scholarly journals Open Polar – a global open access portal to research on the polar regions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leif Longva ◽  
Tamer Abu Alam ◽  
Per Pippin Aspaas ◽  
Noortje Dijkstra ◽  
Lars Figenschou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Research Output ◽  
Research Integrity ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Research Data ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Polar Regions ◽  
Research Papers ◽  
Research Activities

Research activities and research output, in general, have increased, and keep increasing vastly, and so too is research on the polar regions including Svalbard in the Arctic. Major commercial publishers have built subscription-based services which present research literature for a fee. As Open Science and open access to literature and data is gaining momentum, there is a distinct need for powerful discovery tools that can harvest and present research literature and datasets in open access form - free of charge. Moreover, sharing of underlying data in open access form is becoming the new norm. So, to integrate research papers and datasets in the same search, helps speed up the discovery processes as well as fostering the transparency of research, and minimize duplication of fieldwork and experiments. Open Polar (https://openpolar.no/) is developed by UiT The Arctic University of Norway, and is a free to use discovery tool for open access publications and research data specifically targeting research output on the polar regions, across all subject areas, and irrespective of where the research originates. Through a carefully designed algorithm, Open Polar is extracting metadata (including URL to the landing page of the full text) from more than 4600 sources worldwide and making these accessible through a user-friendly search service - including an option to search via geolocations on a map, and with systematic search features. The algorithm used picks up relevant research located in the most remote content providers and sources. Thus, searching in Open Polar will result in records purely of relevance to the polar regions. In this contribution, we will present the many advantageous features of Open Polar, and show how Open Polar is supporting Open Science and research integrity-enhancing procedures, by enabling search and access to research data as well as research papers.

scholarly journals Teaching Open Science

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helene N. Andreassen ◽  
Erik Lieungh
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Data Management ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Open Access Publishing ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Learning Support ◽  
Research Data Management ◽  
The University

In this episode, we are discussing how to teach open science to PhD students. Helene N. Andreassen, head of Library Teaching and Learning Support at the University Library of UiT the Arctic University of Norway shares her experiences with the integration of open science in a special, tailor-made course for PhD's that have just started their project. An interdisciplinary, discussion-based course, "Take Control of Your PhD Journey: From (P)reflection to Publishing" consists of a series of seminars on research data management, open access publishing and other subject matters pertaining to open science. First published online February 26, 2020.

scholarly journals Open Arctic Research Index: Final report and recommendations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamer S. Abu-Alam
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
End Users ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Full Scale ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Final Report ◽  
Polar Regions ◽  
Management Service ◽  
Scale Management

Access research data and research documents (e.g. publications) and make it more visible and findable through the internet is coming up as one of the major challenges for future development of the next generation of Digital Libraries. This challenge becomes more complicated when data producers (e.g. research institutes) are not aware by the needs of the scientific community for visibility and findability of their data or when the data producers lack the technology or the motivation to make their data available online.Although the Open Arctic Research Index pilot project focused only on the open-access research data and the open-access research documents published on Polar regions, the OpenARI found 60% of these open-access records are unfindable through searchable platforms outside the institutional webpage itself. This raises an awareness sign of the need of the scientific community to harvest the metadata of these open-access records in a homogenous, seamless database and making this database available to researchers, students and publics through one search platform. At present, neither Google Scholar nor any other search platform provide this service.Based on the fact that around 60% of the open-access polar records are unfindable through one search platform, we strongly suggest launching a full-scale management service at the University of Tromsø – the Arctic University of Norway (UiT). This new service will be built on existing experiences from High North Research Documents (i.e. an existing service at the UiT). OpenARI has concluded fifteen needs that are required for the full-scale management model. In addition to the main service (i.e. make open-access polar records more visible and findable through one search platform), we suggest to add three new services: 1) hosting of original data from the Polar regions; 2) creating a research platform; 3) creating an education platform. A new process including four stages of filtration is suggested in order to reduce the time and the overhead costs of using the UiT’s server. End-users will be able to perform search using a map. In addition to the classical way of presenting the results of a search, the end-users will be able to see the search results on a map and/or as a timeline.

scholarly journals Open Polar

Ravnetrykk ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamer Abu-Alam
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Research Data ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Polar Regions ◽  
Dublin Core ◽  
Standard Data ◽  
Advanced Search ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Geo Database

