All DataCite DOIs have associated metadata, described in the DataCite Metadata Schema Documentation (DataCite Metadata Working Group (2017)), validated and stored as XML in the DataCite Metadata Store (MDS). These metadata are then made available via DataCite APIs and services. For these services XML is not always the best format, and we are thus providing the metadata in other formats, most notably JSON.

There is a need for the consistent and credible reporting of research data usage. Such usage metrics are required as an important component in understanding how publicly available research data are being reused.

I am grateful to Salina Christmas for having interviewed me for Story of Books. I talked about Parables of Care, about the power of storytelling and superheroes, my comic and real-world heroes, etc.

Dr Peter Wilkins and I received an Open Scholarship Award 2018 Honorable Mention for our Comics Grid work, sponsored by the Canadian Social Knowledge Institute and its partners.

We are looking for a a permanent, full-time technician, arguably the most important position in our laboratory. The main perks that come with the position are that it is permanent and that we are a small group of very enthusiastic colleagues where there is always something different going on. For those so inclined, we also offer the possibility to conduct their own research projects, to the extent the candidate feels comfortable with.

Today DataCite is launching DOI Fabrica, the next generation of DataCite’s DOI registration service, replacing the Metadata Store (MDS). This is the biggest and most important product release DataCite has done in many years, and the result of nine months of hard work by the entire DataCite team. DOI registration is the core service that DataCite is providing to its members and the data centers they work with.

Parables of Care, a comic that adapts dementia care stories from the Care’N’Share app, is out now.

At the end of this year, our amazing postdoc Axel is going back to Argentina to start his own lab. This means we are looking for a new postdoc to start next year. Earliest starting date is February 11, 2018.

The report ‘Untangling Academic Publishing: A history of the relationship between commercial interests, academic prestige and the circulation of research’ (Fyfe et al 2017) has been published today. I share some of the key recommendations.

I’ve just published a translation of an interview with the slain Mexican journalist Javier Valdez at Nieman Storyboard (Neiman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University).