Category Archives: Open Access

The Top Five Institutional Repository Downloads for February

Posted on by

institutional-repository

The bad weather may have slowed things down outside, but our Institutional Repository carried on apace. Over two hundred items were added last month, taking us close to passing the 11,000 mark.

Here are the top five most downloaded items from the last month:

1. Acoustic black holes and their applications for vibration damping and sound absorption by V. Krylov (holding firmly to no.1 with a whopping 450 downloads)

2. Discourse analysis means doing analysis: a critique of six analytic shortcomings by C. Antaki et al (up one place from last month with 121 downloads)

3. Electronic data interchange in the construction industry by T. Lewis (up from 5th place last month with 108 downloads)

4. Discourse analysis and constructionist approaches: theoretical background by J. Potter (new entry this month with 96 downloads)

5. Thy righteousness is but a menstrual clout: sanitary practices and prejudice in early modern England by S. Read (down one place with 93 downloads)

Our repository increases the visibility of Loughborough’s research and the materials within it are centrally stored and preserved. The material in the collection includes journal articles, book chapters, conference papers and theses.

To find out more about the IR, and how you can submit your research, visit the IR homepage here.

Easter Elevenses Workshops in the Library

Posted on by

easter bunny

Every Wednesday at 11AM over the Easter vacation, why not down-tools and head over to the Library for a chocolate Easter egg and a morsel of research training?

Come and network with colleagues whilst picking up a hint or tip on a wide range of research-related topics. Each slot is a manageable coffee-break-sized 30 minutes – just enough time for a breather before you return to your desk refreshed and informed!

All sessions are being run in Library Training Room 1, and they’re available on the following topics on the following dates:

Making Mendeley work for you – Wednesday 20th March.

How to manage your research data – Wednesday 27th March.

New to LUPIN? – Wednesday 3rd April.

Going for Gold open access – Wednesday 10th April.

To book your place, or for further information, please use the Staff Development Web pages here:

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/service/sd/.

Refreshing research skills and raising research visibility

Posted on by

Gold open access; the green route; Academia.edu; Researchgate; Google Scholar profiles; h-index; impact factors… 

Are you a member of academic staff or research staff and these terms are a mystery to you? Or would you like to know more about how to make your research more visible? Or would you simply like to discover how to find information for your own research more effectively? If so, why not take some time out of the office or lab and come along to one of the Library workshops for Academic and Research Staff in March or July. They are all designed specifically for staff and research associates, with excellent feedback from attendees in previous years.

 “Really useful to understand impact of research”

“All great!”

“Practical session and useful advice.”

“Good pace and nice to try things straight after being introduced rather than all at end.  This was a very good session introducing a range of different resources.”

This year’s workshops are:

  • Finding research information;
  • Assessing your research impact with bibliometrics;
  • Increasing the visibility of your research;
  • Improving your research impact through open access.

To find out more about the sessions and book, please visit the Library’s Staff Workshops page.

The Top Five Institutional Repository Downloads for January

Posted on by

institutional-repository

The New Year has been a busy time for our Institutional Repository. A further 309 items were added in January making a total in excess of 10,750.

Visitors to the IR were busy too – here are the top five most downloaded items from the last month:

1. Acoustic black holes and their applications for vibration damping and sound absorption by V. Krylov (202 downloads).

2. Techniques for achieving dynamic stabilisation of a sonar array platform by P. Lepper & B. Woodward (156 downloads)

3. Discourse analysis means doing analysis: a critique of six analytic shortcomings by C. Antaki et al (136 downloads)

4. Thy righteousness is but a menstrual clout: sanitary practices and prejudice in early modern England by S. Read (132 downloads)

5. Electronic data interchange in the construction industry by T. Lewis (121 downloads)

Our repository increases the visibility of Loughborough’s research and the materials within it are centrally stored and preserved. The material in the collection includes journal articles, book chapters, conference papers and theses.

To find out more about the IR, and how you can submit your research, visit the IR homepage here.

The Top Five Institutional Repository Downloads for December

Posted on by

institutional-repository

Santa was more than generous with our Institutional Repository over the festive season as the Academic Schools began to send in their REF Papers for processing by our highly trained team of IR elves, who added over 230 new items to the database over December before retiring for a well-earned rest at the North Pole.

Visitors to the IR were busy too – here are the top five most downloaded items from the last month:

1. Propagation of localised flexural vibrations along plate edges described by a power law by V. Krylov & A. Shuvalov (148 downloads)

2. Protectionism to liberalisation : Ireland and the EEC, 1957 to 1966 by M. Fitzgerald (122 downloads)

3. Anthropometric study to update minimum aircraft seating standards by C. Quigley et al (91 downloads)

4. Thy righteousness is but a menstrual clout: sanitary practices and prejudice in early modern England by S. Read (88 downloads)

5. Discourse analysis means doing analysis: a critique of six analytic shortcomings by C. Antaki et al (84 downloads)

Our repository increases the visibility of Loughborough’s research and the materials within it are centrally stored and preserved. The material in the collection includes journal articles, book chapters, conference papers and theses. Last month we added our 10,000th item and we expect to match this number over the coming year! 

To find out more about the IR, and how you can submit your research, visit the IR homepage here.

