Research4Life Partners Newsletter November 2015
Table of Contents
- Note from the Editor
- Research4Life Annual General Partners Meeting, July 21, Geneva
- Research4Life in the News
- Training Workshops Highlights
- Kimberly Parker Wins MLA Lifetime Recognition Award
- Mendeley Blog
- Publisher of the Month: Wolters Kluwer & UpToDate®
- Update: DARTT and Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries UN Initiative
- Librarians without Borders Receives Elsevier Foundation Grants
- Research4Life to Partner with DOAJ to Ensure the Inclusion of Quality Open-Access Journals
- New Research4Life Access for UNHCR Refugee Camps in 2016
- Update on Proposed New Research4Life Programme: Global Online Access to Legal Information (GOALI)
- Oxfam Research, Policy and Practitioner Content Now Included in Research4Life
- Elsevier Foundation Grant for Marketing and Communications
- Web and Social Media Update
- Latest Research4Life Stats & Facts
Note from the Editor
Dear Partners,
With the launch of the UN Sustainable Development Goals in September, the Research4Life partnership is more determined than ever to bridge the digital divide with our free and low cost access programmes. Our twice-yearly newsletter is designed to bring you up to speed with everything (or almost everything) going on in Research4Life. It is in fact such a dynamic partnership, that it’s hard to capture all that we’re doing. This is a testimony to the incredibly dedicated champions across the partnership from the UN organizations to Yale, Cornell and so many of our publishers. As you’ll see from our news, we’re exploring new programme ideas around the rule of law, additional UN funding possibilities, and much more. Take a moment to browse and share the latest case studies, milestones and social media campaigns. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and ‘like’ us on Facebook. Want to get more involved? We have teams focused on everything from communications to training, fundraising, technology and impact. Contact us at [email protected].
Ylann Schemm, Chair of the Research4Life Communications Team and Elsevier Foundation Programme Director
Research4Life Annual General Partners Meeting
Research4Life General Partners Meeting – Geneva, July 2015
The 2015 Research4Life General Partners’ Meeting (GPM) was held in Geneva, at the World Health Organization in July. 60 partners from around the world gathered for a very full agenda, including updates from each programme co-ordinator and the chairs of Research4Life’s teams and working groups. The annual GPM offers a welcome opportunity for members of our very dispersed partnership to meet in a collegial and collaborative setting. We finished our day feeling well briefed on developments over the past year and with some interesting new projects to look forward to.
A particular highlight was the presentation of the two latest external reviews of Research4Life’s performance and effectiveness – the User Experience Review and the Review of Research4Life’s operational effectiveness and infrastructure. The discussions, and particularly the input from our two user representatives from Uganda and Vietnam, provided us with a useful opportunity to understand how the programmes are actually performing and to brainstorm on their future direction. These discussions were pursued in more depth at the Research4Life Strategic Retreat in Boston on 1-2 October. A team of volunteers is now working to draft a five year strategic plan to be presented at the 2016 GPM.
In addition, GPM delegates approved several important proposals:
Group B Research4Life eligibility was extended to the UK Overseas Dependency of St Helena, Libya and Argentina. Group A eligibility was also extended to UNHCR-designated “Planned/managed refugee camps”.
Updates were also given on three potential initiatives:
- GOALI. A new Research4Life programme covering the Rule of law,
- DARTT. A programme for collaboration between Research4Life and the United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS),
- Friends of Research4Life. A proposal to found an fundraising organization.
- 23/11/2015
DOAJ to Assist Research4Life with Ensuring the inclusion of Quality Open Access Journals - 12/10/2015
STM Frankfurt Conference Brings New Publishing Initiatives to the Stage - 05/10/2015
Scientific research in Africa: reasons for hope - 09/09/2015
HINARI partners with Wolters Kluwer to provide UpToDate to Ebola-affected African countries - 17/07/2015
Embracing Research4Life - 24/06/2015
Open Access offerings for the majority world - 29/05/2015
Research4Life’s HINARI programme wins MLA’s 2015 Louise M. Darling Medal! - 20/04/2015
Discovery and Access in Light of the Ebola Outbreak
Our latest Research4LIfe infographic, created by Natalia Rodriguez, offers an overview of the national training workshops conducted by the Research4Life programmes over the past year. Click here to read more and enlarge the infographic.
