[Apologies for cross-posting]
Dear Readers, Welcome to the March issue of ScieCom info. Nordic-Baltic Forum for Scientific Communication The important question whether Open Access influences the impact cycle of publications is discussed<http://www.sciecom.org/ojs/index.php/sciecominfo/article/view/3549/3123> by Anders Agerbæk Kjøller Nielsen, an information specialist at the Faculty of Life Sciences Library at the University of Copenhagen. He focuses on two factors of OA and describes how these factors might impact the number of citations, The “Green road” to Open Access is explored<http://www.sciecom.org/ojs/index.php/sciecominfo/article/view/3548/3127> by Sóĺveig Thorsteinsdottir, Director of the Medical and Health Information Centre, Landspitali University Hospital, Iceland. She has followed the development of repositories in the Nordic countries and reports on existing institutional and funder mandates. She draws parallels to the international developments and gives an account of the current situation in Iceland. In January this year Sweden got its first institutional mandate, when Chalmers University of Technology adopted a policy requiring Open Access from their researchers. Maria Kinger at Chalmers University Library takes us through the preceding years and the library's engagement in OA and the dissemination of the university's publications. In her article<http://www.sciecom.org/ojs/index.php/sciecominfo/article/view/3552/3126> Maria describes the background processes leading up to the decision, and the important role of the library in the management of the repository. OpenAIRE (Open Access Infrastructure for Research in Europe), is a three-year project funded under the 7th Framework Programme of the European Commission. The project had its kick-off meeting in Athens on January 27 in 2010. The overall budget is 4.1 Million Euro. Jan Hagerlid, Senior Executive Officer - Programme Co-coordinator of OpenAccess.se at the Swedish National Library, presents<http://www.sciecom.org/ojs/index.php/sciecominfo/article/view/3551/3125> the project and its main goal to support the Open Access pilot, launched by the European Commission in August 2008. covering about 20% of the FP7 budget. Business models for Open access are a hot topic. In December last year, the Croatia-based Open Access publisher Sciyo in introduced an interesting and unusual new model - usage-based author royalties. Sciyo publishes books and journals, and has a standard publishing fee of EUR 470. Jan Erik Frantsvåg has a background in banking and is now responsible for IT and Open Access at the University Library in Tromsö, Norway. He has the ideal background and experience for analysing<http://www.sciecom.org/ojs/index.php/sciecominfo/article/view/3550/3124> this new economic model, and to discuss the potential implications and complications. As always, your comments and ideas are very welcome Ingegerd Rabow / Editor-in-chief
