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105935_Newsletter.qxd:v 4/29/10 8:47 PM Page 1 newsletter Volume 8 I VolumeNumber 1 2 II NumberMay 2010 1 II ISSN:April 1549–3725 2003 Theme: International & Interdisciplinary Welcome In this issue features It is a very exciting time to be a part of the global research community. 2 International and interdisciplinary: The community is itself rapidly evolving as the research enterprise A trend likely to become more important becomes more complex than ever before. As librarians and 3 Interdisciplinary perspective of research performance publishers, we must evolve as well. I strongly believe that in is a global competitive advantage doing so we will be able to create unique and powerful new ways 3 What nations have Library Connect Newsletter to help researchers become more productive and more effective. Y.S. Chi authors represented? 4 At our university in China, the library takes a leading role There are two trends that are particularly challenging for researchers and the global in enriching students’ international learning experience research community. First is the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of research. The 5 A possible challenge for international collaboration? once rigid lines that divided traditional research disciplines have grown indistinct. Facial expressions may get lost in translation Researchers are venturing into new realms of scientific exploration that actively force 6 Research without borders: Supporting and the intersection of traditional disciplines. The result is that every day whole new fields facilitating interdisciplinary research of research are emerging that our community must be ready to support and nurture. 7 How to generate enthusiasm and fuel advocacy for libraries? Hold a competition to generate messages in the The second trend is the increasingly global nature of research. Research outputs are universal language of video coming from every corner of the globe, most notably from emerging economies. on the road China, for example, is now the world’s second-largest producer of academic research 8 Toronto seminar connects researchers, librarians outputs. Other developing countries, including Brazil, India and Iran, have shown and senior academic management marked increases in research outputs as well. While I am sure that the burgeoning 8 India’s premier institutions walk away with Scopus Awards globalization of research will benefit science in myriad ways, it comes with inevitable 9 The Chinese research community honors “rising stars” growing pains. The quantity of research output is not necessarily correlated with 9 Humboldt University’s new Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm- quality, and researchers are constantly challenged to find the best, most relevant Zentrum benefits from Elsevier donation information from an increasingly diverse range of sources and content. Assessing research performance and value: Although changes often bring new hurdles for our community to overcome, we have Research Connect Seminar at Louisiana State University covers a lot of ground every reason to be optimistic. Changes like these present us with exciting opportunities to better serve our community, as long as we are able to think creatively and step community connections outside of traditional paradigms. 10 The journey so far: Elsevier Foundation grants and Research4Life are helping support scientific advancement This issue of Library Connect offers valuable information about the two trends I’ve at Nigeria’s University of Port Harcourt introduced here. I encourage you to closely follow these trends, which are redefining 11 2009 Elsevier Foundation grants distribute the scholarly community as we know it. $600,000 worldwide Best regards, solutions news YoungSuk “Y.S.” Chi 12 Moving chemical safety information to the workbench: Hazmat Navigator helps manage and prevent emergency events Vice Chairman and CEO S&T, Elsevier, New York, NY, USA 13 Engaging nursing and health professions students [email protected] with eBooks: Pageburst bursts upon the scene staying connected 14 Talking with Ove Kähler about Scopus ORCID aims to help identify researchers and their work and local-language content Various members of the publishing and research community are collaborating to develop 14 What do you think about this newsletter going e-only? We hope you’ll tell us! an open, independent identification system for scholarly authors which would become the 15 TrainingDesk Flash: Does TrainingDesk offer resources industry standard. ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) aims to create a central in languages other than English? registry of unique identifiers for individual researchers and 15 Where can you find Elsevier staff, worldwide? an open and transparent linking mechanism between 16 Doctors Without Borders physicians benefit ORCID and other current author ID schemes. These from free access to MD Consult identifiers and the relationships among them can be linked 16 Upcoming Events 2010 to researchers’ output and so enhance the scientific discovery process and improve the efficiency of research funding and collaboration within the research community. ORCID’s mission is to resolve author-name ambiguity. The collaborators believe such NEW! LIBRARY ADVOCACY resolution is essential for the transition to e-science. The disambiguation of authors' TOOLKIT names would also allow stakeholders in scholarly communication to build new • Lobbying Grassroots Checklist services for the research community. • Lobbying Links for Librarians Elsevier is among the close to 80 organizations that have joined the effort. The other participants include the ACM, AIP, British Library, CrossRef, EMBO, MIT Libraries, Nature Publishing Group, PLoS, SAGE Publications, Springer, Thomson Reuters, Wellcome Trust and Wiley-Blackwell. LC http://trainingdesk.elsevier.com/library-advocacy-toolkit www.orcid.org Library Connect Editorial Office G 525 B Street, Suite 1800, San Diego, CA 92101, USA G Phone +1.619.699.6719 G Fax +1.619.699.6310 G [email protected] 105935_Newsletter.qxd:v 4/29/10 8:47 PM Page 2 FEATURES International and interdisciplinary: A trend likely to become more important international element to a project By John T. Green, Chief Coordinating Officer, Imperial College London, UK proposal can unlock funding sources for groups from both (or several) countries. Over recent years we Imperial now routinely creates (and closes have seen a definite when strategies change) interdisciplinary, Funding will always follow quality. trend toward university cross-faculty research institutes to High-caliber academics have always research becoming facilitate this sort of work and to encourage been recruited in an international more international, conditions in which it can flourish. These marketplace. Universities recruit staff on with researchers are not pseudo departments. Though the basis of core strengths and fit with working together participating academics remain attached institutional strategies. This means looking John T. Green across the globe. At the to their home departments, their coming for the best, regardless of where they same time, research has become more together in the setting of an institute can come from. Similarly, if establishing and interdisciplinary, with researchers from encourage research and attract focused promoting interdisciplinary institutes is a range of backgrounds and disciplines funding, particularly in meeting the “grand a strategic goal, an institution will recruit working on common projects. A number challenges” of our time. To this end, the best leaders who have experience of factors have encouraged this change. Imperial has recently established the in that area. Grantham Institute for Climate Change, the As scientific research becomes more Institute for Global Health and the Institute Taking a look at challenges sophisticated, traditional discipline-specific for Security Science and Technology. and the future structures inhibit progress. The boundaries Inevitably, international and interdisciplinary on which scientists have organized their work can cause difficulties for universities. work evolved historically within universities If science itself is one factor As research crosses boundaries, and have been reinforced by funders, that drives interdisciplinary institutional structures do not necessarily but, today, research frequently crosses match, meaning it can become harder to conventional disciplinary lines. and international collaboration, manage research. With few benchmarks Taking a look at our university the changing international to measure against, assessing the performance of interdisciplinary At Imperial College London, for example, funding landscape is another. institutes can also be difficult. It remains researchers in physics, engineering essential that the academic direction, and computing saw opportunities for Nor should such integrated, collaborative wherever it leads, is adequately collaborative work when the medical ways of working be restricted to within a managed and supported. faculty came into the institution in 1998. university, or kept to the university sector. The result was a rise in the number of Imperial works in a similarly integrated While it is worth bearing in mind that an interdisciplinary research teams and way with external organizations, most institution’s reputation is established on steady growth in cross-faculty work. obviously in the pharmaceutical industry, the basis of quality, not the methodology Collaborative, interdisciplinary research and has a high-profile business