Ask anything! Open Science Kiosk on all campuses 22.-25.10.2018

Self-archiving? Yes, it concerns you if you are a researcher or a lecturer at the University of Helsinki.
Publishing Master Thesis openly? Yes, it concerns you if you are a student at the University of Helsinki.
Discounts on APCs ? Yes, you can benefit,  if you have a position at the University of Helsinki.
Publishing research articles in Open Access journals? Yes, it concerns you if your research is funded by national / European research councils or funding bodies (Plan S).

Come and ask anything –  Open Science Kiosks are open:

Meilahti Campus
Mon 22.10.2018 11.00-13.00 Biomedicum Helsinki 1 lobby, Haartmaninkatu 8
City Centre Campus
Tue 23.10.2018  11.00-13.00 Porthania lobby, Yliopistonkatu 3
Kumpula Campus
Tue 23.10.2018 11.00-13.00 Physicum lobby, Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2
Viikki Campus
Thu 25.10.2018 11.00-13.00 Biocenter 2 lobby (2th floor), Viikinkaari 5

To whom?

Researcher, lecturer or student at University of Helsinki.

Why?

Need to ask? We have open solutions and services made for you! Come, challenge us & explore the possibilities!

OPEN ACCESS WEEK 2018

The kiosks are part of the International Open Access Week at the University of Helsinki Library, and open to everyone.

For more information on events during the International Open Access Week (22.-28.10.2018), visit library’s Open Access event site.

Welcome to Open Science afternoon: Think Corner 24.10. at 12:00-14:00

In Open Science afternoon Finnish research funders discuss about Plan S – an initiative to make full and immediate Open Access to research publications a reality.

At the event University of Helsinki will also reward an open science promoter. The event ends with the sounds of Finnish electronic music combined to Open Science!

Programme and event in Finnish

OPEN ACCESS WEEK 2018

The event is part of the International Open Access Week at the University of Helsinki Library, free of charge and open to everyone.

For more information on events during the International Open Access Week (22.-28.10.2018), visit the library’s Open Access event site.

UH and Frontiers form open access publishing agreement

Frontiers logo

 

The University of Helsinki will be covering Article Publishing Charges for corresponding authors affiliated with the University, including HU Central Hospital, in any of the Frontiers journals.

This agreement will further encourage UH authors to publish open access, increasing uptake of open access to the results of mostly publicly funded research, to the benefit of the scholarly community and the public at large.

Information for authors:

To submit your article under this institutional agreement, please select ‘University of Helsinki’ as institutional payer in the invoice section when submitting your article. Frontiers will then verify your eligibility with the Helsinki University Library, and if confirmed, the APC will be paid by the Library upon acceptance.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate contact us: hulib-apc@helsinki.fi

Not a Library as You Know it – welcome to AI workshop: how to speed up your literature searches with Iris.ai!

Workshop – Speed up your literature review with Iris.ai 10.-11.10.2018

Do you need help in your research or thesis writing process? Are you challenged with the overwhelming volume of published scientific research? Join the workshop at your campus and get started with Iris.ai – your science assistant.

The Iris.ai team will guide you how to semi-automate the discovery and literature review parts of your research process. In this workshop you’ll learn to create your first exploration maps, refine the results, and compile a reading list with the help of the artificial intelligence assistant.

Who is it for?

The event is open and free for all University of Helsinki students, researchers and staff members. During the 2-hour workshop you will see a demo of how to get started with your Iris.ai Premium account and put the tools to the test. This is also a great opportunity to ask questions and receive invaluable support from Iris.ai team.

When and where?

Iris.ai and Helsinki University Library host free workshop sessions at each campus. See the schedule below:

On Wednesday, October 10th, 2018

10:00-12:00 City Center Campus: Main Library Kaisa-talo, Kaisa-sali

13:00-15:00 Meilahti Campus: Terkko Health Hub, Auditorium, 2nd floor

On Thursday, October 11th, 2018

10:00-12:00 Viikki Campus: Infokeskus Korona, Sali 172

13:00-15:00 Kumpula Campus: Kumpula Exactum, D122

Spaces are limited so claim your free ticket soon! Register to the workshops on Eventbrite.

