Defining embargo periods by discipline?

[David Wojick]

Great point Christina! I had forgotten about MESUR, a project I greatly admired. It will be interesting to see what they have. Unfortunately time is of the essence as the regulatory clock is running so I am not sure there is time for a new data collection project. Still it is early days.

Many thanks,

David

On Mar 1, 2013, at 5:14 PM, "Pikas, Christina K." <Christina.Pikas at JHUAPL.EDU> wrote:

> Adminstrative info for SIGMETRICS (for example unsubscribe):
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> 
> I think this is the article I meant: http://arxiv.org/abs/0909.4789
> 
> Maybe collaborate with the MESUR project? (http://www.mesur.org/MESUR.html, http://mesur.informatics.indiana.edu/ ) historical data now, but not too old. If this is for OSTI, I'm sure there could be partnerships and collaborations formed to get this data, given time.
> 
> Christina
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ASIS&T Special Interest Group on Metrics [mailto:SIGMETRICS at listserv.utk.edu] On Behalf Of David Wojick
> Sent: Friday, March 01, 2013 5:08 PM
> To: SIGMETRICS at listserv.utk.edu
> Subject: Re: [SIGMETRICS] Defining embargo periods by discipline?
> 
> Adminstrative info for SIGMETRICS (for example unsubscribe):
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> 
> The problem is I do not think we have usage or download data for entire disciplines. Citation data may be all we have.
> 
> David
> 
> At 04:02 PM 3/1/2013, you wrote:
>> Adminstrative info for SIGMETRICS (for example unsubscribe):
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>> 
>> Citation half-life is one measure that has been suggested, but clearly 
>> that doesn't optimize access. I think any citation-based measure will 
>> lag too far - particularly in areas where it can take a year for the 
>> "early view" to become officially "published." Perhaps downloads or 
>> usage would be a better thing to look at. Look at the shape of the 
>> curve and see where the bump is and draw a line there? The bump would 
>> shift if there's significant media coverage, too.  I was looking in some of MJ Kurtz'
>> papers because I think he had a graph that would illustrate what I'm 
>> saying, but I'm not finding it immediately.
>> 
>> Physics and astro publishers have not experienced significant 
>> cancellations based on arXiv and making backfiles freely available (AAS).
>> Biomedical publishers may not have had the same experience.
>> 
>> Christina
>> 
>> ----
>> Christina K Pikas
>> Librarian
>> The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory 
>> Christina.Pikas at jhuapl.edu
>> (240) 228 4812 (DC area)
>> (443) 778 4812 (Baltimore area)
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: ASIS&T Special Interest Group on Metrics 
>> [mailto:SIGMETRICS at listserv.utk.edu] On Behalf Of David Wojick
>> Sent: Friday, March 01, 2013 3:11 PM
>> To: SIGMETRICS at listserv.utk.edu
>> Subject: Re: [SIGMETRICS] Defining embargo periods by discipline?
>> 
>> Adminstrative info for SIGMETRICS (for example unsubscribe):
>> http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/sigmetrics.html
>> 
>> Thank you Loet; the NSF list is a very good candidate as NSF is one of 
>> the lead agencies in this rulemaking.
>> 
>> I cannot give you an example of a proper embargo period as I am looking 
>> for an analytical way to find such, but I can explain the concept.
>> Abstractly the proper embargo period is the shortest one that does not 
>> damage the journals in the discipline financially because of 
>> significant subscription cancellations. The idea is that this period 
>> varies by discipline due to differences in the rate of diffusion of research results.
>> 
>> The evidence offered for embargo periods greater than the OSTP default 
>> period of 12 months is usually that citations peak later than this, 
>> which seems like a reasonable argument. It might also allow for periods 
>> shorter than 12 months. Mind you this evidence is merely indirect but 
>> for administrative purposes we need a simple formula. When citations 
>> peak seems like a reasonable candidate but I wonder if anyone has 
>> really looked at this issue? It is clearly scientometric in nature and 
>> the future of the scholarly publishing industry may depend on it.
>> 
>> All my best,
>> 
>> David
>> 
>> At 02:18 PM 3/1/2013, you wrote:
>>> Adminstrative info for SIGMETRICS (for example unsubscribe):
>>> http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/sigmetrics.html
>>> 
>>> Dear David,
>>> 
>>> 1. for the disciplinary delineation, I would first look at the 
>>> NSF-list with
>>> 13 broad fields (as used for the S&E Indicators). The advantage is 
>>> that the list is seriously updated each two years by our colleague 
>>> Ken Hamilton and that there is investment in its quality. There are 
>>> many other classifications.
>>> 
>>> 2. Can you provide an example of "a proper embargo period"?
>>> 
>>> Best,
>>> Loet
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Loet Leydesdorff
>>> Professor, University of Amsterdam
>>> Amsterdam School of Communications Research (ASCoR), 
>>> Kloveniersburgwal 48, 1012 CX Amsterdam.
>>> Tel.: +31-20- 525 6598; fax: +31-842239111 loet at leydesdorff.net ; 
>>> http://www.leydesdorff.net/ ; 
>>> http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ych9gNYAAAAJ&hl=en
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: ASIS&T Special Interest Group on Metrics 
>>> [mailto:SIGMETRICS at LISTSERV.UTK.EDU] On Behalf Of David Wojick
>>> Sent: Friday, March 01, 2013 5:44 PM
>>> To: SIGMETRICS at LISTSERV.UTK.EDU
>>> Subject: [SIGMETRICS] Defining embargo periods by discipline?
>>> 
>>> Adminstrative info for SIGMETRICS (for example unsubscribe):
>>> http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/sigmetrics.html
>>> 
>>> Dear Group,
>>> 
>>> I have begun to work on the design issues for a new federal green OA 
>>> system as raised by the recent U.S. OSTP Memo. See 
>>> http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2013/02/25/confusions-in-the-ostp-
>>> oa
>>> -poli
>>> cy-memo-three-monsters-and-a-gorilla/.
>>> 
>>> One of the most interesting issues is defining different embargo 
>>> periods for different disciplines. There is a clear scientometrics
>> component to this.
>>> Therefore I am asking if anyone knows of any research that speaks to 
>>> this issue? My first impression is that the citation pattern over 
>>> time is the only analytical framework that has been explored but I 
>>> may be wrong. In any case we seem to be breaking new ground with this policy issue.
>>> 
>>> There are actually two distinct issues. First how do we define a 
>>> discipline for regulatory purposes? Second how do we determine the 
>>> proper embargo period for each discipline? The latter is perhaps the 
>>> harder question. Your thoughts will be greatly appreciated.
>>> 
>>> My best regards to all,
>>> 
>>> David
>