Suggestions for improving the scholarly communication ecosystem in India

Friends, I have some suggestions for Indian scientists and those involved in supporting research. 1. All publishing authors (from India) may be persuaded to register with ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) and obtain a unique author identity. Mine is below the signature line. [To obtain a unique ORCID identity, one may follow these steps: 1. *Register for an ORCID ID*: - Visit the ORCID website[1] and click on "Register now." - Fill in your name, email address, and create a password. - If you already have an ORCID ID, select the appropriate option; otherwise, continue with the registration process[4]. 2. *Verify Your Information*: - Review the list of researchers with similar names and select the correct profile or continue with registration if you don't have an ORCID ID yet[4]. 3. *Set Up Your Profile*: - Create a password and adjust the visibility settings for your profile to ensure it is visible to everyone, as ORCID is designed to help researchers share their information with others[4]. 4. *Agree to Terms and Register*: - Check the terms of use boxes, complete the registration process, and confirm that you are not a robot[4]. 5. *Utilize Your ORCID ID*: - Once registered, your ORCID ID will serve as a unique and persistent identifier throughout your career, even if your name changes or you move to a different organization[4]. 6. *Link Your Publications and Works*: - Add your publications, funding information, and other works to your ORCID profile to showcase your research output and achievements[4]. By following these steps, you can easily obtain a unique ORCID identity that distinguishes you as a researcher and helps in accurately attributing your scholarly work[4][5]. Citations: [1] https://orcid.org [2] https://libguides.uprm.edu/orcid-en [3] https://info.orcid.org/documentation/api-tutorials/api-tutorial-get-and-auth... [4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFpgseSN7kE [5] https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/orcid/index} **** 2. All institutions which are shown as affiliations in the byline of a research article/report/preprint/any other kind of published stuff should be persuaded to register and obtain unique organizational RoR (Research Organization Registry). [To obtain a unique institutional identity using the Research Organization Registry (ROR), please follow these steps: 1. *Check if your institution already has a ROR ID* - Search for your institution on the ROR website[3] to see if it already has a unique ROR ID assigned. - If your institution is listed, you can use the provided ROR ID. 2. *Request a new ROR ID if needed* - If your institution is not listed, you can request a new ROR ID by submitting a form on the ROR website[3]. - Provide details about your institution, such as its official name, website, and address. **** 3. *Validate and update your institution's ROR profile* - Once your institution has a ROR ID, review the associated profile information for accuracy. - If any details need to be updated, such as name variants or address information, you can request changes by contacting the ROR team[3]. **** 4. *Open Researcher and Contributor ID* - Encourage researchers affiliated with your institution to include the ROR ID in their publications and grant applications. - Provide guidance to researchers on how to properly format and include the ROR ID. **** 5. *Monitor and maintain your institution's ROR profile* - Regularly review your institution's ROR profile to ensure that it remains accurate and up-to-date. - If any changes occur, such as mergers, name changes, or new campuses, update the ROR profile accordingly[3]. By obtaining a unique ROR ID and maintaining an accurate institutional profile, your institution can ensure consistent and reliable identification in research information systems and databases[3]. Citations: [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8391995/ [2] https://www.techtarget.com/iotagenda/definition/unique-identifier-UID [3] https://clarivate.com/blog/getting-the-full-picture-institutional-unificatio... [4] https://education.icar.gov.in/Latest_Universal_Student_ID_for_ICAR_for_websi... [5] https://www.thehindu.com/education/registration-of-students-for-unique-ident... for accuracy. **** 3. We should insist that all authors deposit their published work both in *Zenodo.org* and *BASE* in the interest of long term preservation and ease of access to anyone, anywhere, anytime. I have already done that. Both are managed by reputed organizations and are free to use. Librarians in academic and other research-performing institutions may be given training to assist in this. 4. Authors may be persuaded to adopt preprint as the first choice of communication of all new results. There are many of them (and one can obtain a list from COAR), the well-known ones being arXiv, bioRxiv, chemRxiv, SocArXiv, etc. 5. Authors may be persuaded NOT to publish in commercial journals. If they still want to do that they should not pay APC. Certainly NO FUNDING AGENCY SHOULD UNDERWRITE APC. Transferring taxpayers; money to publishers is immoral and unethical. With best wishes, Arun http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4398-4658On
participants (1)
-
Subbiah Arunachalam