CAS has accepted seven more open access journals published by Libertas Academica for indexing:
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Directory of Open Access Journals interview
I first interviewed the Directory of Open Access Journals staff in August 2008. The nearly 18 months since that interview was published have been a busy time for DOAJ. I thought it was time to catch up with the friendly staff at DOAJ and find out what had been happening and get their thoughts on some topical issues.Pictured left to right: DOAJ staff Maria Ohlsson, Sonja Brage, Anna-Lena Johansson, Stina Hallin.
Tom: Thank you all for being willing to be interviewed again. I appreciate this particularly because I know how busy you've all been since our last interview. Perhaps you could start by giving us a broad overview of what's happened since August 2008?
DOAJ: 2009 was a very eventful year:
- Launch of the long-term preservation project
- DOAJ receives the SPARC Europe Award for Outstanding Achievements in Scholarly Communications 2009
- Implementation of an RSS Feed function
- Continued cooperation with China (ISTIC)
- Arranged 1st Conference for Open Access Scholarly Publishers together with OASPA (Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association)
- New function to see how many journals have a Creative Commons license and how many have the SPARC Seal for open access journals.
DOAJ: During 2009 we added 770 journals and now we index a total of 4570.
Tom: The flip-side of my last question is to ask how many journals have left DOAJ in 2009? Can you give us some of the reasons why journals leave DOAJ? If one of the reasons is that they are ceasing to be open access, do you have any ideas why this might be happening?
DOAJ: During 2009 we removed 73 titles from the directory.
The reason can be that they have not been regularly published (at least one volume per year) or they are no longer OA. Some have added an embargo.
If a journal stops being OA, we suppose it's a question of funding that makes the journals switch to a subscription model. It is probably not a question of opposing open access.
Tom: Will DOAJ ever remove a journal from its database unilaterally, for example if the journal had a quality control or editorial problem? How would DOAJ identify and verify such a problem?
DOAJ: We remove journals on a continuous basis the moment we identify that they do not fulfill our criteria. (See above.) Now we have staff going through journals added before 2009 to make sure they still live up to our criteria. In the past we have removed a journal because they seem to have been slack in peer reviewing. But that happens very, very rarely. If the editor says they have editorial control or peer review, we have to trust them; after all the DOAJ team are not subject experts. We have to rely on the competence of the editors.
Tom: The Pubmed web interface was recently upgraded. Does DOAJ have any plans to upgrade its own interface?
DOAJ: Yes, we do have plans but nothing decided yet.
Tom: Around the time we went to press with our previous interview DOAJ introduced a new function allowing users to view journals by country. With the existing division into languages what was the rationale for this? Open access has always seemed to me to be internationalist in intention - does DOAJ see a more nationalist tendency developing, or has this perhaps always existed?
DOAJ: The language search was developed to help users who want to read in a special language. Not everybody reads English. Now we are proud to have added the first journal in Hindi. To be able to search by country is useful for small countries. It might give a kick to a developing country to see that they have open access journals.
The country list also gives some interesting information: Bulgaria (with 7.5 million inhabitants) has more OA journals in DOAJ than Russia with 142 million, and it's not the fault of the DOAJ team: the Russians simply do not suggest any journals to DOAJ. Countries like Romania and Turkey are really on the move, and Latin and Central America.
The country view is also a good tool for national OA advocates.
Tom: An RSS function was added recently which provides a feed about new journals added to DOAJ in the last 24 hours. Does DOAJ intend to extend RSS, perhaps to provide updates on user's previous searches?
DOAJ: We will consider this in our future development plans.
Tom: On April 1 2009 a long term open access journal preservation effort was announced. Can you briefly describe this for us? How successful has the service been to date (indeed, how is success measured for it?)
DOAJ: On 1st April 2009 the long-term preservation project was launched. It is a cooperation between DOAJ and the e-Depot of the National Library of the Netherlands, and the project is sponsored by the Swedish Library Association. New formats, new business models and new ways of dissemination of scholarly publications are constantly being developed. It is of major importance for the research community to secure permanent access to scientific output for the future, here focused on the preservation of articles published in open access journals.
During the pilot project methods and work-flows for long term archiving have been outlined. Different formats and protocols were investigated and software developed to harvest articles from the publishers.
