News Release from Research Data Alliance (RDA): 

 

The Research Data Alliance (RDA) and the Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) are pleased to announce an agreement to work together to strengthen and expand capacities for research data management within the international data repository community.

COAR and RDA have a shared mission to improve access and use of research outputs, leading to better research and new discoveries. As part of this agreement, the organizations intend to coordinate more closely on strategic initiatives of shared interest, regularly exchange information about activities, and conduct joint webinars and events to support common aims.

 

Read the full press release

 

About Research Data Management (RDM) at UBC

 

Explore RDM items in Open Collections

 

Make your UBC research openly accessible via cIRcle

 

 

 

 

 

Join us in conversation on July 11 with the creator of the Public Knowledge Project, Professor John Willinsky. Co-hosted by UBC Library and UBC iSchool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

News Release from Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL): 

 

CARL is pleased to announce the release of three resources supporting awareness of authors’ rights and ways to retain key rights during the publication process.

 

The revised Canadian Author Addendum to Publication Agreement is a tool that can be used by authors to negotiate with publishers for the right to retain important rights, such as the ability to share and reuse their work – including the ability to make their work available to all via an open access repository. The accompanying CARL Guide to Using the Canadian Author Addendum provides practical straightforward guidance on how to use the addendum.

 

The CARL Guide to Author Rights seeks to situate use of the addendum within the broader context of copyright and ownership of scholarly works, including how rights retention can be taken into consideration at each stage of the publication lifecycle. This guide may assist both authors and librarians in knowing when and how to use the addendum as well as informing a broader understanding of author rights as they pertain to the creation and dissemination of academic research.

 

Read the full press release

 

See the UBC Tri-Agency Open Access Policy

 

Make your UBC research openly accessible via cIRcle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

News Release from Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL): 

 

The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) and the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) are collaborating to facilitate Canadian support of international open infrastructure through the Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services (SCOSS). Under this initiative, Canadian institutions will contribute toward the sustainability of selected key international services in the open scholarship ecosystem.

 

SCOSS aims to help sustain essential open scholarship infrastructure. In doing so, SCOSS brings together a community of experts to evaluate critical open science services that lack sustainable financing, and then encourages institutions worldwide to financially support the services that it recommends.

 

Through the collaboration between CARL and CRKN, Canadian institutions will have the option of supporting SCOSS-endorsed services collectively. Benefiting from CRKN’s national infrastructure, CARL and CRKN members can contribute at reduced rates. This increases efficiency, reduces administrative overhead, and has the potential to increase Canadian participation.

 

Read the full press release

 

See the UBC Tri-Agency Open Access Policy

 

Make your UBC research openly accessible via cIRcle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

News Release from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (Government of Canada): 

 

The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science and Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities, is inviting stakeholders, researchers, community leaders and public policy-makers to help shape a new $275-million Tri-Council Fund focused on international, interdisciplinary and high-risk research activities. Funding for the five-year initiative is a result of the federal government’s unprecedented investment of close to $4 billion in science announced in Budget 2018.

 

Designed by the Canada Research Coordinating Committee (CRCC), the new Tri-Council Fund will strengthen multidisciplinary collaboration between researchers and students across the country to accelerate Canada’s transition to a more modern approach to research. It will enable our researchers to undertake important work that can lead to discoveries that positively impact the lives of Canadians.

 

Read the full press release

 

See the UBC Tri-Agency Open Access Policy

 

Make your UBC research openly accessible via cIRcle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you a new UBC faculty member? Attend the next Faculty Town Hall with SSHRC

 

The Office of the Vice-President, Research & Innovation, and SPARC office invite you to attend a Faculty Town Hall with SSHRC.

 

Hear about the latest information and resources available regarding the SSHRC funded programs as well as its future plans.

 

SPEAKER: Tim Wilson, Executive Director, SSHRC Research Grants and Partnerships

WHEN: 2pm-3:30pm on Tuesday, April 10, 2018

WHERE: Michael Smith Labs, room 102

 

Register here

 

Above text is courtesy of SPARC

 

 

 

News Release from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC):

 

Research is at the heart of understanding the challenges and opportunities people face in areas such as education, immigration and technology. That’s why the Government of Canada continues to support the work of our country’s social scientists and humanities researchers. The evidence they produce informs policies that improve our understanding of each other and our communities.

To support their efforts, the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science, announced today more than $265 million in funding for over 3,300 social sciences and humanities research projects across Canada.

 

The funding is being awarded through scholarships, fellowships, and grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), one of the three federal granting councils responsible for supporting researchers whose work helps fuel a stronger economy, healthy communities and a growing middle class.

