Open Access; Open Data I590 Spring 2005

Budapest Open Access Initiative Based on: –Self archiving by authors –Open Access journals, e.g., BioMed Central

Open Access Institute of Physics: most papers free for 30 days after publication – and Public Library of Science – Highwire Press – PubMed Central –

Opposition to Open Access Reacting to NIH’s proposed policy on open access, C&EN Editor Rudy Baum says: “[This] action will inflict long-term damage on the communication of scientific results and on maintenance of the archive of scientific knowledge.” -- C&EN, September 20, 2004, p. 7

Open Access + Semantic Web "Almost all of an author's output (compounds, spectra, reactions, properties, etc.) is nowadays computerised and in principle redistributable to the community for re-use. Few journals actively validate the primary data (e.g. spectra) involved in a publication (chemical crystallography being a clear exception where data are intensively reviewed by machine). We reassert that chemists must now move towards publishing their collective knowledge in a systematic and easily accessible form for re-use and innovation....

Open Access + Semantic Web We urge that authors, funders, editors, publishers and readers move further towards the following protocol: [1] All information should be ultimately machine- understandable in XML.... [2] Machine-understandable information for a compound should include a connection table, the IUPAC unique identifier (INChI) which guarantees that the connection table can be checked and regenerated, and a name.... [3] Rights metadata.” -- Murray-Rust, Rzepa, Tyrrella, Zhanga (2004)

Google Digitization Plans Digitize all content of: –University of Michigan committed to complete digitization of all 7 million volumes in its collection, excluding its rare books and other fragile material –Harvard University –New York Public Library –Stanford University Aimed at out-of-print material, whether public domain or in copyright Opportunity for libraries to concentrate on truly unique or special holdings to digitize locally

Getting at the Data New CAS Information Use Policies – STN’s Information Keep & Share Program – SciFinder Scholar download restrictions: 100 items at a time

Data Analysis Tools STN’s Analyze and Tabulate feature STN Express with Discover! (Analysis Edition) Limited access because of A&I publishers’ reluctance to turn loose of the data

InChI IUPAC-NIST Chemical Identifier a unique label which would be a non-proprietary identifier for chemical substances that could be used in printed and electronic data sources thus enabling easier linking of diverse data compilations latest version handles: – organic, covalent structures –inorganic and organometallic compounds

Future XML and metadata –Dymond (DYnamic Metadata ON Demand) Virtual journals (Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science and Technology) Copyright question and open access resolution Legal protection of databases Impact of InChI and CML Demise of Abstracting and Indexing Services?

Conclusion “The main challenge is for chemists to recognise the value of making their data machine-understandable, rather than destroying it with traditional paper or slide- focused publication and dissemination processes.” -- Murray-Rust, Rzepa, Tyrrella, Zhanga (2004)

Parting words... If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate!

Bibliography Gasaway, Laura. “The open archives movement.” Information Outlook October 2004, 8(10), 36, Murray-Rust, Peter; Rzepa, Henry S.; Tyrrell, Simon M.; Zhang, Yong. “Representation and use of chemistry in the global electronic age.” Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry 2004, 2(22), (preprint) Townsend, Joe A.; Adams, Sam E.; Waudby, Christopher A.; de Souza, Vanessa K.; Goodman, Jonathan M.; Murray-Rust, Peter. “Chemical documents: machine understanding and automated information extraction.” Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry 2004, 2(22),