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16 November 2009
In this issue... Prepare for the REF with Open RepositoryMeasuring the effectiveness of funding given to universities in order to carry out research is a difficult but essential task. How this is achieved varies significantly from country to country. In the UK there is an increasing focus on bibliometrics and on non-academic "impact" - this means institutional repositories (IRs) are key to monitoring, measuring and assessing the research output within an institution. The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Scottish Funding Council, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales and the Department for Employment and Learning (Northern Ireland) are about to complete an initial consultation process to develop a new framework - the Research Excellence Framework (REF) - to replace the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) which proved to be too expensive and too much of a burden for universities and used no metric for quality. With RAE 2008 barely behind us and the frustrations of data collection and submission still fresh in the mind, most will agree that we should prepare for REF as early as possible. Collection and data management An IR will considerably ease the pain during such assessment exercises by dramatically reducing the administrative burden. Given that data can be required for a 5-year period, this can be a challenge if started late across a large research-based institution. Starting a repository service now will assist in collecting and recording research output of an individual, a department and ultimately a university by archiving a copy of all research articles and associated metadata. BioMed Central is currently working on developing feeds from its journals directly into IRs via the SWORD protocol, making the collection process even easier. Authors or administrators will no longer need to submit these items; rather the final published versions will automatically be deposited upon publication. Increased visibility and academic impact Citation information will now be an important part in the REF, and IRs can play a role in increasing citations to research articles. A repository allows you to provide open access to research that would otherwise be locked away behind subscription barriers on a publisher's website. Providing open access to articles in this way increases research visibility, readership, collaborations and citations. Value to society and the economy What is more difficult to measure is the non-academic impact of research - that is the impact the researcher/research has on society and the economy. The HEFCE is keen to have 25% of the REF focused on it, though the Higher Education Policy Institute recently criticized this as too high for an experimental assessment tool. Nevertheless, it is likely that this "impact" will remain when plans are finalized in 2010. So how can IRs demonstrate non-academic impact? What is clear is that much of the funding comes from taxes paid by the public and industry, making it imperative to derive maximum value from that money. By developing an IR, an academic institution assists in communicating the focus and quality of its research output to its local economy maximizing the visibility and reuse of it locally, nationally and internationally. Time to act Ultimately repository services will develop over the coming years to allow direct submission to assessment exercises like REF. The focus is primarily on research output published in peer-reviewed journals. As a service from BioMed Central, the Open Access Publisher, Open Repository is a perfect tool to assist in any such assessment exercise sharing its knowledge and expertise in 3 fundamental areas - hosted repository solutions, academic publishing and open access. Open Repository partner - eIFL.netThis month we feature one of Open Repository's newest partners eIFL.net, Electronic Information for Libraries, an international not-for-profit organization working to enable access to knowledge in developing and transition countries. eIFL.net are keen advocates of open access and aim to use the opportunities of the networked digital environment to stimulate changes in the scholarly communication and library practices through five key programs:
Through these methods they have achieved notable success in China, Russia, South Africa and Ukraine and are achieving steady growth in the quantity and quality of repositories and open access journals in eIFL.net member countries: 175 open repositories in 28 countries. An example of one of these repositories is hosted by Open Repository at Instytut Medycyny Pracy in Poland on behalf of the ECNIS (Environmental Cancer Risk, Nutrition and Individual Susceptibility) society. To find out more about eIFL.net or any of Open Repository's partners visit the Open Repository website, alternatively if you are interested in finding out more about partnering with Open Repository do not hesitate to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Open Repository funds Open Source project to extend DSpace and Joomla!Open Repository has developed a suite of extensions to allow for the integration of two popular Open Source projects, DSpace DAMS/IR and Joomla! CMS, bringing much needed functionality to both. This will not only allow easy retrieval of multimedia in many different formats directly into a repository but will also enhance the personalization and branding opportunities available to repositories. This is another example of the fast pace at which Open Repository is developing to meet the needs and wants of the repository community. To find out more about this new innovative feature get in touch with the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Open Repository case studiesDeciding how to build and host a repository and who to partner with can be a major challenge for organizations. Find out how The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and the Irish Health Service Executive recently launched their repositories with Open Repository. Detailing the journey taken from deciding which service to partner with, to setting up the repository and finally the methods employed in managing and populating the repositories, these case studies are essential reading for anyone considering setting up an IR. Digital Asset Management for Museum CollectionsOpen Repository recently hosted a repository workshop at the Museums Association conference in London entitled Digital Asset Management for Museum Collections. The workshop focused on the increasing need for organizations to be able to digitally archive and manage their collections, including a presentation outlining how Open Repository worked with The Natural History Museum, London, to enable them to showcase and preserve their content for a future global audience. The slides from this presentation are available to download on the Open Repository events page. For further information about how Open Repository can help your organization implement a repository solution, please do not hesitate to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Open Repository on locationOpen Repository has been out and about supporting the repository community over recent months playing a major role in the success of the CERN Workshop on Innovations in Scholarly Communication (OAI6), DSUG 09 and the OR 09 meetings as well as having a major presence at library shows such as MLA '09 and IFLA. In the coming months Open Repository will be exhibiting at the Online Information show. If you are attending and would like to arrange a meeting please do not hesitate to contact the Open Repository Business Development Manager, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Online Information 2009 If you are organizing an event at which Open Repository would be of relevance, then please contact our This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we will assist in sending marketing material and discuss possible participation. BioMed Central Ltd, 236 Gray's Inn Road, London, WC1X 8HL, United Kingdom. |
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