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Read this newsletter "cover to cover" or cherry-pick what interests you by clicking the links.
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Each year seems to fly by faster than the one before, and 2022 was no exception. This time it is difficult, almost impossible, to write something completely light hearted about the year that has gone by but all the same I will try.
The library saw the university’s first on campus semester in a couple of years when students were actually here. I wish I could give you an example of the buzzing sound of 500 students murmuring their way through group work in the library lounge, but you just have to imagine for yourself. It was invigorating and I am certain I speak for all of us when I say we were very happy about it. One could say that the library is now open access again, and coincidentally this newsletter is a bit open access themed as well.
As always, if you can’t find anything in this newsletter that excites you, please get in touch with us and tell us what you would like to see here.
Before stepping in to the New Year, we must also remember to take time to rest during the holidays. I hope you find the time to sleep in, take a walk, meet the ones you love, sit on a rock and stare at a frozen lake, read a book or perhaps do nothing at all.
Happy holidays!
Mas Karin Gustafsson
Images: Adobe Stock
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We are KAU library
Meet Eva Backström, one of our senior librarians. She is now part of research and publishing support, focusing on information retrieval and reference management.
When asked about her work and the new organization, Eva answers:
This new organization (read more here) is quite a big change for me – and at the same time it's not. I will miss the closer contact with people as a subject librarian but on the other hand I’ll be able to concentrate on information searching and reference management and have the possibility to meet researchers from all departments at KAU.
I’m fond of problem solving and to me information searching is rather similar to problem solving. It might sound strange but information searching is both logical and creative, which suits me I think. It is always an interesting task, and not always easy, trying to find out what researchers are looking for. That, and developing search strategies and performing searches are especially important when it comes to systematic reviews, also a part of research and publishing support.
With this new organization researchers will hopefully find it easier to get support, which is the most important thing.
Eva Backström
You can read more about our services in publishing and research support here.
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Bibliometric analysis at KAU
Bibliometrics involves statistical methods to quantitatively analyze research output. Indicators that are measured are often the volume of publications and the citations attached to those publications. Bibliometric analyses can be used to measure and compare the research output from nations, institutions or research groups.
In 2014, Karlstad University Library was given the assignment by the vice chancellor (RB 102/14) to conduct a yearly bibliometric analysis of research output from Karlstad University. The model for the analyses conducted since then has been comparable to the national analysis conducted by the Swedish Research Council on behalf of the Swedish government.
The government has used bibliometric indicators as a proxy for research quality and parts of the university funding for research have been based on those indicators. This practice has however been discussed and criticized for several years and in the latest research bill (Prop. 2020 21/60), the government proposes that peer review should replace bibliometrics and external funding as indicators of research quality. Since then, the Swedish Research Council, Forte, Formas and Vinnova together have proposed a new model which does not include bibliometrics.
Experiences from the analyses conducted locally at KAU are similar to the development at the national level, the interest and need for bibliometrics seem to be diminishing. In addition, the analyses are costly and time consuming for administrative staff and researchers. For these reasons, the library will pause the yearly wide bibliometric analyses for KAU. We will, however, still do basic bibliometric analyses for individual departments, research groups and subjects.
Learn more:
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KAU open access fund cancelled from 1 January 2023
As you are probably aware, making research publications openly available for anyone to read can be costly. It is not unusual that the open access publication of a single journal article costs 30-40,000 SEK. The university library now have agreements with almost all of the major publishers, which makes it possible for you to publish for free in almost 12,000 scientific journals.
However, if you want to publish in a journal not included in our agreements, it is still important that you remember to apply for open access funding when submitting your grant application to a research-funding agency. If the money you receive from the funder for open access publication is not enough to cover your expenses, since 2017 KAU library has been able to help through our open access fund. However, from January 1st 2023 onwards this fund will be cancelled.
When we started the fund five years ago we had only one established open access agreement with a publisher. Now, we have 19 such agreements. This development has meant that the applications to our open access fund have diminished significantly, and the fund is on its way of becoming obsolete. In addition, the library’s budget is severely strained due to cost increases, and we need to prioritize among our resources. Against this backdrop, the vice chancellor have decided to cancel the fund (Rb 126/22).
