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Tag: Scholarly Publishing

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Health Sciences Research Commons

Did you recently present at a conference or during a workshop? Would you like to share your conference poster with other scholars? Are you interested in archiving your research in a central location? The Health Sciences Research Commons (HSRC) is Himmelfarb Library’s online institutional repository and allows researchers to store their research in a reliable location so it may be accessed by other researchers. 

Here are a few benefits to storing your research in the HSRC:

  1. Your conference poster will be placed in a permanent collection with a consistent link. This link may be embedded in your resume/CV or on your researcher’s website. It may also be shared with your peers and connect them with your conference poster. 
  2. Your work is archived according to your departmental affiliation, so your work is situated among the collective output of your colleagues. 
  3. Your research is discoverable via search engines such as Google Scholar, thus allowing your work to reach a broader audience. 
  4. Lastly, you can measure the impact and reach of your research through PlumX metrics and Altmetrics data. 

Archiving your poster in the HSRC is a reliable alternative to conference websites which may not be maintained once the conference ends. The HSRC is able to accept most file formats and you may upload a full image of your poster. Library staff members maintain the repository and will archive your research for you. Send an email hsrc@gwu.edu and a Himmelfarb Library staff member will respond to collect more information. 

Are you interested in  a preview of how your poster will appear in the institutional repository? Visit the 2023 Research Days Posters collection or any of the other collections in the repository.

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Robotic hand reaches for a mural of white dots and connecting lines displayed on a blue backdrop
Photo credit: Photo by Tara Winstead

OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research and development company, released the latest version of their generative text chatbot program, ChatGPT, near the end of 2022. The program provides responses based on prompts from users. Since its release universities, research institutions, publishers and other educators worry that ChatGPT and similar products will radically change the current education system. Some institutions have taken action to limit or ban the use of AI generated text. Others argue that ChatGPT and similar products may be the perfect opportunity to reimagine education and scholarly publishing. There is a lot to learn about AI and its impact on research and publishing. This article aims to serve as an introduction to this rapidly evolving technology.

In a Nature article, Chris Stokel-Walker described ChatGPT as “a large language model (LLM), which generates convincing sentences by mimicking the statistical patterns of language in a huge database of text collated from the Internet.” (Stokel-Walker, 2023, para. 3) OpenAI’s website says “The dialogue format makes it possible for ChatGPT to answer followup questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests.” (OpenAI, n.d., para. 1) ChatGPT may be used to answer simple and complex questions and may provide long-form responses based on the prompt. In recent months, students and researchers have used the chatbot to perform simple research tasks or develop and draft manuscripts. By automating certain tasks, ChatGPT and other AI technologies may provide people with the opportunity to focus on other aspects of the research or learning process.

There are benefits and limitations to AI technology and many people agree that guidelines must be in place before ChatGPT and similar models are fully integrated into the classroom or laboratory.

Van Dis et al. notes that “Conversational AI is likely to revolutionize research practices and publishing, creating both opportunities and concerns. It might accelerate the innovation process, shorten time-to-publication, and by helping people to write fluently, make science more equitable and increase the diversity of scientific perspectives.” (van Dis et. al., 2023, para. 4) Researchers who have limited or no English language proficiency would benefit from using ChatGPT to develop their manuscript for publication. The current version of ChatGPT is  free to use making it accessible to anyone with internet access and a computer. This may make scholarly publishing more equitable, though there is a version of the program that is only available with a monthly subscription fee. If future AI technologies require fees, this will create additional access and equity issues. 

 While ChatGPT can produce long-form, seemingly thoughtful responses there are concerns about its ability to accurately cite information. OpenAI states that “ChatGPT sometimes writes plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers.” (OpenAI, n.d., para. 7) There is a potential for AI generated text to spread misleading information. Scholars who have tested ChatGPT also note that the AI will create references that do not exist. Researchers must fact-check the sources pulled by the AI to ensure that their work adheres to current integrity standards. There are also concerns about ChatGPT’s relationship to properly citing original sources. “And because this technology typically reproduces text without reliably citing the original sources or authors, researchers using it are at risk of not giving credit to earlier work, unwittingly plagiarizing a multitude of unknown texts and perhaps even giving away their own ideas.” (van Dis et al, 2023, para. 10)

Students and researchers interested in using AI generated text should be aware of current policies and restrictions. Many academic journals, universities and colleges have updated their policies to either limit the use or institute a complete ban of AI in research. Other institutions are actively discussing their plans for this new technology and may implement new policies in the future. At the time of writing, GWU has not shared policies to address AI usage in the classroom. If you’re interested in using AI generated text in your research papers or projects, be sure to closely read submission guidelines or university policies. 

