Friday 18 May 2012

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: EPT has a new web site and a new blog address!

EPT is happy to announce that it has both a  new website and a new blog address. We think you will like the cleaner appearance and will benefit from postings made to the blog by the Trustees of EPT.

Here is the new EPT web address 
Here is the new blog address

We look forward to seeing you there! 

Monday 9 April 2012

OA Policy Guidelines - a UNESCO publication by Dr Alma Swan

If you want to know all there is to know about Open Access policies, read this now:
unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002158/215863e.pdf.

This is a recently released document commisisoned by UNESCO and prepared by the highly reliable OA advocate, Dr Alma Swan. This is an important publication that should be the basis for all organisations wanting to know about how to embrace Open Access, or wanting to understand better the needs and mechanisms with which to accelerate access to essential research. For researchers in emerging nations, OA is the route to providing access on an equal basis and to ensuring their research becomes part of the global knowledge base.

Our congratulations to Alma Swan for such a comprehensive and sound document - and to UNESCO for supporting the need for it.

Tuesday 13 March 2012

China EPT OA Award runner-up, Dr Xiaolin Zhang, praised for his work



One of the runners-up of the EPT OA Award, Dr Xiaolin Zhang received his Certificate from Bev Acreman. The citation from the EPT was read out in his honour, and was as follows:
 
"The Open Access movement stems from the simple but powerful belief that all human progress depends on the dissemination and sharing of scientific and cultural knowledge. That philosophy cuts across the vested interests of many powerful groups. The success of the Open Access movement then relies on the tireless efforts of selfless and usually anonymous individuals who promote and build the infrastructure to make such sharing of scientific research normal rather than an exceptional activity. The Electronic Publishing Trust for Development has therefore instituted an annual award to recognise those individuals in developing countries who have made unstinting efforts to enssure the widest possible access to research publications.

The EPT is therefore privileged to honour the work of Dr Xiaolin Zhang. Dr Zhang is a man of exceptional and international standing; he has promoted publication in Open Access journals such as BioMed Central; he has promoted awareness, developed OA policy for the Chinese Academy of Sciences and forged links worldwide to promote Chinese science. CAS institutes hold almost a quarter of a million journal articles and the CAS Portal provides access to some 160 journals.

The list of his efforts could be extended at length, but suffice to say that in the first inaugural year of its awards, teh EPT is privileged to recognise the contribution of Dr Zhang."

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Presentation video of EPT OA Award to Francis Jayakanth

Please link to http://www.mssrfnva.in/Events/EPT-Award-function-at-MSSRF/21552958_nSdsMP#!i=1718491385&k=32CgbfH to view the presentation ceremony that took place in India to mark the award to the winner, Francis Jayakanth. The opportunity was taken to include a presentation on the benefits of OA to developing countries. The Swaminathan Research Foundation provided the camera skills and tools to record the event and Professor MS Swaminathan himself presented the Award.

Congratulations to all concerned!

Sunday 19 February 2012

An interview with Francis Jayakanth, winner of the 2011 EPT OA Award

It is very good to hear the views of the winner of the EPT OA Award, Francis Jayakanth, on the current status of access to research findings - he knows from first hand and from working in this area over many years the exact situation of researchers in the developing world with regard to access to research findings. See
http://cis-india.org/openness/interview-with-francis-jayakanth. He understands precisely the twin benefits afforded by open access, namely a) access to the world's literature that can impact on research in India, and b) the enhanced visibility of local research and the opportunities this provides for collaborative research programmes and future partnerships. That is, the need for S to N, N to S and S to S exchange of information that the EPT and like-minded organisations have been advocating. He knows from personal contacts the existing needs of researchers - but says, ' . . So still a long way to go in achieving 100 per cent OA to scholarly literature! If all the research institutions set up their IRs and ensure that copies of post-prints are placed in the IRs then 100 per cent OA to scholarly literature could be achieved, at least, from now onwards.' Jayakanth has been working tireleesly to achieve this optimal situation.



Thursday 16 February 2012

The Hindu publicises India's progress towards full Open Access to research publications

The Hindu has an article describing India's progress towards Open Access to research publications, see http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/article2893901.ece. This coincides with India's announcement by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in which 2012/2013 was declared the year of science.

The Hindu article says '... there is a lot of effort being made all over the country to not only intensify the quantity and quality of research but also ensure greater access for all' and includes quotes from EPT Trustee, Subbiah Arunachalam, and the winner of the EPT OA Award, Francis Jayakanth, announced here earlier.

Friday 27 January 2012

Berlin 10 OA Conference to be in Africa for the first time

From Ina Smith, runner-up of the EPT OA Award and Repository Manager of the University of Stellenbosch (SUNScholar):

****  First Announcement  ****
Berlin 10 Open Access Conference to be held in Stellenbosch, South Africa

Stellenbosch University, in partnership with the Max Planck Society and the
Academy of Science for South Africa, has the pleasure of announcing that the
prestigious Berlin 10 Open Access Conference will be held in Stellenbosch,
South Africa. This will be the first time that the Berlin Open Access
Conference will be held in Africa. As is tradition with the conference, it
will explore the transformative impact that open, online access to research
can have on scholarship, scientific discovery, and the translation of
results to the benefit of the public.
The Conference will be held at the Wallenberg Research Centre, Stellenbosch
Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS). STIAS is situated on the historic
Mostertsdrift farm in the heart of Stellenbosch.

Conference date:                   7-8 November 2012

Pre-conference date:            6 November 2012

The theme, programme, speakers and other relevant information will become
available in forthcoming announcements which will also be available on the
conference website (www.berlin10.org).
*************************

Ina Smith

E-Research Repository Manager (SUNScholar) | Library and Information Service
| University of Stellenbosch | Private Bag X5036, 7599 | South Africa
http://scholar.sun.ac.za | http://oa.sun.ac.za | E-mail: ismith@sun.ac.za |
Tel:  +27 21 808 9139 | Skype: smith.ina | Office hours: Mo-Fr: 08h00-16h30


E-pos vrywaringsklousule

Hierdie e-pos mag vertroulike inligting bevat en mag regtens geprivilegeerd
wees en is slegs bedoel vir die persoon aan wie dit geadresseer is. Indien u
nie die bedoelde ontvanger is nie, word u hiermee in kennis gestel dat u
hierdie dokument geensins mag gebruik, versprei of kopieer nie. Stel ook
asseblief die sender onmiddellik per telefoon in kennis en vee die e-pos
uit. Die Universiteit aanvaar nie aanspreeklikheid vir enige skade, verlies
of uitgawe wat voortspruit uit hierdie e-pos en/of die oopmaak van enige
lĂȘers aangeheg by hierdie e-pos nie.

E-mail disclaimer

This e-mail may contain confidential information and may be legally
privileged and is intended only for the person to whom it is addressed. If
you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that you may not use,
distribute or copy this document in any manner whatsoever. Kindly also
notify the sender immediately by telephone, and delete the e-mail. The
University does not accept liability for any damage, loss or expense arising
from this e-mail and/or accessing any files attached to this e-mail.