 

Iris.AI Premium @ Helka database

Iris.AI Premium @ Terkko Navigator

 

Researcher, send your publications to the library for open archiving

The requested service is now available! You can send your publications to the library for self-archiving. We check publication rights and archive your publications according to the terms of the publisher.  Send your file to openaccess-info@helsinki.fi and include information on where your publication will be published.

Picture: PexelsIf you are uncertain which version of your publication can be archived or when it can be archived, send us all the versions you have. (More information on different versions in Open Access: Self-archiving (Green OA).

The archiving service is available to all University of Helsinki staff and students. If you have any questions about this service, about self-archiving or about open access you can reach us at openaccess-info@helsinki.fi.

Background

  • Eighty-four percent of the researchers who answered the library’s patron survey in the spring 2018 said they would use a self-archiving service if available.
  • According to the University of Helsinki’s principles of open publishing (2017) all publications produced at the university should be archived in the publication archive HELDA. In HELDA the long-term storage and availability of publications are secured.

Additional information: marja.moisio@helsinki.fi

Translation: Monica Allardt

Open Science kiosks on all campuses, 16.-18.4.2018

How open science affects the visibility and accessibility of your study? What should you as a member of the University of Helsinki community know about open access publishing and services offered by the library? Which are the discounts of author processing charges (APC’s) you are entitled to? Come, ask and discuss open science themes with the experts of the library.

We will also give you some new tips on self-archiving and advice how to promote Open Access now more easily than before. Self-archiving creates openness!

Kiosks’ business hours and places:

Biomedicum lobby, Meilahti
16.4.  11 am – 13 pm

Main building lobby, City Centre
17.4.  11 am – 13 pm

Physicum lobby, Kumpula
17.4.  11 am – 13 pm

Building EE lobby, Viikki
18.4.  11 am – 13 pm

We welcome both the new and old customers!

More information: http://libraryguides.helsinki.fi/oa/eng

The centralised management of APCs will build a knowledge from open access charges

Last week we reported on APC discounts in Elsevier’s publications for researchers at the University of Helsinki. This has sparked a debate in the scientific community. For its part, the Helsinki University Library is answering some of the questions the debate has raised.

The agreement between the national FinELib consortium and Elsevier offers researchers an opportunity to publish open access articles with a 50 percent discount on article processing charges (APC). The discount covers 1500 subscription journals and over 100 open access journals. All corresponding authors in organisations that are parties to the agreement are entitled to the discount.

Furthermore, researchers affiliated with the University of Helsinki are able to publish their open access articles in Elsevier journals free of charge, because the University of Helsinki pays the remaining half of the APC for the researcher. This has also raised questions. From the point of view of the Helsinki University Library, it is a practical solution. The purpose of this arrangement is to acquire centralised information on how many articles attached to the Elsevier agreement are published and how much this increases the University of Helsinki’s costs. The monitoring of APC payments without centralised management of APCs is very difficult, especially in a large and research-intensive university such as the University of Helsinki.

The decision to subsidise open access publishing in Elsevier’s journals is a fixed-term arrangement with a clear objective. The main purpose is to gather information about the real costs of hybrid open access publishing for the next round of negotiations with major scholarly publishers. The centralised management of APCs provides reliable and valuable basis of information on the total cost of the hybrid OA model, for future contract negotiations.

The position of the University of Helsinki and the Helsinki University Library on hybrid OA publishing is unchanged: hybrid OA publishing is not recommended. This position was stated by the Rector of the University of Helsinki on June 21, 2017 in paragraph four of the Principles of Open Publishing: “The University of Helsinki does not recommend hybrid publication (…) However, hybrid publication may be justified at the moment, if it facilitates the transfer to a fully open publication model. The University monitors the development of open access publication and the overall costs of publishing, and will take the necessary steps in good time to ensure open research.” Hybrid OA publishing is considered justified if it speeds up the transition to an open publication. On this issue, the University of Helsinki holds the same view as the Academy of Finland.

The University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Library support the transition to open access publishing by helping University researchers publish in both open access journals and subscription journals. The starting point for publishing at the University of Helsinki is that researchers publish in high-quality scientific journals – this is also stated in the first paragraph of the Principles of Open Publishing. The Publication Forum (Julkaisufoorumi, JUFO in Finnish) classification system greatly influences which journal a researcher chooses. The library does not make science policy, but it does try to support University of Helsinki researchers in the best possible way with its services.

