***Apologies for Cross-posting***
[Hyperlinked version with figures is at:
http://openaccess.eprints.org/index.php?/archives/833-guid.html
Across the eight years since its launch in 2003, SHERPA Romeo's
importance and value as a resource have been steadily increasing. The
most recently announced upgrade covers 18,000 journals and is (1) More
up to Date, with (2) More Accurate Journal Level Searching, (3) More
Search Options, (4) Electronic ISSNs, and (5) Faster Performance.
In addition to congratulating SHERPA Romeo, let me use this occasion
to repeat the plea I made eight years ago to adjust the colour code to
provide the information that users need the most (and at the same time
bring the colour coding in line with the terminology that has since
gained wide currency: "Green OA"):
Although the distinction between journals that endorse the immediate
OA self-archiving of both the refereed postprint and the
pre-refereeing preprint (P+p) and journals that endorse the immediate
OA self-archiving of the refereed postprint but not the pre-refereeing
preprint (P) is not completely empty, it is of incomparably less
importance and relevance to OA than the distinction between journals
that do and do not endorse the immediate OA self-archiving of the
refereed postprint (P vs. not-P).
It is OA self-archiving of the refereed postprint that the OA movement
is about and for. And it is OA self-archiving of the refereed
postprint that is meant by the term "Green OA."
And yet SHERPA Romeo continues to code P+p as "green" and P as "blue"!
There is no "Blue OA." And the over 200 funders and institutions that
have already mandated Green OA have not mandated "Blue OA": They could
not care less whether the journals endorse the self-archiving of the
unrefereed preprint in addition to the refereed postprint: Green OA
only concerns the refereed postprint.
It is for this reason that EPrints Romeo has steadfastly generated a
colour-corrected version of the SHERPA Romeo summary statistics
pie-chart across these eight years -- in addition to generating the
statistics for journals as well as for publishers. (SHERPA Romeo
originally covered only publishers, but the statistics for journals
are much more informative -- and positive -- than the statistics for
publishers, since one publisher might publish one journal and another
might publish 2000!.)
To see the immediate gain in clarity and consistency from suppressing
the P+p/P ("green"/"blue") distinction in the summary statistics,
compare the SHERPA Romeo and EPrints Romeo summary pies for publishers
below. (Note that the EPrints Romeo data are static, because they have
not been updated for several years. The eye will show that for
publishers the proportions are much the same, but have gotten somewhat
better in recent years.
I beg SHERPA Romeo to add the simplified, colour-corrected pie
alongside the particoloured one (with the explanation that in the OA
world, "Green" means P, not just P+p.). It would make a world of
difference for user understanding.
In addition, now that SHERPA is covering the data at the individual
journal level, I urge providing the journal-level pie too, for it not
only gives a more realistic picture, but an even more positive one.
SHERPA Romeo's current "Green = Green & Blue = Green" publisher
pie-chart (based on proportions of publishers):
http://openaccess.eprints.org/uploads/sherpapubs.jpg
EPrints Romeo's colour-corrected publisher pie-chart, in which Green =
Green OA (and preprints-only endorsements are coded as "pale green")
(based on proportions of publishers, but out of date by several
years):
http://openaccess.eprints.org/uploads/eromeopubs.png
EPrints Romeo's colour-corrected journals pie-chart, in which Green =
Green OA (and preprints-only endorsements are coded as "pale green")
(based on proportions of journals). Note that the overall proportions
are even better (but these data areout of date by several years, hence
need updating, though they will not change much, as they already
covered most of the big publishers, with the largest number of
journals):
http://openaccess.eprints.org/uploads/eromeojourns.png
Stevan Harnad
On Mon, Aug 15, 2011 at 11:48 AM, Jane Smith <Jane.H.Smith --
nottingham.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> *Apologises for Cross-Posting*
>
>
>
> SHERPA Services’ is excited to announce the launch of an upgraded version of SHERPA RoMEO (www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo) as part of ongoing improvements to the SHERPA RoMEO service.
>
> The new version contains significant additions and improvements to RoMEO, and now provides:
>
> Increased Journal Coverage:
>
> SHERPA-RoMEO now has its own Journals database containing over 18000 journals including many titles not covered by the other lists we use - Zetoc, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and ENTREZ
>
> More up to Date:
>
> The new SHERPA RoMEO Journals database is faster than other lists in responding to new titles and journals that change publishers
>
>
>
> More Accurate Journal Level Searching:
>
> The new journals database means that RoMEO identifies rights holders more accurately, especially where a commercial publisher is publishing on behalf of a society
>
>
>
> More Search Options:
>
> In addition to searching for journals by title or ISSNs and publisher names, an advanced search option lets users search for publishers’ by RoMEO colour, RoMEO ID and RoMEO update date
>
>
>
> Electronic ISSNs:
>
> RoMEO now holds data on electronic ISSN’s in addition to print ISSN’s and users can search for both using the ISSN search field
>
>
>
> Faster Performance:
>
> Technical upgrades have made many features work faster than before
>
>
>
> About SHERPA-RoMEO
>
> SHERPA-RoMEO uses a simple colour-code classification to simplify complex publisher and journal policy information and provides impartial, easy to follow and accurate guidance on permissions and conditions of rights given to authors by journal publishers.
>
> SHERPA-RoMEO offers users the ability to:
>
> · View summaries of publishers' and journal copyright policies in relation to self-archiving
>
> · View if publisher and journal policies comply with research funder archiving policies, mandates and guidelines
>
> · To search journal and publisher information by Journal Title, Publisher Name, ISSN and eSSN
>
> Additionally, SHERPA-RoMEO provides lists of
>
> · Publishers that allow the use of their PDFs in Institutional Repositories
>
> · Publisher with Paid Options
>
> SHERPA-RoMEO is seen as an essential resource by many in the Open Access community.
>
> This development work is funded by JISC. Journal information is kindly provided by the British Library's Zetoc service hosted by MIMAS, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) hosted by Lund University Libraries, and the Entrez journal list hosted by the NCBI.
>
> About SHERPA Services’
>
> SHERPA Services’ are based at the Centre for Research Communications, University of Nottingham and maintain on behalf of the open access community a portfolio of services: RoMEO, JULIET and OpenDOAR.
>
> The Centre for Research Communications (CRC) was formed in April 2009, to help to support and inform the changes and new ideas in the way that research is communicated around the world. The CRC houses a portfolio of open access projects and initiatives currently undertaken by the University of Nottingham.
>
> OpenDOAR
>
> http://www.opendoar.org/
>
>
>
> RoMEO
>
> http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo
>
>
>
> JULIET
>
> http://www/sherpa.ac.uk/juliet
>
>
>
> JISC
>
> http://www.jisc.ac.uk/
>
>
>
> For all enquiries regarding RoMEO please contact: romeo@sherpa.ac.uk
>
> 15th August 2011
>
>
>
>
>
> Jane H Smith
>
> BSc (hons), MSc, MCLIP
>
> SHERPA Services Development Officer
>
>
>
> Tel: 01159514341
>
>
>
> Centre for Research Communications
>
> Greenfield Medical Library
>
> Queens Medical Centre
>
> University of Nottingham
>
> NG7 2UH
>
>
>
> CRC http://crc.nottingham.ac.uk/
>
>
>
> RoMEO www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo
>
> JULIET www.sherpa.ac.uk/juliet
>
> OpenDOAR www.opendoar.org