The service has been very positively received by the publishers. So far 179 journals have all their articles long term preserved in e-Depot and in a very near future the process will be fully in place to harvest more journals. The requirements are that the articles are in PDF-format. Further information about the long-term preservation project is available here.
Tom: On 2 July 2009 it was announced that DOAJ had received the SPARC Europe Award for outstanding achievements in scholarly communications. Having previously only done so privately in an email, I'd like to publically extend my congratulations to DOAJ on this. I'm sure readers will agree with me that the award is thoroughly deserved. Do you think the award has changed perceptions of DOAJ?
DOAJ: It is a great honor to receive the SPARC Europe Award. The prize makes DOAJ even more recognized and it is also a quality award.
We also want to mention that we get invited to talk about DOAJ at different conferences. In December 2008 we were invited to China (ISTIC) and have since then initiated cooperation with them, reviewing Chinese journals and adding meta-data. In January 2009 DOAJ was invited to Bath to Repository Services Day, and in October to San José in Costa Rica to “Quality and Impact of Ibero-American Scientific Journals” supported by Latindex.
Tom: This final question is perhaps a question only of relevance to publishers. At present DOAJ operates its own XML schema for uploading articles. Is there any chance in the future that DOAJ will adopt the popular OAI-PMH metadata harvesting protocol?
DOAJ: We used to do it but stopped since there were too many variations and errors due to the large number of different publishers we are dealing with (approximately 2000) – it became too time consuming on our part.
Tom: My thanks to the DOAJ staff for participating in this interview.
A request from the DOAJ staff
If you're a frequent DOAJ user please consider joining DOAJ's membership program. DOAJ makes a significant contribution to the growing popularity of open access, but managing a large database with thousands of contributors is a challenging task for DOAJ's small staff, all of whom work part time. Becoming a member is a great way to support DOAJ's important work and advance open access.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Author interview with Dr Hiro Koshiyama
Dr Koshiyama is the author of Diabetes mellitus as dysfunction of interactions among all organs: “ominous orchestra of organs” which was recently published in Clinical Medicine: Endocrinology and Diabetes.The Editor in Chief of Clinical Medicine: Endocrinology and Diabetes recently issued a call for papers.
Dr Koshiyama is a member of our favorite authors program. Under the program authors are eligible to receive: prioritized peer review, prioritised author PDF, and an article processing fee discount. All former authors are eligible to join the favorite authors program.
What is the primary focus of your research?
The cardiovascular complications of diabetes mellitus, the pathogenesis and therapy of osteoporosis, the pathogenesis of pituitary disease, and so on. I am broadly interested in the clinical and basic research of diabetes and endocrinology.
What are the most exciting developments arising from current research in your area?
The incretin-based therapy has been introduced in the treatment of type 2 diabetes this January in Japan. Since there have been many evidences that type 2 diabetes in Japanese is different from those in Caucasians, it is of great interest to investigate how Japanese type 2 diabetes may respond to incretin-based therapy.
Who are your main collaborators? Please describe your work with them.
Mainly my collaborators are divided into the four group. First, Dr Harald Jüppner and his group about the pathogenesis of pseduohypoparathyroidisms type Ib or oncogenic osteomalacia. Second, Drs Ogawa Y, Tanaka K, and Tanaka I about proposal of integrated hypothesis of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Third, Drs Hamamoto Y, Ikeda H, Nakamura Y, Shimono D, Honjo S, Wada Y, Nabe K, Nomura K, Iwasaki Y and Minamikawa J about the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. Our previous paper about the effects of glitazone on IMT was one of the most cited papers. Finally, Dr Kume N and emeritus Prof Seino Y about therapy of type 2 diabetes. Please see some part of my bibliography, as follows.
1. Dr Harald Jüppner; Autosomal dominant pseduohypoparathyroidisms type Ib is associated with a heterozygous microdeletion that likely disrupts a putative imprinting control element of GNAS. J Clin Invest 2003;112(8):1255-1263; , Fibroblast growth Factor 23 in oncogenic osteomalacia and X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets. N Engl J Med 2003; 348(17):1656-1663.How did you come to be working in your research area?