The potential impact of Elsevier discounts on self-archiving (green OA) has been brought out during the debate. However, the compensation of APC payments does not in any way undermine other open access services offered by the library. Rather, the Helsinki University Library intends to significantly increase its efforts to promote self-archiving in 2018.

How, then, are APC discounts determined in general? The Helsinki University Library coordinates the discounts and negotiates with publishers. The information about current APC charges and discounts has been collected in the APC Guide. Negotiations on the discounts are carried out with one publisher at a time. For this reason, the discounts vary – and there are also many different APC discount models (see Jisc report: Financial and administrative issues around the article publishing costs for open access, 2017, 19). The negotiation process always begins from the proposals of University of Helsinki researchers. Based on these proposals, the library will study the benefits of a possible agreement.

The FinELib agreements represent offsetting deals in which the OA element is included in the subscription contracts with major publishers. APC discounts for Elsevier journals are an example of this. Offset agreements have been made with Taylor & Francis, Sage and Elsevier, and each contract is different.

Publish Open Access, Free of Charge in Elsevier journals

All researchers affiliated with University of Helsinki have now the possibility to publish their articles open access in Elsevier journals free of charge.

University of Helsinki provides support for open access publishing fees in over 1600 Elsevier journals. The following terms and conditions apply for financial publishing support:

  • University of Helsinki affiliated researcher is the corresponding author of the article.
  • Correspondence with the publisher from helsinki.fi -email address (if possible).
  • The article is accepted to one of the journals listed in the contract.
  • The article is accepted for publishing during the period of 1.1.2018-31.12.2020.

Helsinki University Library pays any article processing fee for the researcher.

Instructions for the Elsevier open access publishing process and more information on the Article Processing Fee (ACP) discounts.

Kirjasto neuvottelee sopimukset digitaalisista opiskelumateriaaleista
Kuva: Helsingin yliopisto / Elias Kilkki 2017

New open access publishing model is part of the three year agreement between Finnish universities and research institutions and Elsevier. Read more about the agreement. In addition to the current Elsevier journals you have access to all Elsevier back-file issues. All these journals can be found via Helka database.

If you have any questions, please contact Helsinki University Library: hulib-apc@helsinki.fi. We are happy to help!

Bibliometrics from a wide range of perspectives

Three days, 37 lecture presentations, 16 poster presentations and 141 participants from 16 countries. The annual Nordic Workshop on Bibliometrics and Research Policy (NWB) brought the most recent currents of bibliometrics from the Nordic countries and from across Europe to the House of Science and Letters in Helsinki.

The House of Science and Letters in Helsinki was the venue for the 22nd NWB. Photo by Jussi S. Männistö (JSM)

The presentations during the three days from 8–10 November offered a wide range of perspectives on bibliometrics, from mathematical formulae to research policies and the societal impact of science [see the NWB program, incl. abstracts). Many presentations took the perspective of open science, and citation curves favoring OA articles were a common sight. All presentation material has been published in Figshare.

According to Kim Holmberg, altmetrics provides a good insight into the activity of researchers, but not directly to the quality of research. (JSM)

The actual workshop sessions on Thursday and Friday were preceded by Wednesday’s pre-workshop event, which attracted the full hall to the upper floor of the House of Science and Letters. In the pre-workshop’s keynote speech, Kim Holmberg from the RUSE research unit discussed measuring researchers’ online visibility, especially altmetrics.

During the event, NWB tweeters were active on Twitter, and on Thursday #NWB2017 rose momentarily to the top 20 hashtags in Finland along with #Catalonia and #peräkonttigate.

Declining share of Nordic publications

In Thursday’s keynote speech, Fredrik Niclas Piro from the Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU) went through the findings of a recent NordForsk report on Nordic higher education institutions. Comparing Research at Nordic Higher Education Institutions using Bibliometric Indicators was published this year and covers the period 1999 to 2014.

In his speech Piro discussed measurement issues and the differences the report reveales between the Nordic countries. He emphasized that the purpose of the report is to provide higher education institutions with information for developing their research activities. However, the actual use of the report is university-specific.

