The Society of Librarians of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina fully supports the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina (NUB BiH). This library is crucial for preserving and archiving the country’s cultural and scientific heritage. It also produces the national bibliography and manages national agencies for ISSN, ISBN (International Standard Book Number), ISMN (International Standard Music Number).

Closing the National Library would disrupt publishing and academic progress, and hamper library cataloging. The Society urges leaders to prevent the library’s demise, which would fulfill the destructive goals of the 1992 war and devastate the nation’s cultural foundation.

La Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia está organizando una serie de eventos profesionales para los editores colombianos, que incluyen presentaciones sobre el ISSN, el ISBN, las mejores prácticas en bibliometría y la producción de metadatos de calidad. El vídeo de la conferencia (en español) está disponible aquí.

Gaëlle Béquet, Directora del Centro Internacional del ISSN, ha sido invitada a presentar las actividades del Centro y de la red ISSN en el evento organizado por la Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia para los editores colombianos. El programa del taller incluye también una presentación del identificador ISBN, buenas prácticas en bibliometría y producción de metadatos de calidad. Más información está disponible aquí.

On 5 July 2024, Dr Maureen Pennock, Head of Digital Collection Management at the British Library, presented an overview of her  work to develop the CHARM Reference Model for Digital Preservation Risk, as part of her PhD thesis at the University of Dundee.

CHARM, a risk science approach, differentiates between risk conceptualization and measurement. It aids in creating holistic risk assessments that consider various types of risk, rather than focusing solely on one type. This approach can support flexible and comprehensive preservation planning risk responses.

The paper mill crisis, a widespread issue in scholarly literature, is causing record retractions and eroding trust in science. Despite efforts from publishers, integrity sleuths, and organizations like Retraction Watch, NISO, and STM, action from the library community has been lacking. This article explores the ongoing impact of the paper mill crisis and its causes. It also reviews the steps being taken across the sector to address it and recommended actions libraries can take to address the crisis and restore trust in science.

The British Library plans to restore digital collections and online resources after a cyber-attack in October. The restoration will include access to collections held in automated storage facilities. The Library is also working with its Legal Deposit Library partners to restore access to Non-Print Legal Deposit (NPLD), including e-journals and e-publications. The goal is to complete the restoration by September, in time for the new academic year.

UNESCO has launched a call for inputs on the draft principles for open science monitoring, following the December 2023 workshop and the launch of the  Open Science Monitoring Initiative (OSMI). The consultation aims to ensure diverse perspectives are incorporated into a global vision for monitoring open science. It builds on existing initiatives at national, regional, and global levels. Inputs are welcome as commentary or proposed edits by 30 November 2024.

The Nature Index Research Leaders 2024  highlights the rapid growth of Asian research institutes, particularly in India and China, and a decline in Western research predominance. Chinese institutions dominate the top ten positions, while India shows significant growth. European and North American countries, except Denmark, generally recorded declines in their adjusted shares. The Nature Index is an open database of author affiliations and institutional relationships. It tracks contributions to research articles published in 145 natural science and health science publications chosen by an independent group of researchers.

cOAlition S has released its latest report on the Transformative Journal (TJ) model, a key strategy developed to transition subscription-based publishers to full and immediate Open Access (OA). The 2023 data, sourced from participating publishers, sheds light on the progress and obstacles encountered in this endeavour.

The TJ programme mandates that journals annually increase their OA research content by at least 5% in absolute terms and 15% in relative terms, to fully transition to OA when 75% of their research content is published openly.

The OECD began granting greater access to its data with the launch of its data portal and platform integration in 2014, notably making publications freely available to read online. The introduction of the Creative Commons CCBY 4.0 licence now enables seamless access to OECD publications and data. The newly redesigned oecd.org website will further facilitate the use of this open-access information model, by offering improved search functions. This includes a catalogue of almost 30 000 items from the OECD archives, which users are now able to access, download, and share.

