New & noteworthy
CROSSREFLaunches new version
CrossRef, a publisher collaborative that enables researchers to navigate online journals via DOI-based citation links, has announced the launch of Version 2.0 of its metadata database resolution service, as well as expansion of its publisher and affiliate memberships.
Development of the new system began in 2001, when CrossRef joined forces with Atypon Systems for their superior technological capabilities in the e-publishing industry. This second-generation system uses a scalable architecture and the latest Web technologies, resulting in more resolved queries and expanded reference content.
CrossRef's membership base continues to grow. It now has 152 publisher members, whose content represents over 6,400 journals and almost five million article records. Its library affiliate programme has grown to 49 with the recent addition of NIH. A linking solutions partner agreement was signed with Fretwell Downing, for their plans to integrate CrossRef into their ZPORTAL product offering for libraries that will automatically build links between citation information and digital content.
CrossRef – www.crossref.org
GFILaunches content security product
GFI has launched GFI DownloadSecurity for ISA Server, a content security solution that checks all downloads for viruses and enables administrators to control what type of files enter their network, from where and for whom. Because GFI Download- Security quarantines potentially dangerous downloads for approval,administrators can now tackle the security risk presented by downloads without having to block them all.
GFI – www.gfi.com
JISC Funds Rights MEtadata for Open archiving (RoMEO) project
In higher education today there are many calls for change in the scholarly communication process. One suggestion receiving a lot of publicity is that academics "self-archive" their research papers either by making them available on their own Web pages, or by submitting them to an institutional repository or a subject-based archive. The Open Archives Initiative has supported this activity by developing an open standard by which metadata about the research papers can be disclosed and harvested, thus increasing the visibility and impact of the research.
Even though such research papers are "given away" by academics, and metadata about them is freely created and disclosed, intellectual property rights issues are still being raised. Academics may not care who copies their paper, but who's to stop someone publishing it under someone else's name? Or altering the text in some way? Data providers may be pleased that their metadata is being harvested, but what if someone then starts selling access to it?
To address some of these questions, the UK Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) has funded a one-year investigation into the rights issues surrounding the self-archiving movement. The project, called RoMEO (Rights MEtadata for Open archiving), is based at Loughborough University and will run for one year until July 2003. It is being directed by Professor Charles Oppenheim, with Professor Stevan Harnad chairing the Advisory Board.
The principal aims of the project are to map all the rights issues relevant to the self-archiving of research papers in UK HE under the Open Archive Initiative's Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) and to consider ways of addressing them. One particular goal will be the development of some simple rights metadata which can be assigned by academics depositing papers in institutional (or other) archives, disclosed by data providers, harvested by service providers, and displayed to end-users, via the OAI-PMH.
The project team are inviting input from interested parties, in particular academics, publishers, OAI data and service providers, on the rights issues they face throughout the self-archiving process (contact Elizabeth Gadd, Research Associate, Project RoMEO, Dept of Information Science, Lough-borough University,Loughborough, Leics, LE11 3TU, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 1509 228053; E-mail: e.a.gadd@lboro.ac.uk).
Project Web pages, including a survey for academic authors, will be updated throughout the course of the project.
PCGAnnounces first Consortialink signing
Consortialink, the Ingenta/PCG Library Consortia Sales Program, has announced the signing of its first agreement with OhioLINK, the consortium of Ohio's college and university libraries and the State Library of Ohio. OhioLINK, which serves more than 500,000 students, faculty and staff at 80 institutions, has purchased electronic access to 129 journals from 12 publishers, with an option to add another 131 journals next year.
Tom Sanville, Executive Director of OhioLINK comments: "We aim to sign group licences which offer a wealth of quality content and move us to a sustainable economic relationship, such as is the case here. This licence gives us access to a range of key titles from smaller publishers, with an option to expand the offering next year, neither of which we would have been able to achieve efficiently without the involvement of Consortialink."
Claire Ginn, Vice President, Consortia Services at PCG adds: "We have always been confident that the launch of Consortialink would meet a need in the current marketplace and are delighted to have completed our first signing. More and more libraries are seeking cost-effective solutions to the increasing problem of securing subscription rights to the electronic content produced by many smaller publishers. Working with consortia, Consortialink provides libraries with a viable way to access that content."