ChatGPT and other AI text generators are having profound impacts and as the technology continues to improve, it will become increasingly difficult distinguishing work written without the aid of an AI and work co-authored with an AI. The long term impacts of AI in the classroom have yet to be fully understood. Many institutions are moving to address this new technology. As we continue to learn about ChatGPT’s benefits and limitations, it is important to remain aware of your institution’s policies on using AI in research. To learn more about ChatGPT, please read any of the sources listed below! Himmelfarb Library will continue to discuss AI technology and its impact on research as more information is made available.

Additional Reading:

Work Cited:

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NEW in large font on an orange brick wall.
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Himmelfarb Library’s Scholarly Communications Committee is pleased to announce five new short video tutorials have been added to our video library! This video library now includes 30 short 3-7 minute videos on a variety of scholarly publishing topics, perfect for microlearning! This round of new videos covers topics including human participant research support, addressing health misinformation and disinformation, using Dimensions Analytics, Cabells Journalytics, and finding an author’s H-Index using Google Scholar and Scopus.

Human Participants Research Support - Fall 2022

Are you interested in learning more about the resources available to support human participant research at George Washington University? This video includes information about the Office of Human Research (OHR), Institutional Review Boards (IRB), and CITI Training available through GW in this short three and half minute video.

Addressing Health Mis- and Dis- Information

This five-minute video discusses how to address health mis- and disinformation. Learn the difference between mis- and disinformation, the different types of mis- and disinformation, why this matters in relation to healthcare providers and health literacy, and how to address mis- and disinformation with patients. 

Dimensions Analytics: An Introduction

Dimensions, a database from Digital Science, tracks research output and has information about grants, publications, datasets, clinical trials, policy documents, and more. This tutorial provides a brief overview of Dimensions Analytics, which allows you to track and visualize research output trends, and allows for more comprehensive functionality. Several examples of use cases are also included.

Cabells Journalytics

This five-minute tutorial provides an overview of Cabells Journalytics, a tool that can be used to evaluate and compare journals in which to publish a manuscript. Learn how to access Cabells Journalytics, and see example journal records to see the depth of information provided about each journal. You’ll also learn how to compare up to five journals.

H-Index: Google Scholar vs. Scopus

In this five-minute tutorial, you’ll learn more about what the H-Index is (a measure of both quantity and quality of research output) and how it is used to track researcher productivity. This tutorial will then walk you through how to find an H-Index using both Google Scholar and Scopus, and why there is sometimes a difference in the H-Index value between these two sources.

This newest installment of videos is part of the Scholarly Communications Committee’s Short Video Series, which covers a wide range of scholarly communications-related topics and covers all phases of the research life cycle. Have a scholarly publishing topic that you’d like us to discuss? We’d love to hear from you! To suggest a topic for an upcoming video, please contact Sara Hoover at shoover@gwu.edu. 

To learn more about scholarly publishing, check out our Scholarly Publishing Guide. This guide includes resources to help scholars find an appropriate journal in which to publish their research, tips on how to spot and avoid predatory publishers, and information on how to promote and increase the visibility of your published research.

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On August 25, 2022, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) published a memorandum that updated guidance on research funded by federal grants and called for the end of a 12-month embargo period. By 2025, published research that is funded by the federal government must be made available to the general public and key stakeholders and must no longer reside behind a paywall. Government agencies, academic libraries, and other research institutions are in the process of understanding this memo and updating their policies. Many institutions believe this new memo and guidance will radically change the academic publishing landscape. While this policy will likely advance a cultural shift towards open sciences, there are also likely new challenges related to the publication lifecycle that researchers are likely to encounter. In this post, we’ll provide a detailed explanation of the OSTP’s guidance, how this will impact researchers, and offer library resources to help prepare for the change. 

