UMassD Scholarly Communications Committee

LibreTexts Jumpstart Training

November 19, 2024

10:01 pm

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course materials, libretexts, open educational resources, textbooks

Have you ever considered creating your own openly licensed textbook?

LibreTexts is an Open Educational Resources (OER) platform for creating, customizing, and sharing accessible, interactive textbooks, adaptive homework, and ancillary materials. The Claire T. Carney Library is now a member of LibreNet which gives us extra training and support for creating resources with LibreTexts.

There will be an online session from 2:30pm – 4:30pm on November 20th which will provide an overview of LibreTexts. Please bring your questions about the platform and how you can use it to create high quality course materials. Contact Emma Wood for the Zoom link or to access the recording after the session.

In the News: The Fake Paper Crisis

by emarkland

November 12, 2024

9:28 pm

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Journals, News & Events, Research

fake papers, publishing, research, retractions

by Megan Fletcher

The recent surge in academic research papers being retracted or corrected due to issues like faulty data, scientific misconduct, and outright fraud is a significant threat to the credibility of academic publishing and the broader academic community. The rise of artificial intelligence has exacerbated this problem, making it more difficult for academic publishers and researchers to manage.

To address this issue, it is imperative for academic publishers, researchers, and institutions to work together to implement stricter quality control measures and promote ethical research practices. This could involve investing in advanced tools for detecting plagiarism and fraud, strengthening peer review processes, and fostering a culture of transparency and accountability within the academic community.

Various news outlets, including the New York Times and The Guardian, have covered this topic. If you’re interested check out the recent articles below:

“The Situation has Become Appalling” Fake Scientific Papers Push Research Credibility to Crisis Point” – The Guardian
“Flood of Fake Science Forces Multiple Journal Closures” – The Wall Street Journal (access through UMass Dartmouth Library)
“More than 10,000 Research Papers were Retracted in 2023—a New Record” – Nature
“Top Cancer Center Seeks to Retract or Correct Dozens of Studies” – The New York Times (activate your New York Times subscription through UMass Dartmouth Library)

Open Access Week Feature: A UMD Collaboration in an OA Journal

by emarkland

October 24, 2024

4:09 pm

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Journals, News & Events

collaboration, creative commons, Open Access Publishing, open access week, psychology, publishing

Cross-posted from the Claire T. Carney Library Blog

International Open Access Week (October 21-27, 2024) is a time to recognize free and accessible research and scholarship and to inspire scholars to engage in the advantageous OA model in publishing. The term Open Access refers to scholarly material that is available digitally free of charge and without other access barriers. Today we will highlight a UMass Dartmouth faculty member who has published along with a UMass Dartmouth student under a Creative Commons license in an Open Access journal.

Nicholas Zambrotta is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Psychology department whose research interests include morality, political polarization, and social support and health related behaviors. In early 2024 Zambrotta published an article called “Attitude Changes Among College Students Post-Pandemic” with Alex Goncalo who was working on his BS in Finance. Goncalo has since earned his MS, and has gone on to pursue his PhD in Finance at the University of South Florida. Their study “measured happiness, optimism, and psychological well-being in a sample of 182 college students via an electronic Qualtrics questionnaire to identify predictors of state optimism and examine potential differences in these variables between class rankings.” The results of their survey and analysis can be read and shared (with attribution) by any researcher thanks to the OA model of their selected publication, Modern Psychological Studies.

The journal is managed by undergraduate students at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, and not only is it student-led, but Modern Psychological Studies focuses on publishing quality articles by undergraduate students. Regarding the review process, Goncalo says, “Their rigorous review process was enlightening, which contributed greatly to this undeniably invaluable experience.” Authors who choose to publish with MPS actually retain their copyright under a Non-Exclusive Distribution License. This arrangement protects freedoms of the authors, while the Creative Commons licenses applied to each article ensure that all researchers can benefit from the work.

Kudos to Zambrotta and Goncalo on their OA publication!

Image by Nick Shockey, licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en, available at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Access_symbol.png

International Open Access Week 2024

by emarkland

October 22, 2024

8:04 pm

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News & Events

international open access week, oa publishing, open access week, webinars

Cross-posted from the Claire T. Carney Library Blog

Open Access (OA) is a publishing model that values access over commercialization and makes scholarly material like research articles and books available to the public at no cost. International Open Access Week (October 21 – 27, 2024) is a time to recognize the importance of OA and to raise awareness. When information is readily available to all researchers, it can be more widely read, cited, and expanded. Are you interested in learning more about Open Access and breaking down paywalls? Consider attending these OA Week webinars hosted in Massachusetts:

Navigate OER Commons and Open Massachusetts Repository – Tuesday, October 22, 9:30am-10:30am
- This session will demonstrate the variety of features available when using OER Commons to locate and create OERs. A great introduction!
Intro to OER: A Beginner’s Guide for Faculty – Tuesday, October 22nd, 2:30pm-3:45pm
- This workshop is tailored for faculty members who are new to Open Educational Resources (OER) and are curious about how these free and openly licensed materials can enhance their teaching.
Evaluating Resources in OER Commons – Thursday, October 24th, 10:00am-11:00am
- Support creators and colleagues by using your subject expertise to evaluate Open Educational Resources in the Open Massachusetts Repository.
What’s the ‘Open’ in Open Educational Resources, and why does it matter? – Thursday, October 24th, 1:30pm-2:00pm
- This 30-minute webinar will explain why ‘Open’ is crucial to the definition of ‘Open Educational Resources’ (OER), permitting OER’s use for truly innovative pedagogy.