- TReND in Africa Course on Science Communication and Writing:
In September TReND in Africa organized a week-long course on Science Communication and Writing at Chancellor College in Malawi. Sixteen young researchers from six African countries learned theory and skills to reach out to the broadest possible audience. During the week, young scientists participated in lots of activities ranging from getting the research they need through Research4Life, to writing abstracts, designing posters and posting engaging articles on the course blog. The course was funded by the Elsevier Foundation with contributions from Sunbird Malawi, and crowdfunding via Indiegogo and Mendeley.
- Train-the-Trainers Workshops in Myanmar
Lenny Rhine, Librarians Without Borders®/Medical Library Association (LWB), gave a three day workshop at the University of Medicine – 1, Yangon, Myanmar in September. 23 librarians from the country’s health-related academic institutions attended the workshop. Another 24 individuals from the University of Medicine – 1, Yangon attended as ‘observers’, but in practice they participated fully in the workshops. The objectives were to have the participants learn critical HINARI skills and go on to train at their own institutions. Myanmar institutions have access to almost all HINARI publishers offering users a wealth of information. The course was supported by the World Health Organization South-East Asia Regional Office and LWB.
- Workshops in Hanoi, Vietnam
On September 28 and 29, Lenny Rhine gave additional workshops in Hanoi, Vietnam. The initial workshop reached a 100 students and offered a one day training at the Bach Mai Hospital, a huge tertiary care institution for MA nursing students and clinical cardiology staff. The training covered: Boolean search terms, Google vs. Scholar vs PubMed, HINARI and PubMed searching, Evidence-based Medicine resources and How to Read a Scientific Paper. A second half-day workshop was given at the Hanoi University of Medicine. This briefer workshop focused on information needs for researchers particularly those working in parasitology and related subjects.
Kimberly Parker Wins MLA Lifetime Recognition Award
Kimberly Parker, our HINARI Programme Manager, was presented with the T. Mark Hodges International Service Award in recognition of her outstanding work on behalf of the partnership at the World Health Organization. This award was established in 2007 to honour outstanding individual achievements in promoting, enabling, and delivering improvements in the quality of health information internationally through the development of health information professionals, the improvement of libraries, or an increased use of health information services.
Mendeley published a blog explaining why they support Research4Life and TReND in Africa’s workshops. It highlights some of TReND’s courses as well. “Mendeley has a vision: to make science more open and to broaden access to scientific content where it can make a real difference to people’s lives.”
Publisher of the Month: Wolters Kluwer & UpToDate®
The Research4Life HINARI programme announced a partnership with Wolters Kluwer to provide free access to UpToDate® for the three countries affected by Ebola (Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea). Access is provided for an initial period of at least one year. UpToDate® is the world’s premier online clinical decision support resource from the Health division of Wolters Kluwer. Click here to read more on the partnership.
Update: DARTT and Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries UN Initiative
On 2-4 September, HINARI Programme Manager Kimberly Parker and HINARI founder Barbara Aronson served as expert advisors in Istanbul to the UN High-Level Panel assessing the feasibility of a proposed Technology Bank dedicated to assisting the world’s least developed countries (LDCs) advance out of poverty. Kimberly and Barbara recommended that the Technology Bank incorporate an activity that could become a new Research4Life programme (DARTT) focused on LDCs. The Feasibility Report of the High-Level Panel was delivered to the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon on 22 September, and is currently on the Agenda for the 70th session of the General Assembly. Assuming continued approval from the UN General Assembly for the initiative, and the pledging of necessary funding, the Technology Bank could begin operations as early as the third or fourth quarter of 2016.
