Emerging Trends in Scholarly Communication and the coming Decade of Open Access

Editor's Notes

• #9: Consequences of publishing in “ internatioanlly ” indexed journals
• #10: metrics of total publications and citations. Top 15 countries account for 82% of total publications Author 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.
• #12: internet as an avatar of the charkha Excerpts from a new book, to be released by former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on September 4 at Gandhi Smriti in New Delhi the Gandhian vision seeks to relocate the place of science and its practical uses in the overall terrain of human affairs where it can promote mankind’s holistic progress, and not be used for exploitation and violence. The Mahatma elevates science to a higher level of human pursuit and imparts to it a nobler purpose that is consistent with both mankind’s needs and the Divine Law this simple machine by imparting a mass and moral character to India’s struggle for freedom. He also used it as a powerful symbol for his advocacy of a new global order, based on the ideals of truth, non-violence, justice, universal brotherhood, respect for nature and ethically guided socio-economic development. However, he was by no means dogmatic about the charkha remaining the sole instrument of his economic philosophy forever and everywhere. He repeatedly urged both his followers and his critics to understand what khadi and the charkha stood for , what they connoted . Khadi, he insisted, was not merely a vastra (cloth) but a vichaar (an idea and an ideal). And he was realistic enough to know, and also to explicitly acknowledge, that new historical circumstances would need new tools and technologies to promote his vichaar. Indeed, towards the end of his life, he had contemplated a ‘better substitute’ for the charkha and even anticipated the birth of a new technological device, a non-violent machine that “ helps every individual ” everywhere in the world. ----- Meeting Notes (12/16/12 20:32) ----- this simple machine by imparting a mass and moral character to India’s struggle for freedom. He also used it as a powerful symbol for his advocacy of a new global order, based on the ideals of truth, non-violence, justice, universal brotherhood, respect for nature and ethically guided socio-economic development. However, he was by no means dogmatic about the charkha remaining the sole instrument of his economic philosophy forever and everywhere. He repeatedly urged both his followers and his critics to understand what khadi and the charkha stood for, what they connoted. Khadi, he insisted, was not merely a vastra (cloth) but a vichaar (an idea and an ideal). And he was realistic enough to know, and also to explicitly acknowledge, that new historical circumstances would need new tools and technologies to promote his vichaar. Indeed, towards the end of his life, he had contemplated a ‘better substitute’ for the charkha and even anticipated the birth of a new technological device, a non-violent machine that “helps every individual” everywhere in the world.
• #23: Green OA is OA delivered by repositories, regardless of peer-review status, gratis/libre status, funding model, embargo period, and so on. Gold OA is OA delivered by journals, regardless of peer-review methods, gratis/libre status, business model, and so on. It should be clear that the green/gold distinction is not the same as the gratis/libre distinction. Green/gold is about venues or vehicles, while gratis/libre is about user rights. For better or worse, there are four cases to keep distinct:  gratis green, gratis gold, libre green, and libre gold.
• #27: 1.5. We discourage the use of journal impact factors as surrogates for the quality of journals, articles, or authors. We encourage the development of alternative metrics for impact and quality which are less simplistic, more reliable, and entirely open for use and reuse. Insofar as universities, funding agencies, and research assessment programs need to measure the impact of individual articles, they should use article-level metrics, not journal-level metrics. We encourage research on the accuracy of the new metrics. As the research shows them to be useful and trustworthy, we encourage their use by universities (when evaluating faculty for promotion and tenure), funding agencies (when evaluating applicants for funding), research assessment programs (when assessing research impact), and publishers (when promoting their publications). We encourage the development of materials to explain how journal impact factors have been misused, and how alternative metrics can better serve the purposes for which most institutions have previously used impact factors. As impact metrics improve, we encourage further study into the question whether OA and OA policies increase research impact.
• #35: 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
• #46: 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