- Published by:
- Facet
- Published online:
- 08 June 2018
- Print publication:
- 31 March 2013, pp 131-144
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- Chapter
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Summary
ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the benefits of Open Access (OA), the challenges that still persist – especially in terms of compliance with funders’ policies – and the costs and sustainability of OA publishing, with particular reference to the work of the Wellcome Trust since 2005. To provide context to the Trust's initiatives, a brief analysis of the OA landscape in the UK, Europe and beyond is also provided. The chapter also discusses the rationale behind the development of eLife, the new OA journal developed by the Wellcome Trust in collaboration with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Max Planck Society. Introduction
A study in 2011 estimated that for every $ that the US government invested in the human genome project, $141 of economic activity was generated. As one of the sponsors study observed, ‘from a simple return on investment, the financial stake made in mapping the entire human genome is clearly one of the best uses of taxpayer dollars the U.S. government has ever made’.
This single example demonstrates the benefits that can be reaped from open content, and explains why it is logical for research funders to develop policies that require the outputs of the research they fund to be made freely available, for both humans and machines to read and make use of. Stated simply, it makes absolutely no sense from a return-on-investment perspective for a funder to invest in research but then allow the outputs of that research – most typically the research articles published in peerreviewed journals – to remain hidden behind publishers’ pay walls.
With reference to the work of the Wellcome Trust, this chapter considers the benefits of Open Access (OA), the challenges that still persist – especially in terms of compliance with funders’ policies – and the costs and sustainability of OA publishing. To provide context to the Trust's initiatives, a brief analysis of the OA landscape in the UK, Europe and beyond will also be provided. The chapter will also discuss the rationale behind the development of eLife, the new OA journal developed by the Wellcome Trust in collaboration with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Max Planck Society.
Special Topic (A) Provision of a current awareness service for research staff (Guideline)
- from Part 3 - Using the evidence base in practice
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- By Robert Kiley, Head of Systems Strategy at the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine
- Edited by Andrew Booth, Anne Brice
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- Book:
- Evidence-based Practice for Information Professionals
- Published by:
- Facet
- Published online:
- 08 June 2018
- Print publication:
- 15 March 2004, pp 159-163
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- Chapter
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Summary
Scenario
As a recently appointed librarian at an academic institution you are asked to investigate the potential for a current awareness service (CAS) for research staff. Conscious of the need to provide an effective service – balancing cost with the needs of the researchers – you look at evidence to answer the question: ‘In a library serving the research community (Population) what are the optimal criteria for implementing a current awareness service (Intervention) from the perspective of the users and management (Outcomes)?’
This guideline is aimed at academic, special and health librarians.
Introduction
All researchers need to be aware of the latest peer-reviewed research. For health professionals, ‘among the many challenges physicians face, keeping our personal fund of medical knowledge up-to-date is one of the most difficult’. General physicians wishing to keep up-to-date need to read 19 articles a day, 365 days a year.
To manage this problem – and ensure researchers are alerted to new research – librarians offer current awareness services. This guideline examines evidence for providing an effective service.
Trends in current awareness services
Current awareness services appeared in three distinct phases:
Phase 1: analogue services
The need for CAS to keep researchers abreast of developments in their field was recognized as early as 1978. At this time, CAS were typically limited to photocopying, distributing tables of contents and producing accession lists, bulletins, displays and newspaper clippings.
Phase 2: databases and diskette services
By the 1990s, CAS were more sophisticated (but more expensive), with the development of electronic commercial services, such as Current Contents on Diskette and the British Library's CASIAS product. Online database vendors (OVID, Dialog, etc.) introduced SDI services that allowed librarians to define (and store) various search profiles. These could be run when the database was updated and new ‘hits’ mailed to the researcher. Literature from this period typically compares one alerting service with another. Bandemer and Tannery compare four different alerting services, whilst Davies et al.6 attempt a more comprehensive survey of over 25 different services.