In early December Nature Publishing Group (NPG) announced a one-year pilot which will enable researchers who have individual subscriptions or access to institutional Nature subscriptions, the option to share content from these titles with their colleagues as well as those individuals who are non-subscribers via email, social media and web pages. This will be made possible with ReadCube, a software platform, that will host and display read-only versions of the articles’ PDFs. Continue reading →

Often on the way home from work I see many individuals on the train with their heads down – they are not sleeping; the majority of them are swiping their mobile device screen, searching for that one specific app they have downloaded to keep them occupied or entertained on their journey home.  I have to admit that I too have a few go-to apps (yes, my list includes Angry Birds!) that help to pass the time as I head home and my list continues to grow, although lately I find myself asking – Do I really need this one?  Continue reading →

International Open Access (OA) Week takes place this year from October 20 to October 26, 2014, with events taking place all over the world to bring attention to what open access means for research and researchers.

The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) announced in early May that the theme would be “Generation Open” highlighting “the importance of students and early career researchers as advocates for change in the short-term, through institutional and governmental policy, and as the future of the Academy upon whom the ultimate success of the Open Access movement depends.” In addition, the “theme will also explore how changes in scholarly publishing affect scholars and researchers at different stages of their careers.” Continue reading →