DOIs in Use

It has become common for researchers to blog about published articles and there are a number of interesting blog aggregator sites. One site run by Seed Media is Research Blogging (http://www.researchblogging.org/) where you can see examples of DOIs being used to point to the published articles referred to in the blog posts. You can also see DOI use in the original blog post. They make use of the CrossRef Citation Blog Plugin (WordPress and Moveable Type plug-ins for searching for citations and getting DOIs mentioned on CrossTech) released in 2008.

CrossCheck

The CrossCheck plagiarism detection service is gathering pace, with 40 publishers now participating and contributing 7730 titles to the database against which manuscripts can be checked for originality.

This database is central to the service, and the effectiveness of CrossCheck grows in direct proportion to the number of participating publishers. We would encourage you to join and enable indexing of your content even if you aren’t ready to start verifying manuscripts; just adding your publications will allow others to check that they are not re-publishing your content.

As more publishers use the iThenticate system to check submissions, the integration work undertaken by EJPress, Editorial Manager, ScholarOne and other manuscript tracking systems is proving extremely beneficial, giving editorial staff the option to submit and check documents as part of their established workflow.

Pricing for 2009 will continue at the same level as 2008, with an annual fee that comprises 20% of your annual CrossRef fee, and per-document checking fees that start at $0.75 per document with volume discounts applied. Further details about CrossCheck including webinar dates, current members and application forms can be found on our website: http://www.crossref.org/crosscheck.html

Reference Linking and the Non-Linking Fee

CrossRef’s success is based on effective collaboration and the fact that everyone benefits when all publishers link to one another on an equal basis. One of CrossRef’s goals is to maximize linking. Because of the importance of reference linking in journals, in particular, an obligation of membership is to link from journal references using CrossRef DOIs. If members are not linking journal references within 18 months of joining CrossRef then a Non-Linking Fee is imposed. The fee was put in place by the board a few years ago not to raise revenue but to highlight the importance of linking to CrossRef’s mission and to keep the system fair. Publishers who register DOIs and metadata are linked to by other publishers but if they in turn aren’t linking out from their own references the linking is not reciprocal.

Recently a notice about the Non-Linking Fee was sent to all those members who have not reported to CrossRef that they are linking out from journal references (there is strong encouragement to link from other types of content but no requirement to do so). In some cases publishers are linking and we just don’t know about it and in others technical issues prevent publishers from linking. CrossRef provides full information on how to link and a number of online tools to aid linking. In order to be fair CrossRef can’t waive or suspend this fee.

CrossRef Metadata Services for Citation Metrics

At its November meeting the board approved developing a license for third parties to use references obtained via CrossRef Metadata Services (CMS) - http://www.crossref.org/metadata_services.html - for citation analysis and metrics. There is a group of publishers who are interested in using CMS to provide references for new metrics to be developed and they specifically asked the board to approve this. CrossRef itself will not be developing any metrics. The usual CrossRef Metadata Services procedures will apply so it is optional for publishers to deposit references with CrossRef and publishers will have the chance to opt out of having their references delivered to any particular third party on a case-by-case basis.

UKSG Project TRANSFER

At the beginning of 2008 I took on the role of Chair with the UKSG Project TRANSFER Working Group and I’m happy to report that the TRANSFER Code of Practice 2.0 was released in September and publishers are now being asked to endorse the Code. The text on the website explains the purpose of the Code the best so here it is –

The TRANSFER Code of Practice responds to the expressed needs of the scholarly journal community for consistent guidelines to help publishers ensure that journal content remains easily accessible by librarians and readers when there is a transfer between parties, and to ensure that the transfer process occurs with minimum disruption. Publishers are being asked to publicly endorse and follow the Code of Practice which is a set of voluntary “best practices” for the industry.

Complete information is available at the website - http://www.uksg.org/transfer. Libraries are going to start asking publishers whether they are “TRANSFER Compliant” so take a look and learn about this important initiative.

2008 Election Results

The following individuals were elected to the Board for 3-year terms: Tim Ingoldsby, AIP, Linda Beebe, APA, Paul Reekie, CSIRO, Anthony Durniak, IEEE, Patricia Shaffer, Informs, and Rebecca Simon, University of California Press.

I would like to thank Stewart Wills from AAAS for chairing the Nominating Committee for carefully looking at board composition and putting together a great slate of candidates. Full information on the current board terms is at http://www.crossref.org/06members/41election_results.html

Financial Information

Income Statement	2008 3rd Qtr.		2008 1-3 Qtr.		2008 Full Year
$000's	Actuals	Budget	Actuals	Budget	Forecast	Budget
Revenues	892	965	2671	2815	3629	3840
Expenses	734	965	2434	2580	3456	3535
Operating Income	158	126	237	235	173	305
Contingencies						(60)
Interest Income (Expense)	8	15	22	45	37	60
Foreign Currency Translation (Losses)	(30)		(28)		(28)
Net Income	136	141	231	280	182	305

Executive Summary:

PILA activities during the 3rd quarter of 2008 covering the months of June through September, led to the following financial highlights:

• Revenues: $892,000 - under budget by $73,000 (7.6%)
• Operating Expenses: $734,000 – under budget by $105,000 (12.5%)
• Cash Used: $357,000 – better (by $67,000) against the budget of $424,000

The 2008 full year (12-month) financial forecast (prepared by staff) indicates that full year 2008 will be slightly unfavorable against budget. Key projections at December 31, 2008 include:

• Revenues: $3,629,000 - $211,000 (5.5%) less than budget
• Expenses: $3,456,000 – under budget by $79,000 (2.2%)
• Operating income including contingency: $173,000 - unfavorable to budget by $72,000 (29.4%)
• Cash balances forecasted at December 31, 2008: $1,224,000 – under budget by $112,000 (8.4%)

Revenues are under budget because the drop in back file deposits has been higher than projected last year. However, we have kept a careful eye on expenses and these will be under budget as well leaving CrossRef with a reasonable surplus and a good cash balance at the end of 2008.

Summary of Motions from November Board Meeting

At the November meeting the board elected the following officers:

• Bob Campbell as Chairman and President
• Linda Beebe as Vice Chairman and Treasurer
• Ed Pentz as Executive Director and Secretary
• Lisa Hart as Assistant Secretary

The board reviewed the current committees and appointed Chairmen where appropriate. A full list of the current committees and working groups is on the website - http://www.crossref.org/06members/40committees.html. If any members are interested in joining a committee or working group then please contact me (epentz@crossref.org).

The board also approved setting the 2009 back file deposit fee at $.15 and the Membership and Fees Committee has been tasked with reviewing all fees in 2009 and recommend any changes to the fees for 2010 by July 2009.