2. Drs Ogawa Y, Tanaka K, Tanaka I; The unified hypothesis of interactions among the bone, adipose and vascular systems: ‘osteo-lipo-vascular interactions’. Medical Hypotheses 2006; 66(5):960-963.; Diabetes mellitus as dysfunction of interactions among all organs: “ominous orchestra of organs”. Clinical Medicine: Endocrinology and Diabetes 2008; 1:1-6. ; Integrated Network Systems and Evolutionary Developmental Endocrinology. Medical Hypotheses 2010 ;Jan;74(1):132-8.
3. Drs Hamamoto Y, Ikeda H, Kawasaki Y, Nakamura Y, Shimono D, Honjo S, Wada Y, Nabe K, Nomura K, Iwasaki Y and Minamikawa J: Potent inhibitory effect of troglitazone on carotid arterial wall thickness in type 2 diabetes. J Clin Endocrinol Metab1998; 83(5):1818-1820; Hypovitaminosis D is frequent in Japanese subjects with type 2 diabetes (letter) Diabetes Res Clin Pract 2007;76:470-1; A case of lymphocytic panhypophysitis during pregnancy. Endocrine 2007;32(1):117-121.: Effects of Amlodipine and Angiotensin Receptor Blockers on the Intima-media Thickness of Carotid Arterial Wall (AAA Study: Amlodipine vs ARB in Atherosclerosis Study) Diabetes Res Clin Pract 2009; 83:117-50-53; Usefulness of serum cystatin C as a marker of diabetic nephropathy in Japanese subjects with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Res Clin Pract 2009; 83(2):e58-61.;Relationship between Carotid Intima-media thickness and Silent Cerebral Infarction in Japanese Subjects with Type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care 2010; .33(1):168-170.
4. Drs Kume N and Seino Y:“Cardiometabolic risk” and insulin deficiency in Japanese (letter). Diabetic Medicine 2007; 24(5):571, Which we should ADOPT: sulfonylureas or glitazones?(letter) Diabetic Medicine 2007; 24(7):804; Effects of pitavastatin on lipid profiles and high-sensitivity CRP in Japanese subjects with hypercholesterolemia :Kansai Investigation of Statin for Hyperlipidemic Intervention in Metabolism and Endocrinology (KISHIMEN) Investigators. Journal of Atherosclerosis and Thrombosis 2008; 15(6): 345-350
I entered the basic research in Prof Hiroo Imura's Lab in Kyoto University in '80s and joined the late Prof Armen Tashjian Jr of Harvard. My theme for PhD was the effects of amine and peptide in prolactin regulation, and my works as postdoc at Harvard were about intracellular calcium regulation in pituitary cells. After returning to Japan, I began the clinical research in diabetes mellitus ands other endocrinopathies.
What do you think about the development of open access publishing? What motivated you to do so?
I think that open journal will become popular in every field of research. The innovation of internet access made the publishing academic research very radically.
Further information:
Dr Koshiyama invites you to his International KITANO ENDO Seminar (IKES), which are regularly performed in our Institute (Osaka, Japan), inviting world-famous researchers. The pre-registration and fee is not necessary. Please visit our homepage of Center of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Medical Research Institute KITANO Hospital.
Author interview with Dr Nicolas Carels
Dr Carels is the author of Classifying Coding DNA with Nucleotide Statistics which was recently published in Bioinformatics and Biology Insights.The Editor in Chief of Bioinformatics and Biology Insights recently issued a call for papers.
Dr Carels is a member of our favorite authors program. Under the program authors are eligible to receive: prioritized peer review, prioritised author PDF, and an article processing fee discount. All former authors are eligible to join the favorite authors program.
Please describe your experience with Libertas Academica:
In my experience, Libertas Academica combines professional publication standards with efficiency and speed in manuscript managment. The staff dedicates exceptional attention to authors’ concerns. Manuscripts are processed straightforward, which is in line with what we should expect from science sharing.
What is the primary focus of your research?
The primary focus of my research is the integration of the various aspects of genomics with biological applications such as new drug development.
What are the most exciting developments arising from current research in your area?
I guess that the most exciting development at moment is the on going science integration. This integration is placing scientific areas such as biology, mathematics, electronics, material sciences, etc. together while these were traditionally apart. A very exciting new frontier to overcome is for sure the alliance between electronics and biology, in particular the development of interfaces between electronics and nervous system.
Who are your main collaborators? Please describe your work with them.