Data from the Polar Regions are of critical importance to modern research and decision makers. Regardless of their disciplinary and institutional affiliations, researchers rely heavily on the comparison of existing data with new data sets to assess changes that are taking effect. However, in a recent survey of 113 major polar data providers, we found that an estimated 60% of the existing polar research data is unfindable through common search engines and can only be accessed through institutional webpages. This raises an awareness sign of the need of the scientific community to harvest different metadata related to the Polar Regions and collect it in a homogenous, seamless database and making this database available to researchers, students and publics through one search platform. This contribution describes the progress in an ongoing project, Open Polar, started in 2019 at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. The project aims to collect metadata about all the open-access research data, articles and other scholarly documents related to the Polar Regions in a homogenous and seamless database. During the first six months of the project, the beta version of the user-interface was established, with a search by map and an advanced search function. An extensive geo-database that includes thousands of polar locations and their geographic information was collected from different sources. The geo-database together with a list of keywords (i.e. on sources, indigenous peoples, languages and other polar-related keywords) will be used in the filtration process. A Reference Board was formed, and the first board meeting took place in April 2020. The geographic definition of “Polar Regions” was defined in order to include most of the current geographic definitions of “Arctic”. The project is still facing some challenges that include for example integration with non-standard data sources who do not use Dublin Core Metadata schema, or are not harvestable through the Open Access Initiative’s standard protocol for harvesting (OAI-PMH).

scholarly journals Institutional development of universities in the context of the implementation of Open Science concept

2021 ◽  
pp. 211-225
Author(s):  
Iryna Drach
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Research Integrity ◽  
Institutional Development ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Scientific Activity ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Free Access ◽  
Scientific Practices ◽  
Funding Policy ◽  
Scientific Publications

The article analyses the policy and procedures for implementing Open Science concept as a basis for the institutional development of universities. The key events and documents of the European Research Area, which determine the policies and procedures for the development of Open Science, are described. It is concluded that Open Science represents a new approach to the scientific process, based on collaboration and new ways of disseminating knowledge through digital technologies and new tools for collaboration. Open science enhances the quality and impact of research by promoting reproducibility and interdisciplinarity of knowledge; using the open and joint method of production and exchange of knowledge and data in the research process; improving the quality of research, the reliability of the results and the sensitivity of science to the needs of society. It is determined that the goals of Open Science are: the openness of data; the development of the European Open Science Cloud as a unified ecosystem of research data infrastructures; development of a new generation of indicators for assessing the quality and impact of research, which complement the generally accepted indicators to take into account the openness of scientific practices; free access to all peer-reviewed scientific publications, encouraging an early exchange of various types of scientific results; recognition of openness of scientific activity in systems of evaluation of scientific career of researchers; compliance of all EU-funded research with generally agreed standards of research integrity; European scientists acquire the necessary skills and support to teach Open Science procedures and practices; the opportunity for the general public to make a significant contribution to the production of scientific knowledge in Europe. The characteristics and indicators of Open Science, which determine the directions of institutional development of universities, are analysed. The characteristics of Open Science include open data; open academic communication; open access to publications. Indicators of open research data are repositories of research data; funding policy for data sharing; the researcher's attitude to data sharing; indicators of open academic communication - open expert feedback; the journal's policy on open expert feedback; use of altmetric platforms; correction and revocation; open access to publications indicators - open access publication; preprints; alternative publishing platforms; open access funding policy; the journal's open access policy; the researcher's attitude to open access. The goals of Open Science are focused on the openness of data; the development of European Open Science Cloud as a unified ecosystem of research data infrastructures; development of new generation indicators for assessing the quality and impact of research, which complement the generally accepted indicators to take into account the openness of scientific practices; free access to all peer-reviewed scientific publications, encouragement of early exchange of various types of scientific results; recognition of openness of scientific activity in systems of evaluation of scientific career of researchers; compliance of all EU-funded research with generally agreed standards of research integrity; European scientists acquire the necessary skills and support to teach Open Science procedures and practices; the opportunity for the general public to make a significant contribution to the production of scientific knowledge in Europe. The key provisions and promising areas of EU policy on the development of Open Science are analysed. Emphasis is laid on the importance of supporting universities at the national and European levels for the large-scale implementation of the practice of Open Science.

scholarly journals OPENPOLAR.NO

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamer Abu-Alam ◽  
Per Pippin Aspaas
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Search Engine ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The Arctic

In this episode, we discuss the new service Open Polar: The Global Open Access Portal for Research Data and Publications on the Arctic and Antarctic (openpolar.no). Presenting only freely available documents on the Arctic and Antarctic, Open Polar is a thematic search engine that can be a useful tool for both researchers and decision makers. Tamer Abu-Alam explains the reasons for filtering out all research documents that are not available in open access, thereby promoting open science. Of the 1,8 million records currently included in Open Polar, approx. 22,5 percent are research datasets, which makes the service unique. First published online August 30, 2021.