The study analyzes the global scholarly publishing landscape, focusing on the oligopoly of major publishers and smaller independent publishers. Using Web of Science, Dimensions, and OpenAlex, the study finds that the oligopoly persists, but smaller publishers’ share has grown rapidly since 2000. The expansion is most pronounced in social sciences and humanities, but also in natural and medical sciences. Geographical disparities are evident, with some countries heavily reliant on major publishers and others independent. Digital publishing, reduced costs, and inclusive databases contribute to small publishers’ growth.

Geoffrey Boulton and Moumita Koley argue for fair and transparent standards in science publishing to maintain research integrity and credibility. They highlight issues with editorial oversight, commercial business models, and the impact of bibliometric indices, emphasizing the need for proper governance to maintain credibility and integrity and to ensure science benefits society globally.

On April 18, 2024 Universities of the Netherlands (UNL), NFU and NWO organised a one-day conference to explore the successes and challenges of ‘Read & Publish’ deals; cooperation with publishers in the field of research information; and how concepts such as ‘digital sovereignty’ play out in relationships with commercial publishers. It was conceived as an open forum to discuss what the academic sector wants from the publishing sector in safeguarding academic values in a just, equitable and open scholarly communication landscape.

This report is a summary of the conference.

Clarivate Plc released the 2024  Journal Citation Reports™ (JCR™). The reports provide an essential and comprehensive resource of high-quality journals, ranked by field to enable academic institutions, researchers and publishers to gauge the significance of journals in the global research landscape. Key updates include unified subject category rankings, integration of Emerging sources citation index journals, and new metrics for over 21,800 journals. This enhances understanding of journal performance and supports research integrity.

The BIBFRAME Update Forum in January 2024 highlighted the implementation of BIBFRAME by ExLibris and OCLC, and the Share Family linked data ecosystem, including Share-VDE. The presentation emphasized the importance of standard BIBFRAME for community interoperability and data curation. The Library of Congress is incorporating more scripts in bibliographic data regarding conversions from MARC to BIBFRAME and Scriptshifter, an automated tool developed by Library of Congress that can convert over 90 non-latin scripts into latin script following the LC/ALA guidelines. See this presentation: Scriptshifter: Enhancing Library Metadata and Discovery 

The BIBFRAME Update Forum held on 1 July 2024 was meant to discuss these changes.

Le traitement documentaire des ressources continues (collections et périodiques) en RDA-FR fait l’objet d’un chapitre qui rejoindra la rubrique des Instructions générales du site de publication du code. Il est soumis à enquête nationale auprès des professionnels de l’information. L’enquête est placée sous l’égide de l’Afnor, par la commission CN 46-9 Information et documentation – Identification et description,  pour publication officielle dans le code RDA-FR. Le chapitre G décline la mise en œuvre du modèle IFLA LRM selon le principe Œuvre-Expression-Manifestation ou WEM lock. Les commentaires sont attendus avant le 20 septembre 2024.

Texte soumis à enquête : chapitre G

UKSG welcomes developed proposals from those who wish to deliver or co-deliver plenary sessions, breakout sessions, workshops and lightning talks. Suggestions on themes, topics, and initiatives are also welcome. The call for suggestions closes on Tuesday 30 July 2024. Our programme committee will then review all submissions and communicate outcomes in August.

The FORCE2024 Conference will be held August 1-3, 2024 in Los Angeles at UCLA. FORCE11 conference will be returning to an in-person format in 2024! This conference draws research professionals, librarians, administrators, publishers, and technical support into one space to discuss the latest developments in the field, and discuss strategies for the more effective application of Open Science programs and initiatives.

Register Now! and look at the programme.

The OASPA Conference brings the open access community together to discuss new developments and innovations in scholarly publishing, and unite in a shared goal to enable research around the world to be openly accessible to all.  The full programme is announced.

The conference will take place from 16-18 September 2024 in Lisbon at the Altis Grand Hotel.

Early bird registrations are open until July 31.

The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP)’s Annual Conference and Awards will be held at the Hilton Manchester Deansgate, UK and streamed online from 11-13 September 2024. This will be the second hybrid ALPSP Conference and will bring together the scholarly community both in-person and virtually.

Secure your place, look at the programme or watch highlights video for a brief insight into the event.