The Scholarly Communication Landscape: Perspectives from Manchester
Thursday 23 April 2009 10am - 4.30pm, The Manchester Conference Centre, Sackville Street
For further information and to register, please contact
Closing date for registration is 13th April 2009.
The John Rylands University Library is hosting a one-day symposium entitled 'The Scholarly Communication Landscape: Perspectives from Manchester' on Thursday 23rd April 2009 at The Manchester Conference Centre, Sackville Street. Open to all staff at the University of Manchester, the day is expected to run from 10:00am until 4:30pm and will feature talks and presentations from renowned speakers.
The what, why and how of scholarly communication have changed drastically in recent years and continue to change at a rapid pace. Finding, analysing and publishing research in digital form is now commonplace, and often preferred and expected by researchers. Such change means that researchers are now faced with a need to understand an increasing number of complex issues.
The symposium will cover a range of related topics including:
- Open Access
A significant financial driver for the current transformation in scholarly communication is the so-called 'Scholarly Communication Crisis'. Over the last 15 years, research journal subscriptions have risen more than 200% while library budgets have remained largely static. As a response to these pressures, the Open Access movement has developed - a movement about which much confusion still exists in the academic community. - Funder mandates and REF
Researchers now need to comply with funder mandates which require individuals to retain the copyright of their work and/or deposit it in an open access repository. Furthermore, The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is set to replace the Research Assessment Exercise, a consequence of which is that, for the first time in the UK, bibliometric indicators may be used to guide measures of research performance. - Virtual spaces and digital repositories
The World Wide Web is transforming traditional scholarly communication. Repositories of digital content - institutional, discipline and funder - are growing in their number, uses, content and quality. Online virtual spaces for research collaboration and virtual journals are increasingly challenging the traditional approaches to scholarly commuication. - Tools for maximising the potential of research findings
The number and complexity of online tools for communicating and sharing research have proliferated in recent years. If used wisely these present new opportunities for individuals to maximise the potential of their research findings.
By exploring these and related issues, this symposium will enable Manchester researchers to better appreciate and respond to the ever changing scholarly communication landscape.
- Download the symposium synopsis (PDF 26Kb)
- Download the symposium programme (PDF 27Kb)
- Download the symposium poster (PDF 188Kb)