I am working at FIOCRUZ, a public institution for human health whose primary focus is parasitology. I am working within the philosophical framework of Dr. Carlos Morel. With him and his collaborators, I aim to contribute to what is called chemogenomics.
How did you come to be working in your research area?
I started as an agronomist and went successively through phytopathology, plant genetic mapping, genome organization and transcriptome investigations. Now I am starting to look at relationships between genomes and their environment taking pharmaceutical concerns into consideration.
What do you think about the development of open access publishing? What motivated you to do so?
Science production is the exercice of (i) making associations between ideas and facts, (ii) experiencing intuitions and (iii) describing reproducible and significant differences.
Science products are valuable. For these reasons, I believe that science must be open access. In my opinion, the best science is free. Science is an investment in humanity. The exercise of making science is a complex issue that depends on broad indirect participation. The price is high and the return must be given to everybody. This is the best way to make it sustainable and largely accepted.
What articles and/or books have you published recently?
In 2009, I published:
- Carels, N. and Frias, D. (2009) Classifying coding DNA with nucleotide statistics. Bioinformatics and Biology Insights 3, 141-154.
- Carels, N., Vidal, R. and Frias, D. (2009) Universal Features for the Classification of Coding and Non-coding DNA Sequences. Bioinformatics and Biology Insights 3, 37-49.
- Carels, N. (2009) Jatropha curcas: A Review. In: Kader, J.C. and Delseny, M. (Eds.). Advances in Botanical Research 50, 39-86.
- Lima, L.S., Gramacho, K.P., Carels, N., Novais, R., Gaiotto, F.A., Lopes, U.V., Gesteira, A.S., Zaidan, H.A., Cascardo, J.C.M., Pires, J.L. and Micheli, F. (2009) Single nucleotide polymorphisms from Theobroma cacao expressed sequence tags associated with witches broom disease in cacao. Genetics and Molecular Research 8, 799-808.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Interview with Clinical Medicine Insights: Cardiology editorial board meber Dr Arnon Blum
This interview is with Clinical Medicine Insights: Cardiology editorial board member Dr Arnon Blum. Clinical Medicine Insights: Cardiology is an open access journal published by Libertas Academica.Editor in Chief Dr Martin M. LeWinter has recently issued a call for papers.
What is the primary focus of your research?
Endothlial function and cardiovascular prevention.
What are the most exciting developments arising from current research in your area?
Exercise is a powerful tool to prevent cardiovascular disease, to enhance endogenous stem cell production and mobilization. It is more important than weight, and could replace medications.
Who are your main collaborators? Please describe your work with them.
I have been in the NIH working with Dr. Richard O.Cannon III.
How did you come to be working in your research area?
I have always seen cardiovascular disease through "immunological glasses", I saw the acute myocardial infarction as an acute inflammatory event, the unstable angina pectoris and coronary artery disease as a cyclic immunological phenomena - and through this gate I continued to explore the cardiovascular world.
With time I relaized that the most important and efficient and cost-effective means to treat cardiovascular disease is to prevent it, and to understand the mechanisms of pathogenesis, and that explains my decision to "invest" in cardiovascular prevention research.
What do you think about the development of open access publishing? Have you published in an open access journal? What motivated you to do so?
I am not sure about the yield yet. Things change with time, and it could be that it will gain more popularity and importance, but right now - it does not prove to be a very effective tool that is able to bring to the public important novel insights.
What articles and/or books have you published recently?
I have published several review papers on heart failure in the Israeli Medical Association Journal and in a journal called Congestive Heart Failure (ahead of print).
I also have a review paper that will be published in September 2009 about geneder differences in heart disease - "Are men and women created equal?" that will be published in Gender Medicine.
I have published several original papers in the American Journal of Cardiology about exercise and stem cell mobilization and endothelial function, and in ATVB on the genetic identification of endothelial progenitor stem cells.
In the near future 2 original papers of mine will be published - one in the Israeli Medical Association Journal - on the variability of hs-CRP levels in patients with coronary artery disease, and another one on th effect CXCR4 inhibitor on stem cells mobilization - that will appear in Cytotherepy.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Five more journals accepted by DOAJ
These open access peer reviewed electronic journals published by Libertas Academica have been accepted for inclusion in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ):
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