IS News Blog

Journal Citation Reports (JCR) provide a systematic and objective means of determining the relative importance of science and social sciences journals within their subject categories.  Particularly useful, JCR tells you which journals have the highest impact and have been cited the most. 

 

Each edition of JCR is published annually following the year of coverage – the 2007 data has now been released.  There are two different editions:  the Science Edition covers around 6,000 science and technology journals, and the Social Sciences Edition covers around 1,800 social sciences journals.

 

There are a number of reasons you might want to use this publication, but if you are an active researcher the primary reasons are:

• identifying journals with the highest impact
• identifying journals with the greatest total cites
• identifying journals in which to publish
• confirming the status of journals in which you have published
• identifying journals relevant to your research

The Library has arranged access to JCR via the University Portal. Within the Portal select the A-Z list of online resources link, then select Journal Citation Reports from the list.   A Guide on using JCR is also available.

 

Auto deletion of high-scoring SPAM will start on 20th June

 

You may recall that, on 7th April 2008, Information Services announced a pilot to test the viability of automatically deleting incoming email messages which had a high probability of being spam (see our SPAM pilot web page for details).

 

Users were invited to send feedback on the pilot. An analysis of the feedback received follows:

A total of 51 responses were received from 36 staff members.
16 responses contained queries about email which were not relevant to the purpose of the pilot. These were passed to various IS staff to be dealt with.
9 responses were messages of support for the proposals.
23 responses related to false positives which scored between 5 and 15. Messages in this category will not be auto deleted under the proposed scheme and will be easier to identify in the Junk Email folder when the high scoring spam is no longer there.
3 responses related to false positives which scored 15 or over. These messages would be auto deleted.

 

The headers that were sent were analysed resulting in two modifications to the spam detection rules to reduce the scores. Users were provided with advice for their correspondents on how to reduce the risk of their messages being deleted rather than delivered.

 

During the period of the pilot (10 April to 11 June) over 19 million messages were processed by the spam detection system resulting in only three high scoring false positives being reported. This is considered to be such a small risk that Information Services will proceed with the proposal. With effect from Friday 20 June 2008 all inbound email messages which score 15 or more on the spam check will be deleted by the email service rather than being delivered to the recipient.

 

Alan Richardson
Systems and Network Services Manager

On 9th April the University announced that it had become the first academic institution in the UK to oblige staff to make all their published research available online. This press release on the Portal has further details.

 

Professor Ian Simpson, our Deputy Principal (Research and Knowledge Transfer), was quoted:

 

“We believe that the outcomes of all publicly funded research should be made available as widely as possible. By ensuring free online access to all our research output, we will maximise the visibility and impact of the University’s work to researchers worldwide.”

 

Many UK institutions now have an Open Access research Repository – the OpenDOAR registry lists 92 institutions ( http://www.opendoar.org ), and across the world there are many more; the specialist search engine OAIster now searches across 950 repositories ( http://www.oaister.org/ ).

 

The news from Stirling caused a flurry of comment on blogs and email lists, however, not only because it was important news in the world of open access to research, but also because it sparked a debate about whether Stirling really was first in the UK to oblige staff to add their published research.

 

Around the same time as our own press release the University of Southampton also announced its own University-wide mandate at the Open Repositories Conference. The news caused a flurry of comment on blogs and email lists with suggestions that these university mandates would be the first of many.

 

Peter Suber, an independent policy strategist for open access and Senior Researcher at the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition blogged on this very topic:

 

“…no matter how the priorities turn out, both policies deserve kudos and recognition as trailblazers. The fact they were the first two in the UK , and nearly simultaneous, shows the ripeness of the idea. There should be many more to come.”

 

http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2008/04/stirling-u-adopts-oa-mandate.html

 

Well, so far that’s the rhetoric, but what does this decision to make our research publications freely available mean in practice?

 

The regulations will come into place from September 2008, and will apply to publications from January 2007 onwards. Currently Information Services is running a pilot with a small group of academic staff to sort out the detail of the best methods of submitting published articles to the Repository, now officially named: “STORRE: Stirling Online Research Repository”. So keep a look out over the next few months for recommendations on how submissions are to be organised.

 

If you’d like to be involved in the pilot please do get in touch, or else simply start submitting. There’s a brief guide at: http://www.is.stir.ac.uk/research/repository/research-deposit.php .

 

Our research students have been successfully submitting their theses to STORRE since 2006, and we hope this expansion into other scholarly works will greatly increase the readership, and citation rates, of Stirling ‘s research.

 

You can search STORRE from the University Portal. Choose the STORRE link from the Working at Stirling tab. You can browse by Author, Title, Date, or search by keyword, including searches of the full text.

 

Perhaps the best way to demonstrate the visibility of the repository is via a Google search. For example, Google for: ‘red grouse research’. The top link out of 85,000 possible answers is from the University of Stirling repository. Or Google for: ‘democracy in post-communist Europe ‘, again, the repository comes near the top.

 

There were a number of responses to Stirling ‘s press release, but two in particular stood out. The first was from the blog of Peter Murray-Rust. Peter worked at Stirling University for a number of years, leaving in 1982, and is now Reader in Molecular Informatics at the University of Cambridge . Peter said:

 

“It is clear decisions like this, pushing the frontiers of Open Access, help to change the world. The more that this happens, the greater the courage it gives to others. Stirling – as a new (1967) University was always keen to innovate and I’m proud to feel part of this.”