NordForsk report is not about ranking, but about providing information for comparison, says Fredrik Niclas Piro. (JSM)

“Many universities say that yes, we have read the report and we use it some way. In some cases the use of the report is very specific. For example, one university uses it in their development contract with the Ministry. These reports are useful for many purposes, but the benchmarking of other institutions is the main thing. The report is not about ranking, but about providing information for comparison,” claims Piro.

The comparison shows that although the number of publications in Nordic countries is rising sharply, its global share in production is falling. From the Nordic countries’ point of view, the strong fields in international comparison are the social sciences, business studies, economics, and the health sciences. In Finland, certain areas of medicine are declining in comparison with other Nordic countries.

“Research in the Nordic countries is growing in the social sciences and health-related fields. But in the natural sciences, we are declining. Finland is a bit different. Its growth in material science, geosciences and also mathematics and statistics is higher than in other Nordic countries. But on the other hand, the growth of biomedicine and clinical medicine in Finland was negative from 1999 to 2014. That’s very unique,” says Piro.

Research culture eroding scientific credibility

In Friday’s keynote speech, Jesper Schneider from Aarhus University discussed the phenomenon of science crisis. Schneider pointed out that it is easy to find strong opinions on the subject, but verifying these views is another case. Instead of scientific scams, Schneider focused on questionable research practices (QRP).

The grey area of questionable research practices requires a lot more research, claims Jesper Schneider. (JSM)

“Fraud cases are rare. Questionable research practices are the grey area, and are frequently overlooked because they don’t seem as serious as misconduct. But the total effect of biases and misuses could really have a huge influence on scientific results. This grey area ranges from sloppy research to errors and biases, and at some point, it becomes a legal issue,” claims Schneider.

According to Schneider, questionable research practices vary by discipline, organization and country. Schneider specifically discussed the problem of reproducibility of research in the soft sciences, i.e. in social and human sciences.

The pressure to publish more and more, and fierce competition – or “perverse incentives in academic capitalism” – are potential causes of the science crisis. However, Schneider emphasizes that the phenomenon requires a lot more research, because the current knowledge basis is hugely incomplete. He argues that further research is worthwhile, as the credibility of science is at stake.

Best moment at NWB?

Hans Jessen Hansen. Kuva: Juuso Ala-Kyyny (JAK)

So, three days of bibliometrics – what was the best moment? According to Hans Jessen Hansen from the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science, the two keynote speeches by Fredrik Niclas Piro and Jesper Schneider summarized shortly above.

“They had a little bit more time, so they got into their subjects more deeply. As for those two presentations, I wrote notes about all the presentations I saw,” says Hansen.

Julie Riisom Wisborg from the University Library of Southern Denmark emphasized the social dimension of the event; the importance of encounters.

Julie Riisom Wisborg. (JAK)

“I’m impressed by the very friendly atmosphere here. I did my poster presentation on Thursday, and the comments and questions were great. I think this sort of event gives you totally new possibilities to interact with people you wouldn’t interact with on the internet. And you learn things you wouldn’t even think to look for,” says Riisom Wisborg.

Gunnar Sivertsen from the Norwegian NIFU research institute was the chairman in two NWB sessions and also participated in two presentations.

Gunnar Sivertsen. (JAK)

“It’s difficult to pick out what one best thing, because it’s a combination of presentations and discussions, also discussions outside the formal sessions. So, what I appreciate most is the networking, new contacts and new ideas. This has been one of the most well-organized workshops, so I’d like to congratulate the organizers,” says Sivertsen.

Even though Wi-Fi didn’t work?

“It was even better without Wi-Fi, because we could concentrate more on the here and now,” says Sivertsen.

Next year in Borås

The Nordic Workshop on Bibliometrics and Research Policy has been held since 1996, that is, 22 times so far. This year’s workshop was organized by a consortium consisting of the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies (TSV), Helsinki University Library (HULib) and the University of Tampere Research Centre for Knowledge, Science, Technology and Innovation Studies (TaSTI).

HULib was also present on stage: Eva Isaksson discussed the evaluation of research publications in astronomy and astrophysics, Susanna Nykyri introduced research data metrics from the University of Helsinki’s perspective and Terhi Sandgren asked in her presentation, “Are publication databases suitable for studying the publishing practices of a multidisciplinary research field at subdisciplinary level?”

Next year the event will take place in Borås, Sweden. Lycka till!

See the seminar on Twitter