Paper Retraction: The Process and Why It Happens

by emarkland

October 16, 2024

2:41 pm

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Faculty Publications, Journals, Research

academia, academic papers, paper retraction, publishing, research, scholarly articles, scientific papers

by Sara Pike

This year, our committee will look at the sham and retracted paper crisis in more depth and share information with the community through this blog. We will begin by providing an overview and information about paper retraction, which is the flagging of a published work in a journal due to a serious issue like data falsification or major errors in the research that are discovered after the publication process is complete.

Discussion in academic circles and in the news about research integrity, paper retractions and falsified research continues to be a major topic and a major source of concern for academia and society at large, as examples of recent articles attest.

“1 in 7 scientific papers is fake, suggests study that author calls ‘wildly nonsystematic’” https://retractionwatch.com/2024/09/24/1-in-7-scientific-papers-is-fake-suggests-study-that-author-calls-wildly-nonsystematic/

“Whistleblowers flagged 300 scientific papers for retraction. Many journals ghosted them” https://www.science.org/content/article/whistleblowers-flagged-300-scientific-papers-for-retraction-many-journals-ghosted-them

Paper retraction goes beyond the correction of mistakes in published papers, and should be considered by either the author(s) or an editorial board if there are ethical concerns related to plagiarism, peer review, unreliable data, unauthorized use of data, copyright infringement, conflicts of interest and the like. https://publicationethics.org/retraction-guidelines

COPE, the Committee on Publication Ethics, provides this and much more information, including formal guidelines for paper retraction that many publishers rely on. If authors become aware of relevant issues with their work, they are strongly encouraged to explore self-retraction of papers by contacting the editorial board of the publication in question. In the months ahead we will explore topics related to paper mills and falsification of research articles as we seek to support scholars and their work.

Image by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels, https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-framed-eyeglasses-on-an-opened-book-5710588/

UMassD Education Professor Surpasses 10,000 Downloads for Globally Accessible Book Published with MIT Press

by emarkland

September 24, 2024

11:42 pm

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Faculty Publications, News & Events, Research

Direct to Open, Education, Embodied Cognition, MIT Press, Open Access Publishing, publishing, Sheila Macrine

by Emma Wood

MIT Press launched its Direct to Open (D2O) model in 2021 to make a shift toward Open Access (OA) publishing. The D2O framework is one of many transformative agreements emerging in the publishing world. The idea is to change the role of subscription funds. Libraries have always paid for read access to content, but the focus now is on channeling those funds toward the production of open access books and articles. In the MIT Press agreement, participating libraries contribute a membership fee, and the members support the publication of around 90 new books per year that can be accessed freely by anyone to promote equity and sustainability in scholarly material. As an added incentive, D2O libraries have access to an archive of over 2,500 titles that would otherwise be gated. UMass Dartmouth’s Claire T. Carney Library is currently a member.

When you browse the collection, look for a popular title co-edited by Sheila Macrine, Professor in the Department of Education here at UMass Dartmouth and Jennifer Fugate, Associate Professor of Health Services Psychology (PSYD) at Kansas City University.

MIT Press announced that they successfully reached their funding goal in 2024, and Macrine’s book was featured as one of nine OA books that have received over ten thousand downloads, and altmetrics (a system of tracking research attention) has seen 264 X posts from 154 X users, with an upper bound of 752,982 followers. The book is called Movement Matters, and according to the MIT Press description it “introduces a new model, translational learning sciences research, for interpreting and disseminating the latest empirical findings in the burgeoning field of embodied cognition. The book provides an up-to-date, inclusive, and essential resource for those involved in educational planning, design, and pedagogical approaches.”

“Movement Matters” is groundbreaking not only because it is available in an open format through a distinguished press, but because it bridges the gap between the latest neuroscience on sensorimotor integration and mirror neurons on teaching pedagogy and learning. Macrine gathered a team of top scholars to translate cutting-edge neuroscience research into practical teaching strategies that will benefit all researchers without barrier to access.

The complete book can be downloaded in PDF format, and it is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

OER Commons 101 Session

by emarkland

September 4, 2024

5:34 pm

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News & Events

course materials, open educational resources, Open Educational Resources (OER), teaching, textbooks

The fall semester is officially here! And the good news is there is still time to adopt Open Educational Resources for your courses. If you are interested in how to get started locating OERs, register for an OER Commons 101 session – Thursday September 12th at 11am.