“The Future Depends on What You Do Today”

2021 ◽  
pp. 25-51
Author(s):  
Paul Ayris
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Scholarly Communication ◽  
Research Integrity ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Research Data Management ◽  
The Future ◽  
University College London ◽  
The University

UCL (University College London) strongly supports the implementation of Open Science policies and practices. The library has taken the lead in the university across all eight areas of Open Science: the Future of Scholarly Communication, the EOSC, FAIR data, Skills, Research Integrity, Rewards, Altmetrics, and Citizen Science. UCL has modified these themes slightly to better fit its academic requirements, developing ambitious programmes and services to support the change of culture which is required. From the future of scholarly publishing, with the formation of UCL Press as the UK's first fully open access university press, to research data management, rewards, research integrity and next-generation metrics, UCL has become a leader in Open Science. This chapter analyses the success of UCL to date, describes the challenges, shows the benefits, and indicates what future steps are being planned to deliver a culture where Open Science is the default, thus delivering on the prophecy of Mahatma Ghandi, one of UCL's most illustrious alumni, ‘The future depends on what you do today'.

scholarly journals Open Science: Reinventing the Librarianship

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esa-Pekka Keskitalo ◽  
Tanja Vienonen
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Data Management ◽  
Data Storage ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Research Output ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Open Access Publishing ◽  
National Library ◽  
Institutional Repositories

Better utilisation of publicly funded research output is an aim of the Finnish Government. To reach that aim, the Open Science and Research (ATT) Initiative was launched in 2014. Lead by the Ministry of Education and Culture, the ATT Initiative has funded a number of projects that support good research data management, opening of research data, and Open Access in general. The Initiative also emphasises cooperation and interoperability nationally, and internationally.The National Library of Finland and other research libraries have an important role in the ATT Initiative. Libraries are in a good position to make meaningful contributions as they can repurpose their expertise on metadata, information retrieval, and collection management. They are finding new ways of collaboration and creating services in the fields of Open Access and Open Science.Libraries and other service providers should, first and foremost, respect the needs of research and researchers: science should always be the guiding force. But Open Access and Open Science do have an effect on how research is conducted and published. Therefore, it must be possible to have a critical look on conventional research practices. Increasing amounts of data, new technological possibilities, and new methods of analysis mean that old practices need to be revised. The more pronounced demands of interoperability and innovative re-usability drive for change, too. Of course, the funders are also very keen on cost-efficiency and measurable impact. There is a demand for harmonisation, collaboration, and shared infrastructures and services.The Open Scientific Publishing Project (TAJUA) in the National Library of Finland is a part of the ATT Initiative. The main focus of the project is to increase and improve the availability of Finnish research output. It comprises of several subprojects that build on the existing expertise of the Library, taking it to new directions. They deal withimproving the institutional repository infrastructure provided by the National Library, with special attention to organisations with restricted resources and basic demands;better guidance for institutional repositories on best practices in metadata creation, licensing, and in gathering statistics in a commensurable manner;a tool for easy creation of metadata about research datasets;improved persistent identifier services (ISNI, ORCID, URN, etc.);better understanding of economics of Open Access publishing, e.g. real level of APC, and recommendations for changes in publishing workflows; andrecommendations for ensuring long-term accessibility of scientific output.The TAJUA project complements others under the umbrella of the ATT Initiative. They deal with more efficient publishing workflows, data management planning, opening datasets, training and education on Open Science, and tools to enrich and work up open linked data. Existing national services on data storage, preservation, and dissemination will also be extended.Research libraries should not be shy about their knowledge and skills. With metadata being the new black, they can really make their mark on the world of Open Science.

