Did you know that, in 1998, the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) was founded by John Willinsky in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia (UBC)? Its aim was and still is today to “improv[e] the scholarly and public quality of research”.

UBC “support[s] scholarly pursuits that contribute to knowledge and understanding within and across disciplines and seek[s] every opportunity to share them broadly” as outlined in the From UBC’s Place and Promise Strategic Plan and echoed in the Library’s Strategic Framework. Discover why PKP is a critical platform in open scholarly communications infrastructure via Digital Programs and Services at UBC Library.

Read the Library’s full PKP blog post

Explore Open Journals Systems (OJS)

Find out more about Open UBC

It is a pleasure to announce the release of cIRcle, UBC’s Research Repository Impact and Activity Report for 2018-2019!

In 2018-2019, cIRcle continued its focus on increasing faculty content with over 1,000 new items added – that’s a 9.6% increase from last year.

Examples of some new and ongoing cIRcle partnerships include the following: Database of Religious History (DRH) entries, Transnational Business Governance Interactions (TBGI) Working Papers, audio and video recordings of the Vancouver Institute Lectures, a mix of textual and other media content of the From the Ground Up: Buddhism & East Asian Religions, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA) Graduating Projects, and the UBC Department of Central, Eastern, and Northern European Studies’ Ziegler Series of video lecture recordings.

Another cIRcle highlight is the newly automated ingest stream of faculty content published by Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) via the SWORD (Simple Web-Service Offering Repository Deposit) protocol as well as cIRcle’s collaborative work in enhancing metadata and digital preservation with Artefactual and Atmire.

Discover UBC research in cIRcle – from preprints and postprints of journal articles to conference proceedings to departmental publications and technical reports to lecture/course notes, and much more.

Learn more about cIRcle

News Release from CANARIE: 

CANARIE, a vital component of Canada’s digital research infrastructure ecosystem supporting research, education and innovation, today announced $2M in funding to support the Canadian Association of Research Libraries’ (CARL) Portage Network. CARL Portage is a national, library-based research data management (RDM) network that fosters initiatives to build capacity and to coordinate activities in research data management.

The ability to manage and reuse research data helps accelerate discovery, allows for reproducibility of scientific results, and maximizes return on investment of research funding. Research data management best practices help ensure the accessibility and protection of data during the research lifecycle and beyond, and help meet growing requirements of research ethics and reproducibility, along with evolving funder policies. This funding broadens the functionality of current Portage services and tools and adds capacity to national RDM resources.

Read the full press release

Quick facts about CANAIRE:

• 31,000 – Length in KM of CANARIE’s coast-to-coast ultra-high-speed research and education network
• Nearly 170 – higher education institutions currently participating in the Canadian Access Federation (CAF)
• 46 – percent by which traffic on the CANARIE network has been growing over the past ten years

About Research Data Management (RDM) at UBC

Explore RDM tems in Open Collections

Want to make your UBC research openly accessible? Visit cIRcle

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

Image by geralt on Pixabay

Writing your thesis for UBC graduation? Confused about thesis formatting?

Next Thesis Formatting: Tips, tricks, and resources workshops are as follows:

Dates: March 11^th & March 25^th, 2019

Time: 10am to 12pm (same workshop held on both dates)

Location: Room 217 – Walter C. Koerner Library

Register for March 11^th  OR March 25^th, 2019

Curious about a Lay Summary for your thesis or dissertation? Or for a journal article, etc.?

Next Lay Summaries: Writing workshop is as follows:

Date: Wednesday, March 13^th, 2019

Time: 10am to 12pm

Location: Sherrington Room – Woodward Library

Register for March 13^th, 2019

Wondering how to navigate and manage the publishing process for your research?