 

http://wwmm.ch.cam.ac.uk/blogs/murrayrust/?p=1031

 

The second was an email we received from Barbara Kirsop from the charity Electronic Publishing Trust for Development ( http://www.epublishingtrust.org/ ). Here’s an excerpt:

 

“Congratulations to STORRE! This makes another valuable source of free research information for those in the developing world unable to afford journals.”

 

This sort of feedback reminds us that it’s not about who came first, what matters is the taking part.

 

Clare Allan (Library Liaison and Training) and Michael White (Centre for e-Learning Development)
Joint Repository Managers

From 31st July 2008 JISC will cease funding for the Athens Access Management System currently used to provide authenticated access to many of the Library’s web based subscription resources such as online journals, abstract databases, and e-books.

 

To replace Athens , Information Services are implementing two new Access Management systems: Shibboleth and EZProxy. Both new systems will be integrated with the University Portal, so there won’t be any new usernames or passwords to remember.

 

Shibboleth is what is known as a Federated Access Management solution: when a Stirling user wants to access a resource, the resource they are trying to access contacts the University’s Shibboleth system. The system ensures the user is logged on via the University Portal and then passes information about the user directly to the resource. The resource then uses this information to decide whether or not to allow the user access.

 

JISC has committed to Shibboleth as the next generation Access Management solution and has set up the UK Access Management Federation to support the adoption of Shibboleth by the UK HE and FE communities.

 

Not all Athens resources will be available via Shibboleth by the end of July, however, so EZProxy will be used to maintain access to the remaining resources until such time as they become Shibboleth compliant. 

 

EZProxy is a system which enables off campus users to access IP protected library resources. IP authentication relies on the location of the computer accessing the resource and so, traditionally, only provides access for on campus users. The EZProxy server, which is on campus, authenticates the off campus user via the Portal and then requests the required resource on their behalf. This will allow off campus users to gain access to IP protected resources via the Library’s A-Z list of online resources.

 

What will this mean for users? The best way to access Library resources will still be to start by logging on to the University Portal, then going to the Library’s A-Z List (which is linked to from the Portal), and then accessing the required resource from there. These links will be configured to use the appropriate authentication mechanism, so you shouldn’t need to worry about what is going on behind the scenes. Detailed guides on how to access particular resources following the change over will also be made available from the A-Z list when the time comes.

 

One consequence of the switch from Athens to Shibboleth and EZProxy may be the loss of any personalisation settings (e.g. saved searches, alerts etc). This is because users arriving at a resource will be carrying a different kind of authentication identifier, so the resource will not recognise a user authenticating via Shibboleth or EZProxy as the same user who previously authenticated using Athens . In some cases Service Providers are providing a means for transferring personalisation settings from an old Athens account to a new Shibboleth based account, but in many cases it will be necessary to recreate personalisation settings.

 

The grand switch over from Athens to Shibboleth/EZProxy will take place at the end of July. There is more information available on the IS web site. Updates on the move to Shibboleth will be added to our web site as appropriate and announcements will be made via the IS homepage and via emails. In the meantime if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact your Senior Subject Librarian.

 

Michael White
Shibboleth Project Manager
Centre for e-Learning Development

 

On first glance the A-Z online resource the Barbour Index would appear to deal only in matters relating to construction. However this is not the case with the system providing a wide range of health, safety and environmental information. Want to find out more about: the latest in health and safety, play areas for children, does nuclear power live up to its green credentials? – then Barbour can provide part of the answer. Along with providing databases linked to full text of documents the system allows you to set up e-mail alerts. For the dedicated estates person there are databases of product information and suppliers.

 

 

VADS – the Visual Arts Data Service – has recently been relaunched. It provides access to over 100,000 images which are copyright cleared and free for use in higher and further education in the UK. The collections are diverse and include images of African and Asian art, posters from war-time Britain and public monuments and sculptures. More information

 

 

For the last week of semester and vacation opening hours please see the Opening Hours page.

Long Loans – Items issued from Friday 9 May 2008 are due for return by Friday 19 September 2008.

POP Loans – Remain weekly loans.

RBR books and photocopies - Will change to weekly loans from Friday 30 May 2008.

Short Loans – No change.

Please note:

• all items borrowed over the vacation are liable for recall so you should not take items overseas.
• if you fail to return a recalled item by the specified date you will be charged £8 for the cost of a Document Delivery request.
• if you cannot return a recalled book to us in person, you should post it back to Lending Services, Stirling University Library, Stirling University, Stirling, FK9 4LA
• if posting a recalled book back to us please the GPO service ‘Compensation for lost or damaged items’. See the Post Office booklet “All you need to know” for details.

As part of the Library’s Strategic Development Fund we have purchased backfiles to the BIOSIS Previews database, which will allow you to search right back to 1926 online rather than using the paper copy.

BIOSIS Previews is an index for finding journal articles, and other types of publications; it is the most comprehensive source for biological and biomedical literature. See the BIOSIS guide for more information.

To access BIOSIS Previews, you need to logon to the Portal. Select A – Z list of Online Resources under Academic Links. Choose B for Biosis Previews. Select the Click here to access ISI Web of Knowledge. Then click on the Select a Database tab. Scroll down to select Biosis Previews. Any searches you do will automatically be searched all the way back to 1926. Alternatively you may want to select the latest 5 years only.

The paper copies of Biological Abstracts, 1926 -1984 will now be disposed of and will free up over 30 shelves of space.