The memorandum entitled ‘Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research’ (also known as the Nelson memo), lists three recommendations for federal agencies:

  1. “Update their public access policies as soon as possible, and no later than December 31st, 2025, to make publications and their supporting data resulting from federally funded research publicly accessible without an embargo on their free and public release;
  2. Establish transparent procedures that ensure scientific and research integrity is maintained in public access policies; and, 
  3. Coordinate with OSTP to ensure equitable delivery of federally funded research results and data.” (Office of Science and Technology Policy, 2022, p. 1)

Dr. Alondra Nelson, Deputy Assistant to the President, explained later in the memo that “The insights of new and cutting-edge research stemming from the support of federal agencies should be immediately available–not just in moments of crisis, but in every moment. Not only to fight a pandemic, but to advance all areas of study, including urgent issues such as cancer, clean energy, economic disparities, and climate change” (Office of Science and Technology Policy, 2022, p. 2-3). Under the OSTP’s new guidance, researchers, journalists, members of the public, and other interested parties will be able to access new research as soon as it is published at no additional cost. This will provide the public with the opportunity to learn more about new innovations and experiments and it will allow other researchers to replicate or expand on existing research. 

The new guidance will allow for more collaboration as researchers combat complex topics such as climate change, future pandemics, and other global concerns. New research and data will be made freely available to the public, so researchers and institutions will need to address how to handle publication processing fees. While this new guidance won’t go into effect until 2025 and there are still questions about how specifically it will alter existing public access policies at government agencies like the NIH, the staff at Himmelfarb are here to assist researchers who may have questions about how the OSTP memo will impact their work. 

The Scholarly Communication Committee tutorial ‘How to include Article Processing Charges (APCs) in Funding Proposals’ is a great place to learn more about budgeting for article processing charges when creating a grant proposal. ‘Open Access and Your Research’ examines the different open access models and the consequences it has on your research. And if you’re unsure of how to find article processing charges, the tutorial ‘Locating Article Processing Charges (APCs)’ offers guidance on locating this information on a publisher’s website.  If you have specific questions about this new memo and would like to speak directly with a librarian,  please contact the library via phone, email, or chat. 

References:

Office of Science and Technology Policy. (2022). Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research. Author. 

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Brain inflammation illustration from Alzheimer's disease image from NIH Image Gallery
Image credit National Institute on Aging, NIH: Brain Inflammation from Alzheimer’s Disease (CC BY-NC2.0)

Last month, Science published a story describing how images used in some highly cited Alzheimer’s research papers were discovered to be manipulated.1 These publications supported the amyloid beta (Aβ) hypothesis of Alzheimers which links the disease to protein deposits forming plaques in brain tissue. The research spurred drug development targeting Aβ oligomers. Many of the manipulated images were the work of a neuroscientist named Sylvain Lesné who discovered the Aβ*56 oligomer and claimed that it caused dementia in transgenic mice in a landmark Nature study published in 2006.2

The Nature paper has been cited in about 2300 scholarly articles—more than all but four other Alzheimer’s basic research reports published since 2006, according to the Web of Science database. Since then, annual NIH support for studies labeled “amyloid, oligomer, and Alzheimer’s” has risen from near zero to $287 million in 2021.

Piller, C. Blots on a field? Science 377:6604, 360 (2022).

The image manipulation was first discovered by a fellow Alzheimer’s researcher named Matthew Schrag who was hired by an attorney investigating possible fraud in the development of Simufilam, an experimental Alzheimer’s therapy. Schrag found altered or duplicated Western blot images in dozens of research articles on the drug and its underlying science, including the Nature study. He stopped short of calling the manipulations deliberate misconduct, saying he would need the original unpublished images to prove that. Shrag reported his findings to the NIH which had funded much of this research, and the journals that published the works. 

Schrag also reached out to Science Magazine, fearing that the NIH and the journals would not conduct their investigations fast enough to prevent more potentially wasted grant funding and research. Science conducted a 6 month investigation led by independent image analysts and several Alzheimer's researchers who concurred with Schrag’s findings. They describe “shockingly blatant” instances of image tampering, including piecing together images from different experiments.

More than 20 suspect Lesné papers have been identified. Lesné submitted corrected images for a few, but even those corrections have shown signs of manipulation. 13 papers including the Nature study are now under investigation by the journals they were published in. Schrag and others have been critical of Karen Ashe, the head researcher where Lesné did his initial work on Aβ*56, saying she did not do enough to ensure the integrity of the research coming out of her lab.