Launched to the publishing community at the Online Information meeting in London last December, Consortialink connects libraries and publishers of academic and professional research. Managed by the specialist division of Ingenta, Publishers Communications Group (PCG), Consortialink answers consortia demands to negotiate electronic subscriptions and access to research publications via a single Web interface.
Consortialink is specifically geared to providing access to research content produced by small- to medium-sized, quality publishers who want to satisfy consortia demand, but have limited sales resources. Acting as an intermediary between libraries and publishers, the programme offers library consortia an easy way of acquiring the whole of participating publishers' online content collections at heavily discounted prices, while providing Ingenta-hosted publishers with access to new markets. Through the adoption of a standard licence agreement it reduces the amount of negotiation required, while providing access through a single Web interface simplifies integration of the content into the library's existing online resources.
To date, 14 publishers have signed up to take part in the programme producing a total of 226 scientific, technical and medical journals available via electronic subscription. Participating publishers include the British Psychological Society, The Royal Society, Adis International, Arnold, Humana Press, Lawrence Erlbaum and Urban and Fischer.
Ingenta – www.ingenta.com
HUMBULLaunches RSS channels
The Humbul Humanities Hub has launched Humbul RSS channels for new resource descriptions. RSS, or "Rich Site Summary", enables users to deliver the most recent resource descriptions added to Humbul on their own Web pages. Humbul's channels employ RSS-xpress Lite, developed by UKOLN, to provide a simple means of taking advantage of Humbul channels without specialist knowledge. Users who copy a small fragment of HTML into their own Web page will be able to begin receiving the 15 most recent record descriptions added to Humbul in the subject of their choice, or simply the latest 15 records added to Humbul in any subject. All of Humbul's RSS channels are updated daily.
Humbul – www.humbul.ac.uk/help/rss.html
SCIENCEDIRECTAnnounces improved accessibility for visually impaired people
ScienceDirect has announced progress in its efforts to improve the accessibility of the ScienceDirect platform for visually impaired people. It reports that recent tests showed the platform is very user friendly and that those involved with the tests are convinced it could make a serious contribution to advancing the educational and career opportunities of visually impaired people.
As a result of previous testing in October 2001, the ScienceDirect team dedicated itself to improve the accessibility of the platform, and tested the improvements made on 24 June 2002. Studies took place at the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, and at the National Federation of the Blind in Baltimore,Maryland.
ScienceDirect – www.sciencedirect.com
BT CLICK&BUYUnveils online partners
BT Retail has announced the first content providers to sign up to its new micropayments service, BT click&buy. The service has attracted 20 well-established online brands, including handbag.com, Haymarket, Sportinglife,Coppernob, talkingbooks and foodndrink.co.uk
BT click&buy, which offers consumers a secure way to buy online content and services, is based on technology developed by German-based Firstgate Internet AG. It works on both broadband and narrowband and end users can choose to buy content on a pay-as-you-go or subscription basis. Users will be able to pay for content from different providers through one BT click&buy account,rather than having to make payments to multiple providers.
FACULTY OF 1000 WINSTHE ALPSP AWARD FOR PUBLISHING INNOVATION
The online literature evaluation service, Faculty of 1000, has been recognized by The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (www.alpsp.org/) as the most innovative publication of 2002. This international award is presented annually to products that display an innovative approach to publishing, as judged by a panel of independent experts.
The judging panel was unanimous in choosing Faculty of 1000 as the winner,stating that, "The site is easy to use, and the sections are bang up to date and customizable to suit personal research areas." They also praised the concept behind Faculty of 1000, "All in all it is a wonderful idea, and so simple really – the best ideas often are."
Published by BioMed Central, Faculty of 1000 is an innovative new approach to the evaluation of research articles in the biological sciences based on the opinions of over 1,400 leading international life science researchers. The service offers a systematic and comprehensive scheme for identifying and evaluating important papers directly by researchers, who provide both qualitative judgement and the reasons for making their choices. It is updated with new evaluations every day, creating a consensus map of important papers and trends across biology, which users can view to reflect their research interests.
Faculty of 1000 – www.facultyof 1000.com
BVDLaunches ORBIS
Bureau van Dijk (BvD) has launched ORBIS, which contains information on ten million companies worldwide. ORBIS combines information from BvD's collection of company information products including FAME, AMADEUS and BANKSCOPE. ORBIS will also include M&A information from the recently launched ZEPHYR.
