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Research4Life Expands Peer Reviewed Research Available to Developing World: More than 17,000 Resources Now Available

jkuta — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:25:34 +0000

16 May 2012. Research4Life partners announced today that the content available through its collaborative public-private partnership has dramatically increased since 2011 to reach 17,000 peer reviewed scientific journals, books and databases. Research4Life provides over 6,000 institutions in more than 100 developing countries with free or low cost access to peer-reviewed online content from the world’s leading scientific, technical and medical publishers. The recent sharp increase in content is primarily a result of Elsevier’s contribution of 7,000 books in 2011-2.

http://bit.ly/IZHuy0

ARL Endorses VRA Statement on Fair Use of Images for Teaching, Research, and Study

jkuta — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:44:04 +0000

11 May 2012. Washington, DC—On May 4, 2012, the Board of Directors of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) voted enthusiastically to endorse the Visual Resources Association’s (VRA) Statement on the Fair Use of Images for Teaching, Research, and Study. The VRA Statement is a clear and concise statement of best practices around a medium that can seem especially intimidating for educational users. It is a reliable guide, written by professionals who work with images every day and vetted by well-known experts in the field of copyright. ARL believes the VRA recommendations will help libraries better serve their educational mission by helping to inform library practices and policies with the values of educators, scholars, and students. The ARL Board also notes that the practices described in the VRA statement are fully consistent with the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries, released by ARL earlier this year.

http://bit.ly/LNEDtG

Wolters Kluwer Sells its Healthcare Analytics Business to STG

jkuta — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:34:02 +0000

15 May 2012. Wolters Kluwer, a market-leading global information services company focused on professionals, today announced that it has sold its pharma-related Healthcare Analytics business to private equity firm Symphony Technology Group (STG).

CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Wolters Kluwer Nancy McKinstry has said that "the sale of our pharma-related business is part of our strategy to focus on our core health markets and accelerate growth by providing innovative solutions to clinicians globally."

http://bit.ly/IVVxTT

Google, Authors Guild clash over class action & standing

jkuta — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:31:42 +0000

10 May 2012. Judge Chin heard oral argument in the Google Books case on May 4 and ultimately reserved decision. The parties will go ahead with their summary judgment motions, with oral argument scheduled for September.
According to New York Law School professor James Grimmelmann’s Labortorium blog, Google argued that individual authors, not the Author’s Guild, should be the plaintiff because each author will present sufficiently different issues that their individual participation will be required.
Under questioning by the judge, Google’s lawyer admitted that Google’s fair use decisions were made by categories of works, not on a case-by-case basis, but used a survey of authors to contend that whether authors are helped or harmed by inclusion in Google Books really does vary with each individual’s circumstances. To prove this point, Google commissioned a survey of more than 800 authors about their opinions regarding the project.

Wikipedia founder to help in UK government’s research scheme

jkuta — Wed, 02 May 2012 00:19:46 +0000

1 May 2012. The government has drafted in the Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales to help make all taxpayer-funded academic research in Britain available online to anyone who wants to read or use it.

The initiative, which has the backing of No 10 and should be up and running in two years, will be announced by the universities and science minister, David Willetts, in a speech to the Publishers Association on Wednesday.

The move will embolden what has been dubbed the "academic spring" – a growing campaign among academics and research funders for open access in academic publishing. They want to unlock the results of research from behind the lucrative paywalls of journals controlled by publishing companies.

http://bit.ly/KHh5bU

German R & D hotspots ranked

jkuta — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:21:53 +0000

23 April 2012. Which German universities and institutes attracts the international research elite? A new ranking by the Humboldt Foundation shows that Berlin, Munich and Max Planck Society lead the way.
The renowned Humboldt Foundation created a ranking of German universities and institutes that attract the greatest number of international research talents. Between 2007 and 2011, over 6,082 scientists came to conduct research in Germany. 75% of them worked at universities while the rest was drawn to other research organizations.

In the university category, Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität Berlin and Universität München score the top 3 ranks. Each of them attracted over 260 researchers of which over 40 were award winning scientists.

http://bit.ly/IpYMWS

Panel questions Harvard Library’s Journal Spending

jkuta — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:08:25 +0000

24 April 2012. Harvard University’s faculty has taken a public stand against commercial journals that sell subscription “bundles” as a way to get libraries to spend more on journal subscriptions than they otherwise might. In a memo, addressed to the campus and posted on the Harvard Library website, the library’s Faculty Advisory Council said the amount the university spends on subscription “bundles” is approaching $3.75 million. “The Faculty Advisory Council to the Library, representing university faculty in all schools and in consultation with the Harvard Library leadership, reached this conclusion: major periodical subscriptions, especially to electronic journals published by historically key providers, cannot be sustained: continuing these subscriptions on their current footing is financially untenable.”

http://bit.ly/I9OTNb

Thomson Reuters to sell healthcare unit to Veritas

jkuta — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:57:47 +0000

23 April 2012. (Reuters) - News and information company Thomson Reuters Corp (TRI.TO) (TRI.N) said on Monday it will sell its healthcare business to private equity firm Veritas Capital for $1.25 billion in cash.

Thomson Reuters' Healthcare business provides data, analytics and other services to hospitals, government agencies and healthcare professionals to help them identify savings and improve efficiency.

The sale, subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in the next few months, Thomson Reuters said in a statement.

"With the completion of the divestiture, Thomson Reuters will be even more focused on our core global businesses," Chief Executive Jim Smith said in the statement.

Veritas Capital has obtained debt financing commitments for the transaction, which is not subject to any financing condition.

Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Allen & Company are acting as financial advisors to Thomson Reuters on the proposed divestiture. Covington & Burling LLP is acting as legal counsel.

http://reut.rs/JjXmxg

Google Starts Ranking Journals

jkuta — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 07:57:52 +0000

16 April 2012. On April 1 2012, Google announced a new feature to its Scholar service ... called Google Scholar Metrics. The service follows the same principle that has made Google's web search engine so successful - when you are unsure what a user is looking for, give them a list of options ranked by a metric of popularity. In this instance, the users are academics ready to submit their next breakthrough but are uncertain which journal to choose. The solution Scholar Metrics offers is a database summarizing the sway of the distributors of scholarship "to help authors as they consider where to publish their new research".

http://bit.ly/HKi6KY

ORCID appoints Laurel Haak as Executive Director

jkuta — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 19:05:15 +0000

3 April 2012. ORCID has appointed Laurel L. Haak PhD, as its Executive Director, it was announced today. Haak joins the not-for-profit organization effective April 9 and will be based in Bethesda, Maryland. She joins the ORCID initiative at a crucial stage in terms of the development of its infrastructure and business model. In April, ORCID will complete the initial phase of its development, with most functionality required for the launch of a beta service later this year now in place. In 2011, ORCID obtained initial funding including loans and sponsorships from a diverse group of stakeholders to help cover the operational and development expenses while ORCID launches in 2012 and strives to become self-sustaining. "We thank all those organizations who are supporting ORCID during the critical start-up phase," said Howard Ratner, Chair of the ORCID Board of Directors.

http://bit.ly/I6IFvH