 

Read the full press release

 

See the Award Recipients‘ list

 

 

Explore UBC’s Tri-Agency Open Access Policy here

 

Make your UBC research openly accessible here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

News Release from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC):

 

Research is at the heart of understanding the challenges and opportunities people face in areas such as education, immigration and technology. That’s why the Government of Canada continues to support the work of our country’s social scientists and humanities researchers. The evidence they produce informs policies that improve our understanding of each other and our communities.

To support their efforts, the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science, announced today more than $265 million in funding for over 3,300 social sciences and humanities research projects across Canada.

 

The funding is being awarded through scholarships, fellowships, and grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), one of the three federal granting councils responsible for supporting researchers whose work helps fuel a stronger economy, healthy communities and a growing middle class.

 

Read the full press release

 

See the Award Recipients‘ list

 

 

Explore UBC’s Tri-Agency Open Access Policy here

 

Make your UBC research openly accessible here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is excitement among researchers both nationally and internationally on the recent U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities’ statement. Why? It focuses on sustainable publishing.

 

As a collaborative body of Canada’s leading research-intensive universities, the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities’ works to “foster the development and delivery of long-term, sustainable higher education and research policy, in Canada and around the world”.  These Canadian universities are “home to world-class researchers using state-of-the-art research infrastructure to make ground-breaking discoveries” as they “train tomorrow’s citizens, entrepreneurs and leaders, and work with partners from the public, private and government sectors to mobilize knowledge and capitalize on it”.

 

The message by Suzanne Corbeil, U15 Executive Director, states in part that “[w]e know investing in research and science pays dividends for all Canadians. It spurs innovation and fosters the curiosity and creativity that our best and brightest minds direct towards solving society’s greatest challenges. It also enables us to ensure we are developing the best and brightest talent for the workforce of tomorrow, and are able to conduct research in world-class facilities that can drive growth of innovative companies.“

 

In its preamble, the U15 Statement on Sustainable Publishing emphasizes that, “Access to research and scholarly outputs is essential for scientific discovery, innovation, and education. To maximize knowledge transfer and impact, our researchers’ work must be made readily available around the globe. Research-intensive universities also require timely and continuing access to international research results and scholarship in order to advance and disseminate knowledge, and to develop the next generation of researchers.”

 

The five key principles and their highlights found in the U15 statement are briefly listed directly below:

 

1. Open Access – a necessity for an accessible and sustainable model of scholarly publishing
2. Public Interest – disseminating scholarly publications and other research outputs as widely as possible
3. Quality – rigorous peer review processes and effective research impact measures in all forms of academic publishing
4. Accountability – highest possible proportion of public dollars invested in research and education
5. Innovation – collaborative development of new models of scholarly communications benefit the academy and the public in the digital age

 

Download the full U15 Statement on Sustainable Publishing here

 

Explore Open Access and more at UBC

 

Browse UBC’s digital repository for research and teaching materials

 

 

Above logo is courtesy of U15

 

 

A new open science prize has arrived on the international scholarly community stage and is causing a positive stir among global researchers and their research teams who come from a wide breadth of disciplines and fields of study.

It is “sponsored by a collaboration among the U.K.-based Wellcome Trust, the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute” and is hugely welcomed by researchers “who are develop[ing] innovative tools and services that could unleash the power of data to advance discovery and improve health around the world”.

“It’s really bringing to light the nascent ideas that researchers are thinking about, but not necessarily put out there yet,” as per Aki MacFarlane, Programme Officer in the Open Research team with Wellcome Trust. “We’ve managed to bring some awareness to lots of things going on that we as funders and public were not aware of — which is great.”

Read the full SPARC announcement here

 

First-ever Open Science Prize by the Numbers:

• Six finalist projects from a field of 96 solutions proposed by applicants in 45 countries
• 4,000 votes came in from 76 countries to narrow the field from six to three
• Final winner (below) was chosen by a review committee appointed by the prize sponsors
• Grand prize award-winning team won $230,000

 

Open Science Prize grand prize winner:

Nextstrain

An open-source project to harness the scientific and public health potential of pathogen genome data (in real time)

 

 

Other Open Science Prize finalists:

Fruit Fly Brain Observatory

An open source platform for studying fruit fly brain function, and for investigating fruit fly brain disease models that are highly relevant to the mechanisms of human neurological and psychiatric disorders

 

Open Neuroimaging Laboratory

Lowering barriers to data and tools for open collaborative science of the brain

 

MyGene2

A portal through which families with rare genetic conditions who are interested in sharing their health and genetic information can connect with other families, clinicians, and researchers

 

OpenAQ

Empower communities to end air inequality through open data (in real-time)

 

OpenTrials FDA

Enabling better access to drug approval packages submitted to and made available by the Food and Drug Administration

 

 

Why publish Open Access?

 

Discover Open UBC

 

Open Access publishing and knowledge creation support at UBC

 

 

Above image is courtesy of National Institutes of Health (NIH)