BURO - Service Outage 6pm 7/7/09

A short service outage is scheduled for this evening between 6 and 7pm in order to carry out essential maintenance to the BURO server. This includes a substantial RAM upgrade which should increase the performance of the repository. We estimate 10-20 minutes downtime.

Please accept our apologies for the short notice, this is not our usual policy. Any queries, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the BURO Manager.

Publishing Opportunities Database

Publishing Opportunities Database provides an extensive listing of opportunities from three distinct sources for those wishing to present and publish their research papers:

• Journal Call for Papers records index
• Conference Call for Papers
• Special Issue Call for Papers

>>>Go to Publishing Opportunities Database

You can save advanced searches as alerts and have EBSCOhost e-mail you with any new results. You will need to create a personal My EBSCOhost account first.

>>>Saving a Search as an Alert

Please note, Publishing Opportunities Database replaces Papers Invited.

Elsevier threat to Open Access

It has been reported that Elsevier has been approaching university v-cs about taking repositories out of universities' hands. Publishers are feeling threatened by the researcher-led open access movement that supports full text access to publications via institutional repositories.

Most UK universities, such as Bournemouth University operate open-access repositories e.g. BURO, where researchers can voluntarily deposit final drafts of their pay-to-access journal publications online. Increasing numbers are also making deposition mandatory.

A repository operated by a journal publisher could set access conditions that undermine the needs of researchers and make it hard to search the data.

Stevan Harnad, a professor at the University of Southampton who champions institutional repositories via his Open Access Evangelism blog, suggests that this could give repository access only to an unsatisfactory version of a document.

>> Read Zoe Corbyn's story in the THE

2008 data now added to Journal Citation Reports

Journal Citation Reports (JCR) provides a systematic and objective means to critically evaluate the world's leading journals, with quantifiable, statistical information based on citation data. By compiling the references that cite articles, it helps to measure research influence and impact at the journal and category levels, and shows the relationship between citing and cited journals.

New JCR Web metrics and data complement the Impact Factor, depicting a more precise view of journal citation results, from a broader range of scholarly disciplines in farther-reaching contexts. Expanded analytical capabilities include Five-year Impact Factor, Eigenfactor™, Impact Factor boxplots, Rank-in-Category Tables and Journal Self-Citations.

>>More information about JCR

>>JCR Quick Reference Card

>>Go to JCR

New digital research hubs to be set up in the UK

Research Councils UK has revealed that three digital research hubs are being set up. The new centres will be based in Nottingham University, Newcastle University and Aberdeen University and will develop new technologies to enhance life in the UK and to create a "Digital Britain".

Each centre will specialise in a a particular area. Nottingham will focus on business, Newcastle on social inclusion and Aberdeen on rural issues.

Links

Digital hubs to transform how we live in Digital Britain
Research Councils UK

BURO - Service Now Resumed

Problems have been reported with the BURO server this morning. Eprints have alerted our ISP who are investigating the problem with highest priority. Apologies for the temporary loss of service.

Lessons learned through Research Excellence Framework (REF) bibliometrics pilot

Bournemouth University were one of the participating institutions in HEFCE’s recent pilot to inform the use of bibliometric indicators in the Research Excellence Framework. HEFCE commissioned Technopolis to identify and disseminate the key lessons learned by all participating HEIs. The report Identification and dissemination of lessons learned by institutions participating in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) bibliometrics pilot highlights their findings. Concern is expressed regarding a proposed developmental REF bibliometrics exercise in 2010 which may risk rushed decision-making and implementation. This now appears to have been scrapped by HEFCE as bibliometrics are becoming less important to the REF.

Zoe Corbyn of the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) reports on HEFCE's current thinking on the REF as a work in progress. She suggests that evolution rather than revolution looks set to be the hallmark of the REF. Bibliometrics will be used to inform expert review rather than replacing it, but subject discipline will be key with more relevance to science and medicine.