Open Polar: a new freely search service of publications and research data of Polar Regions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamer Abu-Alam ◽  
Karl Magnus Nilsen ◽  
Obiajulu Odu ◽  
Leif Longva ◽  
Per Pippin Aspaas
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Community ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Research Data ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Polar Regions ◽  
Search Service ◽  
Norwegian Polar Institute ◽  
Under Construction ◽  
Access To Data ◽  
Beta Version

<p>Research data plays a key role in monitoring and predicting any natural phenomena, including changes in the Polar Regions. The limited access to data restricts the ability of researchers to monitor, predict and model environmental changes and their socio-economic repercussions. In a recent survey of 113 major polar research institutions, we found out that an estimated 60% of the existing polar research data is unfindable through common search engines and can only be accessed through institutional webpages. In social science and indigenous knowledge, this findability gap is even higher, approximately 84% of the total existing data. This raises an awareness sign and the call for the need of the scientific community to collect information on the global output of research data and publications related to the Polar Regions and present it in a homogenous, seamless database.</p><p>In this contribution, we present a new, open access discovery service, Open Polar, with the purpose of rendering polar research more visible and retrievable to the research community as well as to the interested public, teachers, students and decision-makers. The new service is currently under construction and will be hosted by UiT The Arctic University of Norway in close collaboration with the Norwegian Polar Institute and other international partners. The beta version of the Open Polar was made available in February 2021. We welcome comments and suggestions from the scientific community to the beta version, while we plan to launch the stable production version of the service by summer 2021. The beta version of the service can already be tested at the URL: www.openpolar.no</p>

scholarly journals Open-access policy and data-sharing practice in UK academia

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yimei Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Data Sharing ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Free Access ◽  
Online Publishing ◽  
Institutional Repositories ◽  
Access To Data

Data sharing can be defined as the release of research data that can be used by others. With the recent open-science movement, there has been a call for free access to data, tools and methods in academia. In recent years, subject-based and institutional repositories and data centres have emerged along with online publishing. Many scientific records, including published articles and data, have been made available via new platforms. In the United Kingdom, most major research funders had a data policy and require researchers to include a ‘data-sharing plan’ when applying for funding. However, there are a number of barriers to the full-scale adoption of data sharing. Those barriers are not only technical, but also psychological and social. A survey was conducted with over 1800 UK-based academics to explore the extent of support of data sharing and the characteristics and factors associated with data-sharing practice. It found that while most academics recognised the importance of sharing research data, most of them had never shared or reused research data. There were differences in the extent of data sharing between different gender, academic disciplines, age and seniority. It also found that the awareness of Research Council UK’s (RCUK) Open-Access (OA) policy, experience of Gold and Green OA publishing, attitudes towards the importance of data sharing and experience of using secondary data were associated with the practice of data sharing. A small group of researchers used social media such as Twitter, blogs and Facebook to promote the research data they had shared online. Our findings contribute to the knowledge and understanding of open science and offer recommendations to academic institutions, journals and funding agencies.

A study of Open Access research data repositories developed by BRICS countries

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Safat Mushtaq Misgar ◽  
Ajra Bhat ◽  
Zahid Ashraf Wani
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Emerging Economies ◽  
Research Policy ◽  
Research Output ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Data Repository ◽  
Research Activity ◽  
Data Repositories ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Subject Coverage

Purpose In the present era, research data is a concern for researchers, as they are trying to find new ways to communicate their research findings and conclusions to other researchers in order to increase visibility and credibility. BRICS nations are fast emerging economies and contribute significantly in research output. This study makes an effort to analyze and explore the role of BRICS nations towards open access research data repository registered with Registry of Research Data Repositories. Design/methodology/approach The data were gathered from re3data repository, and the search was limited to BRICS nations. The data were further analyzed and tabulated as per set parameters, namely, country-wise distribution, types of contents, subject coverage and language diversity. Findings The findings depict that in terms of strength, India has the highest number of data repositories, thereby achieved the first rank among BRICS nations, and South Africa has the least number of data repositories, whereas in terms of content type and subject coverage, India again is leading among BRICS nations. The English language is used by repositories as the main language of the interface. Practical implications The study helps to understand the development of research data repositories by BRICS nations. The study is further beneficial to researchers, as Registry of Research Data Repository provides a single platform to access repositories from various disciplines. Readily available data saves time, money and efforts of researchers and helps the researcher in completing their research activity in a very short span of time. Originality/value The paper has investigated open access data repositories of BRICS nation that has not been attempted earlier. This gives readers comprehensive overview of research data repositories developed in fast emerging economies of the global. The paper can be very helpful for information managers, OA promoters and education and research policy makers to devise plans and policy bearing in mind the evolving research channels in emerging economies.

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