We realize that this decision can cause problems if your favourite journal is not included in any of our existing open access agreements. So, what to do? Here are few suggestions:
- Submit your manuscript and apply for funding before 1 January. We will administer all applications submitted before this date, and approved applications will get funding even if the article is published after 1 January.
- If you have external funding, contact your funder to check whether it is able to provide you with additional money for open access costs.
- If you are about to apply for external funding, remember to include open access costs in your budget.
- Check with your head of department if he/she is able to cover any of the publication costs from the department budget.
- If you have no other solutions, remember that most publishers allow you to publish your accepted manuscript in DiVA or on a personal website. Are you unsure of what terms and conditions that apply to your paper, please contact publiceringsstod@kau.se.
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In the spotlight: Ellen Moons
The Nobel Day is just around the corner, celebrating research, peace and literature. We seized the opportunity to talk to KAU researcher Ellen Moons and ask her three quick questions about the work behind this year's Nobel Prize in Physics and what it's like being on the committee deciding who is awarded the Nobel Prize.
Ellen, you are a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, which works to promote the sciences and strengthen their influence in society. One responsibility for the Academy is to select the Nobel laureates. For this year’s physics prize you and your colleagues in the Nobel committee selected Alain Aspect, John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger for their groundbreaking experiments with entangled photons. First of all, why are their work important for research in physics and for society?
The work that is awarded the Nobel prize in Physics 2022 is a set of pioneering experiments using entangled photons. Entanglement is one of the most fascinating fundamental properties of quantum mechanics, through which particles that come from the same source are linked to one another (we say that they share the same quantum state), even if they are separated by long distance.
This means that properties of one of the particles are not independent of those of the other one. The experiments are significant because they settled the historical debate between Albert Einstein and Nils Bohr about the nature of quantum mechanics: Einstein was not fond of the fact that quantum mechanics only can give us probabilities and no exact answers (“He doesn’t play dice”) while Bohr accepted that uncertainty is inherent to the quantum world.
Alternative theories arose to try to explain the observations, all containing some kind of hidden properties of the entangled particles that would be revealed when a measurement is made. Through the experiments of Aspect, Clauser, and Zeilinger, such substitute theories for quantum mechanics that contained hidden variables were proven false. The laureates were strongly inspired by an article of the deceased Northern-Irish physicist John Bell, who formulated the criterion they used.
Apart from the importance of the work for fundamental physics, the experiments also pave the road for a whole new quantum information technology, which makes use of entangled states. Applications such as quantum cryptography and quantum computers are emerging and will become increasingly important for secure and fast information processing and transfer.
You have been part of the Royal Academy of Sciences since 2018 but this was the first time you partook in the work with selecting the Nobel laureates for physics. What was the experience like?
That is right. This year was my first as a member of the Nobel Committee for Physics. This committee consists of six to nine members of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, elected by the members of the Physics class. This committee proposes the Nobel Prize laureates to the Academy, who makes the decision on the same day as the announcement of the prize is made,
The committee works under strict confidentiality. It is at the same time an amazing and humbling experience to be involved in this work and dig deep into Physics. The work is intensive and spans over all areas of Physics, from quantum technology to cosmology. The announcement of the Nobel prizes gets a lot of public attention world wide, as I could clearly experience on the spot. This week we welcome the laureates to Stockholm, where they hold their Nobel lectures on 8 december and receive their awards on 10 december, followed by the Nobel banquette. This year's banquette is extraordinary because the Nobel prize laureates from the last three years are coming together.
Have this year’s prize winners inspired you in any way, research wise or from a more personal perspective?
I wouldn’t say it has inspired me research wise, since the field is quite different from my own, but what has fascinated me is the meticulous care and thoroughness with which the experiments were designed and carried out to omit all kinds of artefacts of the measurement.
This prize also reminds us of the fact that it takes a lot of time and dedication to answer a single question. This teaches us that it pays off being very selective in choosing the question to work on.
