CONTENTS Contents News and Analysis 4-8


Open access • data mining • library innovation Refining the review cycle


A series of articles examine ways to incentivise and speed up the peer-review process


Preserving global scholarship 16-18


Rebecca Pool looks at the challenges of preserving content from both traditional publishers and new ventures


From provider to partner: 20-21


subscription agent roles evolve We look at how libraries purchase content and how the role of subscription agents has changed


Product focus 22


Last year ProQuest bought e-book aggregator EBL. We find out about the company’s plans


New products Diary


Interview


Ann Chapman, co-founder and director of Minesoft


23-25 25 26


Subscription agent roles evolve


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CORPORATE TEAM Chairman and publisher: Tom Wilkie Research Information is published by Europa Science Ltd, 9 Clifton Court, Cambridge CB1 7BN ISSN 1744-8026 Tel: +44 (0) 1223 211170 Fax: +44 (0) 1223 213385 Web: www.researchinformation.info


20 Refining the review cycle 10 10-14


ON THE COVER Preserving global scholarship


16 Leader: Siân Harris Innovation from research


This issue of Research Information takes a look, among other things, at the topic of peer review. This activity is often seen as essential but burdensome. In a series of articles (pages 10 to 14) we look at some different approaches to refining the peer-review process.


An interesting aspect of these articles is that three of the companies featured were formed recently by researchers to meet needs that they saw from their own experiences. This is not unique; there have been many stories of publishing innovation coming from the research community. Indeed Alastair Horne’s coverage of open-access discussions at the recent UKSG One-Day Conference (pages 4 and 6) highlights several more researcher- initiated projects.


Innovation is, of course, also a key word in discussing patents and the information they contain. In our interview on page 26, Ann Chapman of Minesoft observes that there is an increasing interest in the innovation described in patents from the university community, with corresponding innovation from information providers to help make these types of research documents easier to use.


I look forward to discussing more innovation as 2014 progresses. @researchinfo


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