Andy Hickner's blog

The latest issue of The Economist includes 3 articles focused on issues you should be aware of as you seek to publish your research. "Assessing the Importance of Scientific Work" discusses the development of altmetrics and profiles 2 companies working in the field. "The Findings of Medical Research are Disseminated Too Slowly" looks at how the old model of scientific research locked up behind paywalls is changing, as funders such as the Gates Foundation begin to require its grantees to make their work freely available to the public. "The Shackles of Scientific Journals, and How to Cast them Off" outlines the problems with the old model of scientific publishing, which results in profits for journal publishers to the detriment of the scientific enterprise and to the general public, as well as additional solutions including open access repositories and more transparent peer review. These are quick reads, and we encourage our researchers to spend the less than 10 minutes it takes to skim them. We thank Heather Joseph, Executive Director of SPARC, for drawing our attention to these articles.  If you are a researcher, check out our Research Impact guide to learn how to use altmetrics and other tools to help you tell the story of *your* research impact. 

Yale University, including Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, will be closed tomorrow, Tuesday, March 14, due to the forecast nor'easter.  We will re-open Wednesday morning at the usual time. Stay home and off the roads tomorrow, and see you Wednesday! 

Increasing the Openness and Reproducibility of Your Research Friday, March 3, 2017 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM Yale Center for Research Computing Auditorium (Registration required) There are many actions researchers can take to increase the openness and reproducibility of their work. Please join us for a workshop from the Center for Open Science to learn easy, practical steps that increase research reproducibility. Participants will gain a foundation for incorporating reproducible, transparent practices into their current workflows.  Using example studies, attendees will actively participate in creating a reproducible project from start to finish. Topics covered include: project documentation, version control, pre-analysis plans, and open source tools like the Open Science Framework that allow researchers to implement these concepts in a scientific workflow. This workshop is aimed at researchers across disciplines who are engaged in quantitative research and does not require any specialized knowledge of programming. The workshop will be hands-on; attendees will need to bring their own laptops in order to fully participate. This workshop builds on the theme of the 2016 Yale Day of Data, which focused on data reproducibility. The workshop will be given by Courtney Soderberg, the Statistical and Methodological Consultant at the Center for Open Science (COS), where she directs training programs for reproducible research methods. Soderberg received her Ph.D. in Experimental Social Psychology with a minor in Quantitative Psychology at UC Davis. Space is limited, and coffee will be available. Please register here.

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Curated by Susan Wheeler, this small exhibit reminds us of the impact of the war on non-combatants and the importance of attending to the emotional needs of soldiers.  The selections advertise relief organizations and services soliciting funds and materials.  World War l posters are well known for their beauty and effectiveness. These posters helped to raise over a hundred million dollars in relief funds and ten million library books.  This exhibition is on view in the hallway from January 25 to April 25.