ASAPbio newsletter volume 39

#FeedbackASAP meeting - Growing preprint review

On July 21, ASAPbio hosted the #FeedbackASAP meeting in partnership with DORA, HHMI and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. 

We are running a series of blog posts to summarize each of six breakout sessions, you can catch up on what was covered in five of the sessions via the posts below:

• Curation and review in the preprint landscape
• Considering campaigns to post journal reviews on preprints
• Public preprint review as a tool to empower the next generation of socially-conscious peer reviewers
• How to foster a positive preprint feedback culture: From FAST principles to implementation
• Developing a taxonomy to describe preprint review processes

September Community Call 'Understanding geographical disparities in preprint trends'

September 1, 5:00pm BST | 6:00pm SAST | noon EDT | 1:00pm BRT

While the use of preprints in the life sciences is increasing, disparities in adoption remain. One of the main disparities relates to differences in preprint posting across countries. In our next Community Call, we will explore how the use of preprints is developing in different geographical regions, and learn more about the drivers and barriers around preprint use for researchers in those regions.

Join the Call to hear about the experience at RINarxiv from Dasapta Erwin Irawan, and for a discussion with:

• Alex Mendonça, Online Submission & Preprints Coordinator, SciELO Brazil
• Thabiso Motaung, Lecturer at the University of Pretoria, South Africa

Organized the the ASAPbio Fellows Tomas Aparicio, Ksenia Kuznetsova, Allan Ochola, Indre Piragyte-Langa and Claudia Vasquez, we are running a competition that aims to help improve understanding about preprints among broad audiences, including those beyond the scientific community.

The competition calls for submissions that cover scientific work reported in a preprint, or which communicate the concept of preprints and their role in science communication. There are three categories: poetry, visual arts, videos. 

Anyone with an interest in science and preprints can participate: students, researchers, librarians, editors, or science communicators and members of the public. The deadline for submissions is 10 September 2021.

I am currently pursuing a master degree in microbiology at Kenyatta University in Kenya. My research involves virology in the area of HIV/AIDS with specific interest in co-infections of HIV and Hepatitis B among fishermen populations in Kenya. 

The Fellow program aims are in line with my commitment to encourage and recognize the most responsible behaviors in science and improve research communication through open science and open technology innovations. 

I'm a postdoc at Stanford University. I am interested in understanding the molecular and physical rules that cells use to build tissues and the higher order tissue structures that make up our organs. 

I think making the results of cutting-edge research presented in preprints accessible to the greater public can help strengthen interest and confidence in scientific processes.

I am a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Bern. I am working on the regulation of oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) in zebrafish model. 

There are two aspects that interest me a lot within science communication. First, how to make scientific knowledge more accessible and understandable to the general public, and how to increase public’s trust in scientists. Next one, how to make a publication system more fair, efficient, and accessible to the society that paid for it. 

News roundup

Indonesia Preprints month - RINarxiv, in collaboration with PDDI LIPI, AKADEMISI and ASAPbio, is running a series of weekly events exploring open science and preprints:

• Journal ecosystem, Citizen science - 13 August 2021 
• Open data & open protocols, UNESCO recommendations on Open Science - 20 August 2021
• Preprints towards critical thinking, Matthew Effect in the academic world - 27 August 2021