Register Here!

To get started, take a look at some of the resources that can be found in the platform for sharing open educational resources created and adopted by faculty from Massachusetts Public Higher Education Institutions – Open Massachusetts: A Public Higher Education Repository

Research and Publishing Roundup

by emarkland

August 14, 2024

2:46 pm

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Faculty Publications, Journals, News & Events

academia, faculty, publishing, research, staff, students, umass dartmouth

Kudos to the following members of the UMass Dartmouth community on their research and publishing accomplishments:

Associate Dean of the College of Engineering Iren Valova participated in a panel on artificial intelligence at the Associated Industries of Massachusetts’ Commonwealth Conversation series. Valova joined Dell Technologies and TD Bank officials to discuss how artificial intelligence is changing the business landscape across industries and sectors of the economy.

Professor Avijit Gangopadhyay (Estuarine & Ocean Sciences) co-authored “On the evidence of helico‑spiralling recirculation within coherent cores of eddies using Lagrangian approach” in Nature’s Scientific Reports. The article aims to advance comprehension of coherent eddies’ structural characteristics and their internal dynamics.

Professor Geoff McDonald (Law) was interviewed for an article about post-foreclosure evictions. Based on his research, McDonald focuses on technical bankruptcy questions and the moral basis of bankruptcy, including the interrelated issues of debt, justice, and forgiveness.

Professor Brian Williams (History) authored an article in The Conversation on Ukraine’s defeat of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet due to their superior weapons and naval tactics.

Professor Chad McGuire (Public Policy) published “Using the Legal Concept of Fault Attribution to Analyze the Effectiveness of Coastal Climate Change Adaptation in the United States” in The Palgrave Handbook of Environmental Policy and Law. The article introduces the legal concept of fault attribution as a framework for assessing the effectiveness of current national coastal climate change policies.

Professor Kenneth Manning (Political Science) discussed the intricacies and “luck” involved in the recent Supreme Court ruling regarding presidential immunity and the impact on former President Trump.

Executive Director of Economic Development and Community Partnerships Michael Goodman was featured in the Summer 2024 issue of MassBenchmarks with his highlight titled “State of the State Economy.” The chapter discusses the Massachusetts economy’s slowing in the face of continued inflation, high interest rates, and slight downtrends in job growth.

Ethan Moyer (’25) was featured in an article for his artistic contribution to the Envision Resilience Mural Project in New Bedford. Moyer’s graphic will be turned into a mural that serves as a visual reminder of the impact of climate change

Do you need help accessing any of these publications? The librarians have you covered. Contact our reference staff with your request: https://lib.umassd.edu/about/staff-directory/contact-rils/

The Open Education Conference is Coming to Providence, RI!

by emarkland

August 6, 2024

2:53 pm

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News & Events

accessibility, equity, open education conference, Open Educational Resources (OER), open pedagogy, Textbook affordability

The Open Education Conference is an event for sharing and learning about open educational resources, open pedagogy, and open education initiatives, and it has been held annually since 2004. This gathering “celebrates the core values of open education that strive to realize education ecosystems that are accessible, affordable, equitable and inclusive to everyone, regardless of their background.” Recently the conference transitioned to leadership by a community-elected board of directors, and the conference operates within SPARC.

The 2024 OpenEd Conference will take place October 8-10th in Providence, RI. An option for virtual attendance is available as well. More information can be found at this website: https://openeducationconference.org/

Upcoming Webinar: How to Start Using OpenStax in Your College Course

by emarkland

July 23, 2024

2:20 pm

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News & Events

event, free textbooks, open textbooks, openstax, webinar

OpenStax is a well established educational initiative out of Rice University that hosts a library of free digital textbooks. Their books are known for being peer-reviewed and excellent quality. Each textbook comes with its own instructor and student resources like test banks and lecture slides. OpenStax offers a collection of about 70 books including a bestselling Organic Chemistry textbook that the author decided to openly license rather than continue producing with their regular publisher. Recently Rice’s OpenStax received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for $90 million dollars to develop SafeInsights, a hub for inclusive learning and education research.

OpenStax is hosting a webinar tomorrow for faculty who are interested in learning more about OpenStax and potentially using open textbooks in their courses. The webinar will cover:

The OpenStax mission
What open educational resources (OER) are (hint: OpenStax is an example of OER!)
How to access OpenStax textbooks in a variety of formats (including online, PDF, and print)
How to access your book’s free instructor resources (e.g., LMS integration, test banks, and lab manuals)
How to find education technology — like online homework, courseware, and AI tools — to use alongside your book
How OpenStax textbooks are made and the 10 titles they have recently added

If you cannot attend the webinar at Noon EST tomorrow, a recording will be emailed to all registrants.