Next Scholarly Publishing & Author Rights (off-campus) workshop is as follows:

Date: Tuesday, March 26^th, 2019

Time: 2-4pm

Location: BC Children’s and Women’s Hospitals, Study and Learning Commons Computer Lab, Shaughnessy Building Room F4

Register for March 26^th, 2019

Learn more about:

cIRcle, UBC’s Digital Repository

Scholarly Communications @ UBC

UBC Research Commons

While 3MT was created by The University of Queensland in 2008, UBC was and still is one of the first universities in North America to host a 3MT competition since 2011.

Commencing annually in February, UBC 3MT heats get underway with winners advancing into the Semi-Finals and Finals’ rounds in March.

Below are the top five things to know about 2019 UBC 3MT:

1. Currently, over 350 universities across 59 countries worldwide hold 3MT competitions
2. For 2019 UBC 3MT, there are six workshops designed to help participants successfully prepare and deliver their presentations
3. 2019 UBC 3MT prizes range from gifts (People`s choice) to $1,000 and a trip to Prince George, BC (where the finalist will represent UBC at the represent UBC at the Western Regional 3MT competition)
4. Testimonials from past UBC 3MT finalists, semi-finalists and other honourable mentions give an insight into what it feels like to participate and deliver 3MT presentations in a memorable and engaging way
5. UBC 3MT affords an exciting opportunity for presenters, audience members, heat organizers, sponsors, judges, and volunteers who help showcase just a small sampling of UBC research to a non-specialist audience here and beyond

All the best to the 2019 UBC 3MT participants and supporters in the coming months!

Browse UBC Theses and Dissertations in cIRcle via Open Collections

In celebration of open access and its global impact for over a decade, UBC and SFU will be participating in the 2018 International Open Access Week event during October 22-28, 2018.

Throughout UBC’s 2018 Open Access Week event, scholars will showcase and discuss their innovative research, teaching and learning skills and experiences while inspiring others to learn more and get involved with the global open access movement. These events will highlight the various opportunities and pathways enabling open scholarship for researchers at UBC and beyond.

Similar to past UBC Open Access Week events, this year will include free lectures, workshops, a panel discussion with a Q&A session, seminars, and symposia for students, faculty, staff, and the general public. Topical and timely issues will include the following ones to list just a few:

• new challenges faced by practitioners and stakeholders
• developing a scholarly/publishing profile
• applying Creative Commons licenses to your work
• navigating the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy (NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR)
• discovering Open Educational Resources (OER)

Visit Open UBC to register and attend these free events

Learn more about Open Access at UBC

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

Today, Canada’s three federal research funding agencies—the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) (the agencies)—have developed a draft Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy.

The draft policy aims to support Canadian research excellence by fostering sound digital data management and data stewardship practices with suggested requirements related to three primary areas:

1. Institutional data management strategies
2. Researcher data management plans
3. Data deposit

Based on feedback received from institutions, associations, organizations and individuals on the draft policy and its usefulness in advancing data management practices in Canada, the three agencies plan to launch the Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy in 2019.

The feedback period is open until August 31, 2018.

Read the draft Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy and FAQs

Explore The Tri-Agency Open Access Policy: How the UBC Library Can Help guide for UBC researchers

This year’s International Open Access Week 2018 theme is “Designing Equitable Foundations for Open Knowledge” as announced by the 2018 Open Access Week Advisory Committee

Key highlights will focus on thought-provoking questions about challenges raised as the open access movement and scholarly research system draw closer despite changes in technology, education, funding, governments, publishing and such affecting many stakeholders around the world. This annual event is of keen interest to scholars, libraries, private and public research institutions, and anyone desiring to improve and advance a more equitable open scholarly research system.

Examples of anticipated questions surrounding the “Designing Equitable Foundations for Open Knowledge” theme for 2018 are as follows:

How do we ensure sustainability models used for open access are not exclusionary?

What are inequities that open systems can recreate or reinforce?

Whose voices are prioritized? Who is excluded?

How does what counts as scholarship perpetuate bias?

What are areas where openness might not be appropriate?

Stay tuned for more news about Open Access Week 2018 and upcoming Open UBC events!