10,000th item added to Loughborough’s University’s Institutional Repository

Posted on by

We are delighted to announce that the 10,000th item has been added to Loughborough University’s Institutional Repository. The submitter of the 10,000th item was Vadim Silberschmidt, Professor of Mechanics of Materials in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering.

Vadim is pictured above receiving his prize – a festive hamper – from the University Librarian, Ruth Jenkins.

Professor Silberschmidt has over thirty journal articles and conference papers in the Institutional Repository. The winning submission, co-authored with PhD student Xianan Hou and Memis Acar, Professor of Mechanics, is available on the Repository at: https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace-jspui/handle/2134/10846

As one of the largest full-text university repositories in the UK, Loughborough’s Institutional Repository reflects a successful partnership between the Library and Academic Schools and Departments across the entire University. In 2012 the Repository was fully integrated with the University’s new publication information database, LUPIN, resulting in a 47% increase in submissions. Containing a range of items including full-text journal articles, conference papers, book chapters, official reports, PhD theses and audio-visual material, the Repository is an impressive online collection of the University’s research output. With the majority of items available on open access, centrally stored and preserved, the Repository ensures that Loughborough University’s research output is freely available to the wider research community, thus increasing its impact and citation rates.

For further information on the Institutional Repository and how to submit your publications via LUPIN, please see our web pages at:

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/services/library/online/repository/

Or contact us in the Library at 01509 222338 / 222363 or email repository@lboro.ac.uk

Open access publishers: separating the wheat from the chaff

Posted on by

With the increased push to publish in open access (OA) journals, academics are often asking how to rate the quality of an open access journal – especially as many such publications are new and have no impact factors yet.  Unfortunately, many organisations are jumping on the OA bandwagon and are trying to cash in on academics’ need to publish by setting up low-quality OA journals.  We came across this list of “suspect” OA Publishers, and thought it might be a useful starting point.  If you want any further advice on choosing where to publish, please speak to your Academic Librarian.

Summer refreshment for your research skills. Training sessions for Academic and Research Staff

Posted on by

 

As your thoughts start to turn to research over the summer vacation, why not participate in one of the Library courses specifically for Academic and Research Staff. These small-group, practical workshops allow you to refresh and develop your information skills and dissemination strategies, as well as meet colleagues from across campus.

The workshops are:

Finding Research Information
Update yourself on the range of new information sources and services available from your desktop. The session will enable you to refresh and refine your information finding skills, as well as identifying sources to help you keep up-to-date with development in your research field.

Wednesday 4th July
10-12 noon
Library Training Room 1

Feedback from previous courses includes:

“Good overview of resources available & time to practice using them”
“Presenters were friendly and helpful”

Book yourself a place here:
http://pdwww.lboro.ac.uk/eventdetails.asp?run=11153

Measuring and Improving your Research Impact with Bibliometrics
Find out how to assess the impact of your research through citation analysis, or bibliometrics. The Library provides access to a widening range of tools that can be used for this purpose. The session will demystify the topic, so that you can use these tools to your advantage, and provide an opportunity for you to practise using the tools discussed and demonstrated.

Thursday 5th July
2-4 pm
Library Training Room 1

Feedback from previous courses includes:

“Hands on sessions”
“Really useful to understand impact of research”
“[Presenters] very keen to explain in detail”

Book yourself a place here:
http://pdwww.lboro.ac.uk/eventdetails.asp?run=11149

 

Improving your Research Impact through Open Access
This session will provide an overview of different open access publishing routes and how researchers and the University can harness the benefits.

Wednesday 11th July
2-3.30 pm
Library Training Room 1

Feedback from previous courses includes:

“Opportunity to discuss the topic”
“Involving the participants – was good to hear what other people think of OA & use it or not”
“All great”

Book yourself a place here:
http://pdwww.lboro.ac.uk/eventdetails.asp?run=11151

 

The Top Five Institutional Repository Downloads For March

Posted on by

The run up to Easter was a busy time for our Institutional Repository. Here’s a run-down of the top five most downloaded items for March:

1.  Effect of preharvest UV-treatment on shelf life of fruits and vegetables by Matthew A. Obande. (holding steady at no.1 with 340 downloads)

2. The effects of open access mandates on institutional repositories in the UK and Germany by Sabine Puskas (151 downloads, up two places from last month!)

3. Feasibility of zero carbon homes in England by 2016: a house builder’s perspective by Mohamed Osmani and Alistair O’Reilly (125 downloads, down one place from no.2 last month)

4. Protectionism to liberalisation : Ireland and the EEC, 1957 to 1966 by Maurice Fitzgerald (109 downloads) 

5. Silica fume concrete in hot and temperate environments by A.S.S. Al-Eesa (98 downloads)

Our repository increases the visibility of Loughborough’s research and the materials within it are centrally stored and preserved. The material in the collection includes journal articles, book chapters, conference papers and theses. To find out more about it, and how you can submit your research, visit the IR homepage here.

Claim your research papers! New Citation Tool from Google

Posted on by

 Google have introduced a new gadget called Google Scholar Citations.  This allows you to ‘claim’ your research papers via Google Scholar and create a citation profile for yourself.  You can merge duplicate records, and delete erroneous ones.  Your profile will then appear when someone searches for you on Google.  It will provide citation data (your h-index, and cites per paper) and of course, links to the papers themselves if available on open access, thus (hopefully) resulting in more citations!

Go claim your work!