UCD Library News

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Large survey of author attitudes towards Open Access publishing

8,000 authors favour Open Access and see direct evidence of the positive impact/



Today InTech, an Open Access publisher, has made available results from a recent survey of over 8,000 authors to determine their attitudes towards Open Access.

The benefits of the Open Access (OA) model continue to be debated by publishers and librarians, but relatively little research has been undertaken to understand the attitudes of researchers. It was with this in mind that InTech, a commercial Open Access publisher with a focus on book publishing, commissioned TBI to survey its 25,000 author- base to help better understand researcher awareness of and attitudes towards this evolving model.

The survey attracted a very high response rate – 32% (over 8,000) of InTech authors responded, showing a high level of interest and engagement. Responders were drawn from all over the world, and most defined their role as ‘researcher’ (78%) covering a broad range of specialties.

Royal Society launches Open Biology

Open Biology is an open access journal covering research in cellular and molecular aspects of biology.
Open Biology will publish original, high quality research in cell biology, developmental and structural biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, neuroscience, immunology, microbiology and genetics.

Submissions begin July 2011


Open Biology will begin receiving submissions of research articles starting in July 2011. The criteria for acceptance will be high quality, importance and originality.

Friday, May 6, 2011

United Nations Economic Commision for Africa (UNECA) institutional repository launches

In its 50 years of existence, UNECA has created and holds a vast quantity of information and Knowledge in a variety of formats, including printed and electronic. These represent the corporate memory, providing historical evidence of its actions and decisions. The information resources include published materials such as flagship publications, journal articles, conference proceedings, technical reports, mission reports, annual reports, working papers, speeches and other grey literature, all which outline important research or decisions that have been made on the economic and social developmental aspects in Africa.


The Institutional Repository of the Economic Commission for Africa offers unique knowledge and information not available elsewhere pertaining to regional programmes, decisions and resolutions promoting social and economic development in Africa.