SPARC
@sparc@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp 2 days ago

Publishers are increasingly charging authors fees to put their accepted manuscripts in #openaccess repositories. SPARC supports recommendations from Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) on how authors, funders, institutions & libraries can respond. https://coar-repositories.org/news-updates/unfair-publisher-fees-for-deposit-into-repositories-highlight-the-need-for-authors-to-exercise-their-rights/
petersuber
@petersuber@fediscience.org  ·  activity timestamp 2 days ago

Many thanks to @AuthorsAlliance for launching this form to collect author experiences under the new federal #OpenAccess policies, including the #NIH policy.
https://www.authorsalliance.org/fedpublicaccess/

"We are particularly interested in learning about:
* Challenges with #publishers whose policies may disallow their uploading of articles to agency-designated #repositories;
* Common questions or points of confusion expressed by grantees;
* Confusion or questions about agency guidance;
* Other technical, legal, or practical barriers to depositing articles."

Note to #librarians: When you encounter authors facing any kind of problem with a fed OA policy (understanding, compliance, publishing), please refer them to this form. The more we document the problems, the more we can facilitate solutions.

#Monitoring #NelsonMemo #OSTP
Nick Byrd, Ph.D.
@ByrdNick@nerdculture.de  ·  activity timestamp 4 weeks ago

How are concepts like 'reasoning' and 'inference' defined?

#Philosophy has definitions that go way back (e.g., in #epistemology and #PhilMind). Now #computerScience are realizing a need for definitions.

This #openAccess#CS review takes a crack at them: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2504.15900

"...we formalize reasoning as a structured, multi-step process that dynamically decomposes complex problems, generates intermediate hypotheses, and iteratively refines solutions through logical and evidence-based transformations." "While inference I constitutes a single-step conditional probabilÎ𝑡=1 𝑇 ity computation 𝑃( 𝑦 |𝑥) = 𝑃( 𝑦 𝑡 |𝑥, 𝑦 <𝑡 ), reasoning R implements a meta-process coordinating multiple inference calls through explicit state management R(𝑥) = Φ 1 ◦ Φ 2 ◦ · · ·◦Φ 𝑛(𝑥). T"
"...we formalize reasoning as a structured, multi-step process that dynamically decomposes complex problems, generates intermediate hypotheses, and iteratively refines solutions through logical and evidence-based transformations." "While inference I constitutes a single-step conditional probabilÎ𝑡=1 𝑇 ity computation 𝑃( 𝑦 |𝑥) = 𝑃( 𝑦 𝑡 |𝑥, 𝑦 <𝑡 ), reasoning R implements a meta-process coordinating multiple inference calls through explicit state management R(𝑥) = Φ 1 ◦ Φ 2 ◦ · · ·◦Φ 𝑛(𝑥). T"
"...we formalize reasoning as a structured, multi-step process that dynamically decomposes complex problems, generates intermediate hypotheses, and iteratively refines solutions through logical and evidence-based transformations." "While inference I constitutes a single-step conditional probabilÎ𝑡=1 𝑇 ity computation 𝑃( 𝑦 |𝑥) = 𝑃( 𝑦 𝑡 |𝑥, 𝑦 <𝑡 ), reasoning R implements a meta-process coordinating multiple inference calls through explicit state management R(𝑥) = Φ 1 ◦ Φ 2 ◦ · · ·◦Φ 𝑛(𝑥). T"
Alex Holcombe
@alexh@fediscience.org  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago

At the WikiJournal of Science, we are looking for associate editors! We are a scholarly journal set up in part to get more academic input into Wikipedia - academics are encouraged to submit candidate Wikipedia articles on areas of their expertise, which we then get expert peer reviews of, publish in the journal, and then also put on Wikipedia.
At this page (
https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/WikiJournal_of_Science/Editorial_board), there is a button for Apply to the Editorial Board. All fields welcome! You don't necessarily need wiki experience. The journal is diamond #openaccess with highly transparent processes, just like Wikipedia. Let me know of any questions.
petersuber
@petersuber@fediscience.org  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago

New study: "We conducted a…survey across 125 countries, interviewing nearly 130,000 individuals [& found] widespread support for #climate action. Notably…86% endorse pro-climate social norms and 89% demand intensified political action…Despite these encouraging statistics, we document that the world is in a state of pluralistic ignorance, wherein individuals around the globe systematically underestimate the willingness of their fellow citizens to act."
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-024-01925-3

Also see Damian Carrington's summary: "People across the world are united in wanting action to fight the #climate crisis but remain a silent majority, because they wrongly think only a minority share their views."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/apr/22/spiral-of-silence-climate-action-very-popular-why-dont-people-realise

The empirical support for this result is very welcome. But #AJMuste reached much the same conclusion (about issues other than climate) in 1952. I cited it in one of the early issues of my newsletter on #OpenAccess (Dec 2001), as one reason why I launched the newsletter. "Muste argued that civil disobedience was useful in part because it made actual dissidents known to potential dissidents. It broke the appearance of unanimity that, by itself, discouraged many people from voicing their opposition or even thinking clearly and courageously about opposition."
https://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/newsletter/12-26-01.htm

We owe it to ourselves to make the climate majority more vocal and visible. Same for the #democracy majority.