LRA Top 10 Items (April 2012)

Here are the most heavily accessed records on the LRA for the month of April 2012. A mix of old and new items as always.

1. Mobile technologies and learning (Naismith, Laura et al)

• Financial Development, Economic Growth and Stock Market Volatility: Evidence from Nigeria and South Africa (Ndako, Umar Bida)

• Pragmatic randomized trial of antenatal intervention to prevent post-natal depression by reducing psychosocial risk factors (Brugha, Traolach S. et al)

• The propagation of VHF and UHF radio waves over sea paths (Sim, Chow Yen Desmond)

 

• An efficient and effective system for interactive student feedback using Google+ to enhance an institutional virtual learning environment (Cann, Alan James)

 

• Facebook, social integration and informal learning at university: ‘It is more for socialising and talking to friends about work than for actually doing work’ (Madge, Clare et al)

• Writing up and presenting qualitative research in family planning and reproductive health care (Pitchforth, Emma et al)

 

• An evaluation of forensic DNA profiling techniques currently used in the United Kingdom. (Graham, Eleanor Alison May)

• Twitter and Public Reasoning Around Social Contention: The Case of #15ott in Italy (Vicari, Stefania)

• The challenges of insider research in educational institutions: wielding a double-edged sword and resolving delicate dilemmas (Mercer, Justine)

Top 10 LRA Items for December 2011

Here are the most accessed articles on the LRA for the month of December 2011.

1. The BIOMASS mission: Mapping global forest biomass to better understand the terrestrial carbon cycle (Le Toan, T. et al)
2. The propagation of VHF and UHF radio waves over sea paths (Sim, Chow Yen Desmond)
3. Social inclusion, the museum and the dynamics of sectoral change (Sandell, Richard)
4. Financial Development, Economic Growth and Stock Market Volatility: Evidence from Nigeria and South Africa (Ndako, Umar Bida)
5. Optimal Number of Response Categories in Rating Scales: Reliability, Validity, Discriminating Power, and Respondent Preferences (Preston, Carolyn C. et al)
6. The List of Threatening Experiences: a subset of 12 life event categories with considerable long-term contextual threat (Brugha, Traolach S. et al)
7. Measuring the efficiency of European airlines: an application of DEA and Tobit Analysis (Fethi, Meryem Duygun et al)
8. The Introduction of Virtual Learning Environment e-Learning Technology at a Sixth Form College: A Case Study (Osadiya, Taye Timothy)
9. Educational Leadership: an Islamic perspective (Shah, Saeeda J.A.)
10. Facebook, social integration and informal learning at university: ‘It is more for socialising and talking to friends about work than for actually doing work’ (Madge, Clare et al)

Top LRA Items for September 2011

Here they are, the most heavily accessed articles on the LRA from the past month (and with a newly added article topping the list as well).

1. Reflective Social Portfolios for Feedback and Peer Mentoring (Cann, Alan James et al)
2. Financial Development, Economic Growth and Stock Market Volatility: Evidence from Nigeria and South Africa (Ndako, Umar Bida)
3. The propagation of VHF and UHF radio waves over sea paths (Sim, Chow Yen Desmond)
4. High Performance Work Practices: Work Intensification or ‘Win-win’? (Sparham, Eimer et al)
5. Optimal Number of Response Categories in Rating Scales: Reliability, Validity, Discriminating Power, and Respondent Preferences (Preston, Carolyn C. et al)
6. Facebook, social integration and informal learning at university: ‘It is more for socialising and talking to friends about work than for actually doing work’ (Madge, Clare et al)
7. Social inclusion, the museum and the dynamics of sectoral change (Sandell, Richard)
8. The electrodeposition of composite materials using deep eutectic solvents (El ttaib, Khalid)
9. Creative industries and cultural development: still a Janus face? (Gibson, Lisanne)
10. Measuring the efficiency of European airlines: an application of DEA and Tobit Analysis (Fethi, Meryem Duygun et al)

And don’t forget you can follow all the new additions to the LRA on twitter – UoLLRA.

Top Leicester Repository Items: June 2010

The most used items in the University’s open access reposiotry (the LRA) during June 2010 were:

1. Lead-free soldering alloys: microstructure optimization for electronic applications Belyakov, Sergey  (thesis)
2. Advanced control of photovoltaic converters Liu, Ying  (thesis)
3. Electrofinishing of metals using eutectic based ionic liquids. Abbott, A.P. et al Chemistry (article)
4. Measuring the outcomes and impact of learning in museums, archives and libraries: the Learning Impact Research Project end of project paper Hooper-Greenhill, Eilean et al Museum Studies (report)
5. Social inclusion, the museum and the dynamics of sectoral change Sandell, Richard (article)
6. Comparison of systemic availability of curcumin with that of curcumin formulated with phosphatidylcholine Marczylo, Timothy H. et al (article)
7. Saint Christopher Wall Paintings in English and Welsh Churches, c.1250-c.1500 Pridgeon , Eleanor Elizabeth  (thesis)
8. Psychology Colman, Andrew M. (article)
9. A Study of Solidification Structure Evolution during Investment Casting of Ni-based Superalloy for Aero-Engine Turbine Blades. Dai, Huijuan (thesis)
10. Teaching presentation skills to undergraduates: Students’ evaluations of a workshop course. Colman, Andrew M. (article)

A strong month for theses, which are only about 10% of the items on the repository

Open access bibliography

Most scholars concerned with open access are aware of Charles Bailey’s bibliography of open access.  I’ve also been collecting a more modest list of papers and sites that I’ve read in the last few years, and that underpin a lot of the work that we do here at Leicester.  I brought this collection together as part of the handout for the postponed academic staff session on open access and scholarly communication.  Rather than let it sit festering on my hard-drive until I deliver the session in March, I’ve made it available on the LRA’s Web pages.  And will be updating it from time to time as I read new papers or sites of interest.

A challenge – what are the three best articles about open access ?

What are the three best articles on open access? 

Not the ones that I might like but the key ones that I should/could/might get my academics to read. 

Not necessarily ones that will have them convinced or arch-evangalising left right and centre, but ones that really give a rich overview of the topic.  Ones that even bring some academic rigour to the discipline, some facts and figures as much as hearts and minds.  Ones, like the THE, that take a look at all the stakeholders and try to offer a dispassionate overview (or as dispassionate as it is possible to get!).

They don’t have to be peer reviewed, they can be reports, they can be briefings, they can be conference papers – they just have to be accessible and credible.

And here’s the trick – they have to be available, in full-text in an open access repository!  Suggestions welcomed and indeed warmly invited – but no more than three per commenter!!!

Papers you might like to read

• Cerdá, Nieto & Campos (2009) “What’s wrong with citation counts?”, D-Lib Magazine, 15 (3/4) [keywords: bibliometrics, REF]
• Association of Research Libraries (2009) The Research Library’s Role in Digital Repository Services. [keywords: repositories, open access]
• Morris (2009) Journal authors’ rights: perception and reality. Publishing Research Consortium [keywords: authors, publishers]

Read the last one with an awareness that it was prepared by the Publishing sector, and so there is a discernible bias in some of the considerations (perhaps no more than those from the other side of the fence, but you’re forewarned!).

Librarians and blogging

Latest SCONUL Focus has a number of articles on librarians blogging.  Read it here:

http://www.sconul.ac.uk/publications/newsletter/43/

Any thoughts or reflections people?