Presentation at the University of Cape Town, Aug. 5, 2011. This talk was part of the OpenUCT initiative and the Scholarly Communication in Africa Programme. It provides an overview of the changing research landscape and the particular importance of open access and other forms of open collaboration for solving some of the pressing problems of development research. The presentation argues for the importance of policy development in support of research collaboration and the development of enriched metrics for evaluating the development impact of research.
Globlal Perspective on Open Research: A Bird's Eye View
1. Global Perspective on Open Research A bird’s eye view Leslie Chan International Development Studies Bioline International University of Toronto Scarborough Presentation at the Scholarly Communication in Africa Programme and OpenUCT, University of Cape Town August 5, 2011
2. What is research and why What is openness and why The values of Open Research How to enable Open Research
3. Arguments Quality filtering based on journal name is disappearing, to be replaced by new forms of “metrics” and reputation proxies Innovations are emerging from the “periphery” Networks and the return to the Invisible College Grass root actions are driving change, but policy framework is key to acceptance and sustainability
8. The World of Journal Publishing According to Thomson’s ISI Science Citation Index Data from 2002 http://www.worldmapper.org/display.php?selected=205
12. “An old tradition and a new technology have converged to make possible an unprecedented public good.” Budapest Open Access Initiative http://www.soros.org/openaccess/read.shtml
13. Human Development and Access to Knowledge-embedded goods Access to learning resources Access to journals Access to research and outcome data Access to health care Access to Medicine PUBLICGOODS
14. From “Big” science to Networked science Knowledge for local problem solving
15. Openness as the building block for the New Invisible College
16. "Like many parts of the knowledge system, the organization of scientific research is changing in fundamental ways. Self-organizing networks that span the globe are the most notable feature of science today. These networks constitute an invisible college of researchers: scientists who collaborate not because they are told to but because they want to, not because they work in the same laboratory or even in the same field but because they have complementary insight, data, or skills. Networks can take on the role of institutions in some parts of the world that do not have a long history of building scientific infrastructure." Caroline Wagner (2008), The New Invisible College: Science for Development. The Brookings Institution Press.
17. arXiv began its operations before the World Wide Web, search engines, online commerce and all the rest, but nonetheless anticipated many components of current 'Web 2.0' methodology… It continues to play a leading role at the forefront of new models for scientific communication."
23. 23 Active Bioline Journals graphed with Google Maps. Retrieved April 26, 2010 from: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=117328677437228595850.00044ec490b69019e64a3&z=2
27. But Open Access is only the Substrate of theResearch Life Cycle
28. Scholarly Primitives “…basic functions common to scholarly activity across disciplines, over time, and independent of theoretical orientation.” John Unsworth. "Scholarly Primitives: What Methods Do Humanities Researchers Have in Common and How Might Our Tools Reflect This?" "Humanities Computing, Formal Methods, Experimental Practice" Symposium, Kings College, London, May 13, 2000.http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/~jmu2m/Kings.5-00/primitives.html
29. “Is the scientific paper a fraud?” “I mean the scientific paper may be a fraud because it misrepresents the processes of thought that accompanied or give rise to the work that is described in the paper. That is the question and I will say right away that my answer to it is ‘yes’. The scientific paper in its orthodox form does embody a totally mistaken conception, even a travesty, of the nature of scientific though”. Sir Peter Medawar (From a BBC talk, 1964) http://contanatura-hemeroteca.weblog.com.pt/arquivo/medawar_paper_fraud.pdf
32. Traditional Business Models Subscription Licensing Pay-per-view Libraries Price $$ Permission Closed Content Publishers Value-added Services BRANDING Capital Development
33. New Business Models Authority Trust Findability Personalization Immediacy Coherent and structured Generative layer Overlay services Open Source Open Access Fragmented and scattered Content layer Research Capital Development
34. “We are slowly, as I’ve written many times before, moving to post-publication peer review where the scientific community judges what matters—not bewigged and gathered in one elegant room as in the 18th century but connected globally through the internet. It’s back to our roots.” Richard Smith was the editor of the BMJ until 2004 and is director of the United Health Group’s chronic disease initiative. Competing interest: RS is on the board of the Public Library of Science but is not paid.
35. The JIF is appallingly open to manipulation; mature alt-metrics systems could be more robust, leveraging the diversity of of alt-metrics and statistical power of big data to algorithmically detect and correct for fraudulent activity. This approach already works for online advertisers, social news sites, Wikipedia, and search engines. http://altmetrics.org/manifesto/
36. Scholarly Primitives and Reputation? “…basic functions common to scholarly activity across disciplines, over time, and independent of theoretical orientation.” John Unsworth. "Scholarly Primitives: What Methods Do Humanities Researchers Have in Common and How Might Our Tools Reflect This?" "Humanities Computing, Formal Methods, Experimental Practice" Symposium, Kings College, London, May 13, 2000.http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/~jmu2m/Kings.5-00/primitives.html
41. Conclusions Should not take Openness for granted, be vigilant Align the values of research with appropriate incentives and recognition Also need to align policies that are emerging from the top with initiatives are rising from the bottom
Editor's Notes
metrics of total publications and citations.Top 15 countries account for 82% of total publicationsAuthor with African institutional affiliation account for less than 1% of global output, and S. Africa has the highest output. The rest are “invisible”Consequence of trying to publish in “International” journal results in neglect of important local problems and solutions that are appropriate for local conditions.
Consequences of publishing in “internatioanlly” indexed journals
he New Invisible College, Caroline Wagner combines quantitative data and extensive interviews to map the emergence of global science networks and trace the dynamics driving their growth. She argues that the shift from big science to global networks creates unprecedented opportunities for developing countries to tap science's potential. Rather than squander resources in vain efforts to mimic the scientific establishments of the twentieth century, developing country governments can leverage networks by creating incentives for top-notch scientists to focus on research that addresses their concerns and by finding ways to tie knowledge to local problem solving. T
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) adopted a whole institution approach in 2004. There is some early evidence that the greater visibility of the research of the institution correlates with other measures of research esteem.In Australia in recent years, several other universities have developed policies, most notably this week, ANU. A number of institutions in Europe — Leige, Salford, University College London, to mention a few — are examples. Perhaps most conspicuous is the mandate adopted at Harvard University Faculty of Art and Sciences.
Open access models are proliferating, not only for sharing traditional forms of scholarly production (peer-reviewed papers), but also among new forms of content, especially databases and media archives.Data are increasingly born digital
An entire range of economic services has emerged that are enabled by mobile phones: banking and anancial trans- actions, marketing and distribution, employment services, personal ser- vices, and public services. Beyond economic impacts, improvements are being made in other freedoms or dimensions of well-being: personal secu- rity, political participation and accountability, peace, dignity, and opportu- nity.