Supporting Open Research
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Open Minded #1 – Dr Peter Murray-Rust
The soul of open research, a conversation with Dr Peter Murray-Rust. In this new series, Open Minded, I take advantage of being able to speak to some of the voices in the open research sphere at the University of Cambridge to learn about what working openly means to them. This series will be less about how researchers practice open research and more about how they think about open research. At Cambridge, we take the position that engaging in open research is more than just creating research outputs that are open, and the open research practices that produce them — it is also about the behaviours and mindsets that underscore them.…
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Enriching the institutional scholarly record: Octopus outputs in repositories via Publications Router
Written by Dr Alexandra Freeman, Tim Fellows, Dr Agustina Martínez-García Researchers at universities across the country are constantly being reminded that when they publish work in journals (or elsewhere) they have to deposit the accepted version of their article in their university’s repository as well. It ensures that this version of the article can be made freely available to the world (so-called ‘Green Open Access’) but also allows the university to keep track of their researchers’ outputs, including reporting to the all-important REF (Research Excellence Framework) exercise that takes place every few years and helps determine future government funding to each institution. It’s important that researchers deposit their works, but…
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Towards enriched open scholarly information: integrating DSpace and OpenAlex
We are pleased to announce that, thanks to the support of the Vietsch Foundation, we will be developing an integration between DSpace repositories and OpenAlex. We are partnering with 4Science, a certified platinum DSpace provider, to deliver this project that will integrate two key systems within the global scholarly ecosystem, the DSpace repository (https://www.dspace.org/) and OpenAlex (https://openalex.org/), a free and open catalogue of the world’s scholarly research system. Using OpenAlex’s open API (Application Programming Interface), this integration will allow for the quick import of relevant research and scholarly (meta)data into DSpace repositories, helping institutions to improve the quality and completeness of their records of research outputs and streamlining researcher publication…
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Diamond Open Access Journals platform launch at Cambridge
Dr Agustina Martínez-García, Head of Open Research Systems, Digital Initiatives We are pleased to announce that our Diamond Open Access Journals at Cambridge platform has launched in May and can be accessed at https://diamond-oa.lib.cam.ac.uk/home. This service will be available initially as part of a one-year pilot project undertaken by the Open Research Systems (ORS) and Office of Scholarly Communication (OSC) teams within Cambridge University Library (CUL). Project overview The main aim of the Diamond project is to support Cambridge’s research community in the context of a changing open research and scholarly publishing environment. To meet increasing demand to share research findings we are scoping, assessing, and implementing future services…
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What we can learn from the ‘promise and pitfalls of preregistration’ meeting
Dr Mandy Wigdorowitz, Open Research Community Manager, Cambridge University Libraries The promise and pitfalls of preregistration meeting was held at the Royal Society in March 2024. It was organised to address the utility of preregistration and initiate an interdisciplinary dialogue about its epistemic and pragmatic aims. The goal of the meeting was to explore the limitations associated with preregistration, and to conceive of a practical way to guide future research that can make the most of its implementation. Preregistration is the practice of publicly declaring a study’s hypotheses, methods, and analyses before conducting a research study. Researchers are encouraged to be as specific as possible when writing preregistration plans, detailing…
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Introducing the preprint deposit service
The Office of Scholarly Communication, jointly with Open Research Systems (Digital Initiatives) and Research Information team have developed a new preprint deposit service for University of Cambridge researchers, which will be available on the week commencing 11th March 2024. Why offer a preprint service? Although researchers are generally well-served by existing subject repositories/preprint servers, we have identified an unmet need for those: Why offer a preprint service now? Following recent upgrades to both the University’s repository Apollo and Elements (the system that the University uses to hold and manage data on research activity), we are now in a position where we can offer a preprint deposit service. What can be…
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Open Research for Inclusion – event round up
Dr Mandy Wigdorowitz, Open Research Community Manager, Cambridge University Libraries On Friday 17 November 2023, participants from across Cambridge and beyond gathered for a hybrid meeting on Open Research from different perspectives. Hosted by Cambridge University Libraries at Downing College, ‘Open Research for Inclusion: Spotlighting Different Voices in Open Research at Cambridge‘ drew attention to different areas of Open Research that have been at the forefront of recent discussions in Cambridge by showcasing the scope and breadth of open practices in typically under-represented disciplines and contexts. These included the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, the GLAM sector (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums), and research from and about the Global South. A…
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Methods getting their chance to shine – Apollo wants your methods!
By Dr. Kim Clugston, Research Data Co-ordinator, Office of Scholarly Communication Underlying all research data is always an effective and working method and this applies across all disciplines from STEMM to the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Methods are a detailed description of the tools that are used in research and can come in many forms depending on the type of research. Methods are often overlooked rather than being seen as an integral research output in their own right. Traditionally, published journals include a materials and methods section, which is often a summary due to restrictions on word limits making it difficult for other researchers to reproduce the results or…
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Cambridge Open Research Conference 2023: The stage is set
By Nicola Swann and Mandy Wigdorowitz, Office of Scholarly Communication, Cambridge University Libraries The programme is ready, spaces are nearly full, and we are nearing Cambridge University Libraries’ annual conference on Open Research (OR), taking place at Downing College or online on Friday 17 November 2023. This year’s theme is Open Research for Inclusion: Spotlighting Different Voices in Open Research at Cambridge. OR is designed to promote equity and inclusion by ensuring that research is accessible to all, regardless of research background, location, or affiliation. The conference will acknowledge that OR can look different in different areas, with the common goal of advancing knowledge and understanding. Giving a voice to OR from diverse…
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Reflections from the Edinburgh Open Research Conference
Dr Mandy Wigdorowitz holds the position of Open Research Community Manager for Cambridge University Libraries where she is developing an open research community across Cambridge. She has a PhD in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics from the University of Cambridge and is a registered Research Psychologist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa. She also holds the position of Associate Editor for the Journal of Open Humanities Data. The Edinburgh Open Research Conference 2023, offered by the University of Edinburgh Library Research Support Team and grassroots group Edinburgh ReproducibiliTea, provided a platform for the exchange of ideas and discussions about open research under the theme ‘Open Research as a Tool…