Librarians without Borders Receives Elsevier Foundation Grants
The Elsevier Foundation announced it will support the Medical Library Association(MLA)/Librarians Without Borders®(LWB) E-Library Training Initiative for another three years with $45,000 annually, expanding Lenny Rhine’s work as a Master trainer to include MLA fellowships recruiting a new cadre of Librarian without Borders trainers. The Elsevier Foundation has supported LWB E-Library Training Initiative since it was founded in 2007. The 2016 – 2018 grants also ensure that the ongoing work to evolve the training infrastructure behind Research4Life is sustained.
Research4Life to Partner with DOAJ to Ensure the Inclusion of Quality Open-Access Journals
Research4Life and DOAJ announced a working partnership ensuring that Research4Life-users will have access to the largest possible array of high quality open access journals. The partnership will also highlight the importance of peer reviewed open access material and will explore new syergies between the two organizations. More information can be read in our blog.
New Research4Life Access for UNHCR Refugee Camps in 2016
After receiving a request regarding the needs of refugees outside of Research4Life eligible countries, the Research4Life General Partners Meeting has approved the inclusion of UNHCR-designated “planned/managed camps” no matter where they are in the world. These camps will be provided Group A or free access. “Planned/managed camps” are the most organized and codified type in the UNHCR taxonomy of types of accommodation. Historically these camps haven’t had access because they are situated in ineligible countries or are under the management of international organizations which are themselves ineligible types of institutions. In 2016, Research4Life will open registration to “planned/managed camps” in forty countries, including six countries that are normally ineligible for the Research4Life Core Offer.
Update on Proposed New Research4Life Programme: Global Online Access to Legal Information (GOALI)
At the last General Partner Meeting in Geneva, GOALI was granted a provisional programme affiliate status. A project team is now in place to set up GOALI within the current Research4Life structure, solicit content from publishers, seek funding and engage with potential UN or international partner organisation. GOALI will submit a full programme proposal at the 2016 Research4Life Partner Meeting. In the meantime, the project team will report to the Research4Life Executive Council on new programme developments.
To support the programme or for more information contact, Liesbeth Kanis.
Oxfam Research, Policy and Practitioner Content Now Included in Research4Life
Research4Life currently has over 50,000 peer-reviewed journals, books and reference works in its collection. Through the international NGO Oxfam, we are delighted to extend this offering to include other types of content of value to the researchers, academics, policy-makers and practitioners. Oxfam publishes original research, effectiveness reviews, briefing papers, training manuals, technical briefs, and learning case studies from the field on a broad range of topics concerning development and humanitarian contexts. These include, for example, climate change adaptation, resilience, water and sanitation, public health, food security, livelihoods, and gender analysis. This ‘grey literature’, published on Oxfam Policy & Practice, is now included in HINARI, AGORA and OARE and supports the sharing of practical expertise and evidence into use. Based on the response to the new Oxfam content, we will likely offer additional high quality grey literature in the future.
Elsevier Foundation Grant for Marketing and Communications
The Research4Life Communications team is very happy to receive a one time grant of $25,000 to support extensive marketing and communications outreach in 2015. Activities will focus on three of the five critical areas identified in the 2015 user and infrastructure reviews,including raising awareness of Research4Life in both the North and the South, engagement with users and participation in training.
To close a successful 2015 we have an updated website with new features and look. Take a look around and discover some of the new additions to our web portal:
- New slides in the homepage
- A footer menu and Newsflash subscription option
- New Case Study section layout
- Media Center with promotional material available to the public
- The Training Portal has new and updated material including a calendar of events.
Latest Research4Life Stats & Facts
Below is a breakdown looking at Research4Life as a whole and the different programme elements as of July 2015. Research4Life currently makes available content from some 650 publishers, of whom 208 are full collaborating partners. Of these, 156 provide subscription based content.