Journal publishers do not typically use sophisticated image analysis to determine if images have been tampered with. The Materials Design Analysis Framework was developed by several publishers in 2021 to improve data transparency and help prevent image manipulation. The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) provides standards for publishers to follow on data and reproducibility and how to handle allegations of misconduct, but it does not sanction members who don’t follow guidance, as outlined in this Scholarly Kitchen editorial. The new NIH Data Management and Sharing policy which goes into effect in January 2023 should improve access to data and original images in NIH grant funded research, encouraging further scrutiny and reproducibility.

Retraction Watch can help you identify papers that have been flagged as retracted or under investigation. Our article on Searching for Retractions outlines sources and methods for finding retracted or corrected works so flawed findings are not included in future research or systematic reviews. Schrag used PubPeer in his investigations, a discussion space where researchers can report suspected issues with publications.

You can listen to an interview with Charles Pillar, the author of the Science article, detailing the magazine’s and Schrag’s investigations on the Science Magazine July 21 podcast.

  1. Piller, C. Blots on a field? Science 377:6604, 358-363 (2022).  https://doi.org/10.1126/science.add9993
  2. Lesné, S., Koh, M., Kotilinek, L. et al. A specific amyloid-β protein assembly in the brain impairs memory. Nature 440, 352–357 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04533

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[Photo Credit: Women of Color in Tech]

Himmelfarb Library’s Scholarly Communications Committee is pleased to announce five new short lectures have been added to our video library! This round of videos cover topics such as finding article publishing charges (APC) costs, changing citation styles in PubMed, contextualizing preprints and more. 

Locating Article Publishing Charges (APCs)- In this video, you’ll learn about Article Publishings Charges (APCs), how to find them on a publisher’s website and at the end of the tutorial, receive some tips that will help you handle APCs. 

Changing Citation Styles in PubMed- Would you like to learn how to switch from AMA to APA or MLA? This video will focus on changing citation styles when generating citations in PubMed.

Locating Manuscript Guidelines- Learn how to locate manuscript preparation guidelines and author resources for scholarly journals. This tutorial will guide you through three different journal websites to show you where manuscript guidelines are typically located. 


Finding Journals with JCR- In this tutorial, you’ll learn about the Journal Citations Report database and how it can help you discover scholarly journals where you can submit your research for publication.

APA Citations for Legal Resources-  Are you familiar with the Bluebook legal citation style? Do you want to cite case law, but are unsure of the proper citation format?This video will provide a basic introduction to this citation style used by the APA which is useful when citing legal resources.

These videos and the committee’s other videos from previous lectures are located under the ‘Scholarly Communications Video Tutorials’ tab on the Scholarly Publishing guide. The guide also includes resources to help scholars find a journal that will publish their research, tips on how to spot and avoid predatory publishers, ways to increase the visibility of your published research and more!

 The Committee is working on another set of videos that will be released during the fall semester 2022. The committee members are eager for feedback and/or suggestions for video topics. We would love to hear from you! If you have a scholarly publishing topic that you’d like the committee to discuss, please contact the committee chair, Sara Hoover, at shoover@gwu.edu.

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The academic publishing landscape can be difficult to navigate and Himmelfarb Library’s Scholarly Communications Committee is dedicated to answering general and specific questions that arise during the submission and publication process. The Committee continues to expand its ‘Scholarly Communications Short Video Library’ and there are nearly 20 videos to watch that cover various topics such as how to properly change citation styles, how and why to archive your publications with an institutional repository and how to set up your Google Scholar profile. If you’d like to watch the videos, but are unsure of where to begin here are some suggestions:

Advanced Literature Searches and the PubMed MeSH Search Builder:

In this lecture, you’ll learn about PubMed’s MeSH builder and how you can use it to help you perform advanced literature searches. Paul Levett, a Reference and Instructional Librarian, provides a step by step guide on how MeSH terms can be used to locate specific research articles that can assist you during the advanced literature search process. If you’re in the beginning stages of brainstorming a research topic or question, this tutorial will provide insight into how to conduct your own literature search and discover publications that will help you narrow the scope of your own research. 

Screening: What do Editors Look For?

When you’re ready to submit your research for publication, this tutorial by Reference and Instructional Librarian Stacy Brody will talk in-depth about how journal editors select manuscripts for their respective journals. The submission process may seem mysterious and difficult to understand, but this video will discuss six features editors consider when evaluating manuscripts.  

Retractions, Corrections, & Expressions of Concern:

Are you unsure of the difference between retractions, corrections and expressions of concern? Would you like to ensure you’re using research that is considered a valuable source to cite? In this tutorial, Ruth Bueter,  Serials and Systems Librarian, breaks down the difference between these terms and discusses how and why an article may be retracted or corrected or why there may be concerns with a published article.