BvD sources data from over 40 different information providers, each an expert in its region or discipline, which are combined on ORBIS to offer: detailed company financials (including "as reported"), scanned images, marketing,peer and country reports, news and ratings. A wide range of report formats is available to enable users to select the appropriate level of detail and standardization for their query.
A new, straightforward, one-screen search format is quick and flexible to use and ideal for end-user access. More advanced searching is available via an expert search option. ORBIS users can also switch to the individual product modules, to benefit from all the detailed and search and analysis options each country-specific or specialist database provides. Access can be unlimited or pay-per-view. These options can be combined to suit different requirements.
Dominique Carnoy, director at BvD said, "With ORBIS we have taken the concept of the BvD SUITE one step further. ORBIS is a product in its own right,providing flexible, targeted retrieval of relevant data from a huge amount of information in a wide variety of formats. Users can tailor their access to have unlimited use of the information they need regularly and make use of the pay-per-view credits for ad hoc research."
Bureau van Dijk (BvD) – www.bvdep.com
STNLaunches new files
FIZ Karlsruhe, the European Service Centre of STN International, has announced the launch of the PHARMAML and NUTRACEUT databases.
PHARMAML contains bibliographic and full-text information – including the full text of the weekly publication PharmaMarketLetter – on all aspects of the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries worldwide. This comprises legislation, company news, including financial reports, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, start-up companies, trends and strategies,multinational deals, stock market commentary, biotechnology R&D, and sales performance; product news, including drug submissions, drug launches, drug approvals and rejections, licensing arrangements, clinical trial development and results, and product development; and upcoming meetings and conferences.
The database is updated daily with prepublication data, and weekly with written publication data. Coverage extends from 1992 to date. Currently PHARMAML contains 47,650 records. Backlog data to 1985 will be added in the future.
NUTRACEUT contains bibliographic and full-text information – including the full text of the weekly publication Nutraceuticals – covering the global nutraceutical, functional foods, dietary supplements, and natural product industries. This includes worldwide legislation, labelling requirements,company news and product launches, R&D and manufacturing technology developments, market data and forecasts, as well as upcoming meetings and conferences. Currently coverage extends from 1996 to date, and the database contains more than 6,000 documents.
STN – www.stn-international.de
SILVERPLATTERReleases WebSpirs 5
Following the upgrade of the SilverPlatter ERL software from version 4 to version 5 on 27 August, SilverPlatter has announced the release of the latest version of the user interface known as WebSpirs 5. This is a major reworking of the SilverPlatter interface.
WebSpirs 5 affects the PsycINFO and INSPEC services. Revised PsycINFO userguides reflecting these changes are now available. An order form is on the BIDS Web site: www.bids.ac.uk/info/orderform.htm
SilverPlatter – www.silverplatter.com
CASReleases new version of STN Express
Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) has released STN Express with Discover! v 6.01. This new version features:
ability to launch CAS Registry BLAST, permitting searchers to identify a sequence similar to a queried sequence and then view associated published research and patents;
a BLAST Alerts capability for ongoing awareness of the latest information;
ability to accept SciFinder answer keys and search them in STN Express using the STN search features and range of databases preferred by information professionals;
more formatting options and new predefined reports and tables, for more effective presentation of search results; and
support for post-processing of STN on the Web RTF transcripts.
STN Express is one of several interface options for accessing databases on STN International, the scientific and technical information network.
CAS – www.cas.org
CASEnhances early twentieth-century records of scientific literature and patents
Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) has announced it is adding subject and chemical substance indexing to online records corresponding to Chemical Abstracts, back to the first issue in 1907. The indexing will give researchers more in-depth access to the findings of an earlier era of science and will mark the completion of CAS' "Scientific Century" project.
CAS – www.cas.org
SPRINGER AND UKBSign LINK licence agreement
Springer Verlag and UKB (an association of Dutch libraries) have signed a three-year LINK licence agreement that provides the ten participating members of UKB unlimited electronic access to over 480 journals. UKB expects the majority of its member libraries to sign up with Springer Verlag. According to its chairman, John Gilbert, "The Springer agreement provides researchers and students electronic access to more relevant journals in key scientific disciplines, particularly medicine and the natural sciences".
Springer Verlag – http://link.springer.de
