SCImago: A new source of journal metrics offers free data on open access journals.

SCImago Journal and Country Rank is an alternative database of journal citation metrics developed by researchers. Until very recently, the ISI Web of Knowledge, Journal Citation Reports (JCR) has been the standard for the ranking of journals (impact factors). Unlike ISI's JCR (available by Tulane license), SCImago is freely available online. In addition to being free, SCImago offers some other improvements:

• SCImago makes use of data supplied by Scopus which covers 13,000 journals, including many journals not tracked by ISI's JCR. Scopus adds open access titles to its database on an annual basis, and so SCImago contains reliable data for the open access journals.
  
• The SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) approach weights citations from journals according to how highly cited the journal is, using an iterative approach.
  
• SJR calculation looks at citations made in a three year period which provides a more stable indicator of trends than impact factors.

Another free ranking service is available - Eigenfactor.org which launched last year with a similar approach. See our previous post: Journal Ranking Systems, Journal Citation Reports (ISI) and Eigenfactor

New Rules: Do you receive research funding from NIH?

Do you receive research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)? If so, as from April 2008 you will be required to deposit the final manuscript of your journal articles in PubMed Central and ensure free availability (open access) within 12 months of publication.

The Director of the National Institutes of Health shall require that all investigators funded by the NIH submit or have submitted for them to the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central an electronic version of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts upon acceptance for publication, to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication: Provided, That the NIH shall implement the public access policy in a manner consistent with copyright law.

Specifics:

• http://publicaccess.nih.gov/
• This is a list of the journals that submit articles directly to PubMed Central on behalf of their authors. If you publish in one of these journals, no further action is needed to comply with the submission requirement of NIH Public Access Policy. http://publicaccess.nih.gov/submit_process_journals.htm

Revised Policy on Enhancing Public Access to Archived Publications Resulting from NIH-Funded Research, Notice Number: NOT-OD-08-033, Effective Date: April 7, 2008

April 7-13, 2008: National Public Health Week

CLIMATE CHANGE 2008
http://www.nphw.org/
Since 1996, APHA has organized National Public Health Week and developed campaigns to educate the public, policy-makers, and public health professionals about issues important to improving the public’s health. By making climate change the theme for 2008, the public health community is changing how society addresses this unprecedented challenge.

There is a direct connection between climate change and the health of our nation today. Yet few Americans are aware of the very real consequences of climate change in the health of our communities, our families and our children.

Related resources:

• Encyclopedia of World Climatology [Springer] (2005)
• Hot House: Global Climate Change and the Human Condition [Springer] (2007)
• National Academies Climate & Global Change
• WHO Climate Change and Human Health
• WHO. Climate Change and Adaptation Strategies for Human Health (2006) Also in print at the Library: WA 30.5 C67 2006

Recent publications on Climate Change from PubMed.