These are just a few of the many videos currently available in the Scholarly Communication’s video library. The Scholarly Communications Committee is currently working on a new round of videos to add to the video library and hopes to share their new lectures in late spring or early summer. if you’d like to suggest a topic please fill out this suggestion form!

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As we start the new semester in 2022, the Scholarly Communications Committee is pleased to share another round of short video lectures to help researchers navigate scholarly publishing and promotion. The short lectures will cover a variety of topics including promoting your research after publication, the research life cycle, open access publishing and much more. The new videos are available for viewing on the ‘Scholarly Communications Short Video Library’ and on Himmelfarb Library’s YouTube Channel under the ‘Scholarly Communications Videos’ playlist.

Here are the titles and descriptions for each video:

Promoting Your Research
Are you looking for ways to promote your research or publications? In this brief tutorial we cover basic social media promotion tips, tweetable abstracts, and the value of including your research in open access repositories. We also discuss the importance of ensuring that researcher profiles include accurate and up to date publication information.

Advanced Literature Searches and the MeSH Search Builder
This tutorial provides information on how to access and utilize the MeSH search builder using PubMed. We discuss how to perform advanced literature searches using this tool.

The Research Cycle
This tutorial provides an overview of the research lifecycle and describes what happens in each phase.

CREDiT taxonomy
Do you have questions about authorship credit and order? The CREDiT taxonomy can help! In this tutorial we discuss contributor roles and publishers that utilize CREDiT to ensure that researchers get credit for their work!

Retractions, errata, expressions of concern
In this tutorial we give an overview of retractions, corrections, and expressions of concern. We discuss reasons for retractions, the process of making corrections to published research, and look at examples in PubMed.

Open Access and Your Research
Is there value to publishing your research in an Open Access (OA) format? In this tutorial we define Open Access, give examples of different types of OA, and discuss options for publishing or archiving research in an OA format. 

Once you’ve finished watching the new videos, explore our video library and watch the previous short lectures to learn more about publication, promotion and the resources Himmelfarb Library offers. 

If you are a researcher with questions or concerns about publishing your research or looking for ways to promote your work to a wide audience, the Scholarly Communications Committee is here to assist you at every step of the process. Feel free to contact members of the committee via email by using the email address listed at the end of each video or contact Himmelfarb Library at himmelfarb@gwu.edu. If you have suggestions for future video topics, leave them in the comments or send an email and a staff member will share it with the committee.

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Health Sciences Research CommonsWhile Covid-19 has upended many industries around the globe, faculty, staff, and students at The George Washington University have persisted in doing what they do best--researching, learning about, and compiling publications about some of the most pressing healthcare issues of our time. Since the start of the pandemic, researchers and students associated with the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, the Milken Institute School of Public Health, and the School of Nursing have published over fifty peer-reviewed articles related to Covid-19. The Himmelfarb Library has compiled a collection of these publications within our institutional repository, Health Sciences Research Commons. The Covid-19 Publications by GWU Authors collection highlights research by students, faculty, and staff and will be updated on a regular basis. Have a publication that needs to be added? Simply email hsrc@gwu.edu with a link to your publication and we will be happy to include your research. 

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The Himmelfarb Library Scholarly Communications Committee continues its webinar series, “Get Yourself Published; Promote Your Research,” with a new video out today. The series guides you through the publication process and also highlights resources that are useful in promoting your research articles. Webinars are published bi-weekly and are located on the Himmelfarb Library’s website. 

In this week’s webinar, ‘Measuring Impact: Quantifying the Effects of Your Research,’  Thomas Harrod will discuss metrics and how researchers can use it to measure the impact of their research. 

"How do you determine the value and impact of a published article? In this webinar, we’ll look at the two most common ways of accomplishing this task, including using traditional metrics (citations-based) and the newer altmetrics. We’ll explore some of the common examples of each of these metrics and we’ll also look at some Himmelfarb Library resources you can use to access this data and apply it to your own work."

This webinar goes live Wednesday, March 25 at noon! Be sure to save the dates for April's webinars.

ORCIDs: Maintaining Your Online Identity: Wednesday, April 8, 2020 12pm EST

Copyright for Authors: Wednesday, April 22, 2020 12pm EST

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