Thank you, Ellen, for chatting with us!
Ellen Moons
More reading:
Top image: © Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Clément Morin.
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Meet a researcher
Sometimes it is hard to keep track of all the great research that happens within our university. One initiative to make it easier to learn what your colleagues are up to or to tell them a bit about your own research is ´Meet a Researcher' ("Möt en forskare"). It is an open seminar series where staff, students, and the general public can listen to and discuss with KaU researchers who present their research findings in a popular scientific way.
Keep a look out on our calendar for the next researcher who takes the floor.
Do you want to present your research and be one of the researchers to meet? Please contact Irina Persson.
More information: Möt en forskare
Image: Unsplash
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Changes in the library's research and publishing support
The university library’s research and publishing support have reorganized in order to better meet the demand for our services. Reorganizing will also make us less vulnerable during for example the start of a new semester.
The following changes are now in effect as a result of reorganizing research and publishing support during 2022:
- The library’s research support is now one unit together with publishing support. Our subject librarians are replaced with teams. Read more about our teams below.
- There is a web form for undergraduate and master students who want to book an appointment with a librarian for information retrieval or reference management. Boka bibliotekarie (in Swedish)
- Acquisitions of all types of material are handled by Media supply and IT. Use our email address forvarv@kau.se for all purchase proposals.
- Use our email addresses forskarstod@kau.se or publiceringsstod@kau.se to contact the library’s research- and publishing support.
Our webpages on kau.se/bibliotek and our subject guides has been updated.
The library’s research- and publishing support teams are:
Ann Dyrman is the coordinator for research- and publishing support. Read more.
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Forskningspodden - a podcast focusing on research at KAU
Have you listened to our podcast yet? In our research podcast “Forskningspodden” we talk to researchers who have recently defended their licentiate or doctoral thesis. The podcast is a chance for you as a researcher to listen to other researchers talking about their work and also a chance to reach an audience in a more relaxed setting. 
We invite all new licentiates and doctorates to be a guest on Forskningspodden. Keen to know more?
Contact Magnus Åberg.
You can listen to our podcast here.
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New guidelines for publishing with open access
The Swedish Research Council has announced new requirements for publishing with open access. The guidelines apply for researchers from October 2022. Worth noting is that all publication types are included, such as articles, chapters and scientific books. Read more here.
The report “Forskares förutsättningar att publicera med öppen tillgång – med fokus på Sverige” has formed the basis for the work producing new guidelines and contains mapping and analysis carried out by the Swedish Research Council during 2022. Read the report here. (in Swedish)
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RSC on the road to open access
The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has announced its plans to become 100% open access in 2028. In connection it is raising the publishing fees for 2023. However, this will not affect the Bibsam consortium agreement 2022-2024.
Read RSC’s press release here.
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Open science at Karlstad University 2023-2024
Open Science is an umbrella term for efforts to make publications, research data, and other research related activities openly available for anyone and everyone. The Swedish government’s aim for open science is that Swedish universities should have completed the transition to open science by the year 2026. This endeavor will require a shift in research management which in principle will affect the entire university.
Now, the vice chancellor has decided (Rb 148/22) on what the KAU open science work should focus on during 2023 and 2024. Here is a summary of those prioritized areas and the functions responsible for them:
- Forskningsstrategiska gruppen (eng: 'Research strategy group'), vice chancellor, pro vice chancellor, deans, heads of finance department and heads of Grants and Innovation Office, will have the main responsibility for coordinating the transition to open science at KAU.
- Deans and Heads of subjects will be responsible for promoting a work culture that supports open science.
- Forskningsadministrativa styrgruppen (heads of the central support units) will be responsible for ensuring that researchers are provided with appropriate digital infrastructure and user support for that.
- Research supervisors will be responsible for ensuring that Ph.D. students creates data management plans for their projects.
- Kvalitetsråd and HR department will be responsible for monitoring the national and international efforts to make open science meriting for researchers.
More information
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Thank you...
...for reading this letter all the way through. We hope you enjoyed it.
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