** Cross-Posted ** The editors of SSD appear to be a former Emerald publisher ( http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/dan-scott/10/b31/903) and a special collections librarian (http://guides.lib.fsu.edu/profile.php?uid=12572), not researchers.
The only issue the journal has so far published has 5 papers published by the former publisher, which mainly appear to be marketing literature for the journal itself, and a short number of journals published by the journal's editorial board. Only two papers appear to be from outside the small group that run the journal. Submissions and peer-reviewers are recruited as follows: http://www.socialsciencesdirectory.com/index.php/socscidir/article/view/32/69 "*Please support us in our efforts. We need submissions and we need volunteers to review them in their areas of expertise. Both can be done by registering with Social Sciences Directory as a User."* University of Nottingham policy-makers are encouraged to read more about SSD: http://www.socialsciencesdirectory.com/index.php/socscidir/index and then to ask themselves: (1) Is this what U. Nottingham means by peer review? (2) Is this how U. Nottingham would assess whether there is a niche or need for a new peer-reviewed journal? (3) Is this how U. Nottingham would have assessed journal quality in deciding whether to subscribe to it? (4) Does U. Nottingham consider that journals should be selected (by authors, subscribers, or "members") on the basis of their economic model rather than their quality? If U. Nottingham seeks open access to all peer-reviewed journal articles, perhaps it would be more useful to begin by strengthening Nottingham's own rather weak Green OA mandate (which currently has a mandate strength of 2 out of 12) "*All research papers... where copyright allows, should be deposited in the Nottingham ePrints repository upon publication or as soon as possible thereafter*" http://roarmap.eprints.org/302/ before spending more money on purchasing inchoate Gold OA journals. (Immediate deposit itself does not need publisher permission, as the hosts of SHERPA/Romeo should know. And "*All researchers are required to deposit*" is rather clearer than "*All research papers, where copyright allows, should be deposited*" which makes the publisher, not Nottingham, the arbiter of whether or not Nottingham researchers comply with their own mandate.) Here, for reference, is the 12 out of 12 strength mandate of U. Liège, which is already generating an annual 82.5% deposit rate: *"The University of Liege policy is mandatory: the Immediate-Deposit/Optional-Access (ID/OA) mandate<http://openaccess.eprints.org/index.php?/archives/71-guid.html> : **All publications must be deposited [in the institution's repository, ORBi]. Wherever publisher agreement conditions are fulfilled, the author will authorize setting access to the deposit as open access… [O]nly those references introduced in ORBi will be taken into consideration as the official list of publications accompanying any curriculum vitae for all evaluation procedures 'in house' (designations, promotions, grant applications, etc.)." *http://roarmap.eprints.org/56/ Gargouri et al (2012) Testing the Finch Hypothesis on Green OA Mandate Ineffectiveness. http://arxiv.org/abs/1210.8174 Stevan Harnad Begin forwarded message: *From:* Dan Scott <dan.sc...@socialsciencesdirectory.com> *Date:* 11 December 2012 11:45:49 GMT *To:* sparc-oafo...@arl.org *Subject:* *[sparc-oaforum] RUSSELL GROUP UNIVERSITY REACHES INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP AGREEMENT WITH OPEN ACCESS PUBLISHER SOCIAL SCIENCES DIRECTORY* *PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE* * * *RUSSELL GROUP UNIVERSITY REACHES INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP AGREEMENT WITH OPEN ACCESS PUBLISHER SOCIAL SCIENCES DIRECTORY* * * UK-based ‘gold’ open access publisher Social Sciences Directory Limited today announces that Russell Group member, the University of Nottingham, has become the first university in the world to take up an institutional membership to the multi-disciplinary journal Social Sciences Directory ( www.socialsciencedirectory.com). The institutional membership, which costs GBP 2,000, will allow an unlimited number of manuscript submissions to be made without any additional payments of either article processing charges or subscriptions, up to the end of 2013. The intention is to cut the time taken to publish and disseminate research, whilst maintaining editorial quality controls. All research papers will undergo peer review and be published under a Creative Commons CC-BY licence. Tony Simmonds, Faculty Team Leader – Social Sciences at the University of Nottingham, commented: *“Nottingham has long been a proponent of open access publishing, with an established research fund to pay open access charges. We believe this is a promising and bold venture, and one that deserves backing.”* ** Dan Scott, founder and director, commented: *“This is a landmark agreement and I am very pleased that a university as prestigious as Nottingham has become the first to support this initiative. Having worked in subscription publishing for years, I heard academics and librarians complain about its flaws and cost but say there was no viable alternative. Open access publishing provides significant benefits for authors and readers alike in widening access, allowing author copyright retention and providing better value-for-money for taxpayers. Core to our thinking is that Social Sciences Directory provides a platform for published research across a broad range of disciplinary areas and from a wide international catchment. We hope this agreement will act as an example to other universities and that they will follow suit.”* * * *ENDS* * * *11.12.2012* * * NOTE TO EDITORS: Social Sciences Directory Limited was founded in 2012 by Dan Scott, as a ‘gold’ open access publisher. It was set up in reaction to many well-known issues in scholarly publishing such as IP, the quantity of wasted material, outdated methodologies and unsustainable costs at a time of widespread budget austerity. It has established two websites, Social Sciences Directory which is ‘live’ and Humanities Directory, which is in the process of being set up and aims to publish its first issue in early 2013. A central concept is that most research is now carried out online using keyword searches, and Social Sciences Directory simplifies the process by: · removing individual journal titles in favour of a large repository · making the resulting content freely available In addition, value-added content such as case studies, presentations, reports and conference proceedings can be submitted free of charge and published subject to editorial approval. Social Sciences Directory is an affiliate member of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA) <http://oaspa.org/>. For further information, please contact Daniel Scott, Director, Social Sciences Directory Limited on +44 (0)1423 326 257 or +44 (0)770 381 2042. Email dan.sc...@socialsciencesdirectory.com; dan.sc...@humanitiesdirectory.com URL www.socialsciencesdirectory.com; www.humanitiesdirectory.com * * The University of Nottingham, described by The Sunday Times University Guide 2011 as ‘the embodiment of the modern international university’, has 40,000 students at award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. It is ranked in the UK’s Top 10 and the World’s Top 75 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and the QS World University Rankings. It was named ‘the world’s greenest university’ in the UI GreenMetric World University Ranking 2011. More than 90 per cent of research at the University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to the most recent Research Assessment Exercise. The University’s vision is to be recognised around the world for its signature contributions, especially in global food security, energy & sustainability, and health. The University won a Queen’s Anniversary Prize<http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/pressreleases/2011/november/queensanniversaryprize.aspx> for Higher and Further Education in 2011, for its research into global food security. * * *For more information about the University of Nottingham, please visit: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk*** Dan Scott MA, BA (Hons) Director *Social Sciences Directory Limited* T: +44 (0)1423 326 257 M: +44 (0)770 381 2042 *www.socialsciencesdirectory.com <x-msg://1/www.socialsciencesdirectory.com> * *www.humanitiesdirectory.com* *READ IT. WRITE IT. CITE IT.*
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