The Syldavia Gazette is a newsletter highlighting interesting science stories from around the web.

Front Matter

Martin Fenner

Football Euro: Study shows impact on Covid-19 infections

Ancient DNA Charts Native Americans’ Journeys to Asia Thousands of Years Ago

Language Diversity in Scholarly Publishing

Football Euro: Study shows the impact on Covid-19 infections   The impact of the European Soccer (Football) Championship 2020 on the incidence of the Corona pandemic across Europe. Ancient DNA Charts Native Americans’ Journeys to Asia Thousands of Years Ago   Native Americans traveled back and forth to Asia thousands of years ago, well before Europeans discovered America.

Covid, Ancient Migrations, Peer Review, Language, Nobel Prize

Dinner with Proust   How Alzheimer’s caregivers are pulled into their patients’ worlds. Rights of Nature Reach Europe   In September 2022, the Spanish Senate in the “Mar Menor Act” recognized a natural entity as a subject of rights – for the first time in Europe.


Proust, Rights of Nature, Standard Model, Ranitidine, Open Scholarly Infrastructure

Heinz Pampel

The number and proportion of freely available articles is growing; reaching 45% of the literature published in 2015

The OpenCitations blog posts are now archived on Rogue Scholar with DOIs

Peer Review Week 2021: Preprints Meet Open Peer Review

Open Access Week: a researcher’s perspective

Generating Overlay blog posts

23. bis 29. Oktober: International Open Access Week 2023&nbsp;„Community over Commercialization“

Open Access in der Region Berlin-Brandenburg: Was wurde erreicht und wo geht es hin?

20 Jahre Open Access: Wie Berlin das offene Publizieren prägte

The state of OA: a large-scale analysis of the prevalence and impact of Open Access articles

Interview with Open Access Nigeria

Happy Birthday, Open Access! Last Sunday, the Berlin Declaration turned twenty years old (Pampel &amp; Kindling, 2023). Its anniversary coincides with the international Open Access Week. During this action week, events promoting Open Access are organized worldwide (an overview can be found at openaccessweek.org.

The Open Access Week in the Scholarly Blogosphere

Ten (not so) simple rules for clinical trial data-sharing

The Challenger Expedition - 1872

Defining the roles of research software

This 2,300-Year-Old Mummy Has a Heart (and Tongue) of Gold

Prostate cancer treatments can be avoided or delayed in many cases, huge study finds

Ten (not so) simple rules for clinical trial data-sharing   The authors propose 10 (not so) simple rules for researchers wishing to share data, aligned on the clinical trial lifecycle. The Challenger Expedition - 1872   Report of a BBC Radio episode about the 1872 four-year-long Challenger expedition to investigate the oceans of the earth.

Data Sharing, Challenger Expedition, Research Software, Adornment, Prostate Cancer

The next de-extinction target: The dodo

What explains the unstoppable rise of maize in Asia? | Aeon Essays

The next de-extinction target: The dodo   The startup Colossal announced plans to bring back the Dodo, a large flightless bird that inhabited the island of Mauritius before it went extinct in the late 17th century. The winners of the World Dataviz Prize 2023   Conducted in partnership with the World Government Summit, the 2023 competition focuses on the past, present, and future of society and governments.

Dodo, Dataviz, Maize, Da Vinci, Elements

Oyster mushroom fungus uses nerve gas to paralyse and eat tiny worms

The New Obesity Breakthrough Drugs

Two Weeks In, the Webb Space Telescope Is Reshaping Astronomy | Quanta Magazine

Oyster mushroom fungus uses nerve gas to paralyse and eat tiny worms   Oyster mushroom fungus uses nerve gas to paralyse and eat tiny worms More detailed understanding of how oyster mushrooms, a carnivorous fungus, kill their prey to use them as nitrogen source. Hard of Hearing   Henry Gee talks about the fascinating evolution of mammalian hearing and the revelation of starting to use a hearing aid himself.

Oyster Mushrooms, Hearing, Accessibility, Obesity, Webb Space Telescope

Food fight: FDA is redefining ‘healthy’ and food industry is pushing back

From Ghostbusters to H.P. Lovecraft: A Cultural History of Slime

Advancing Software Citation Implementation (Software Citation Workshop 2022)

The strange journey of the Parthenon Marbles to the British Museum | Aeon Videos

The Era of Planetary Defense Has Begun   In their textbook Modern Principles of Economics, Tyler and Tabarrok use asteroid defense as an example of a public good. Food fight: FDA is redefining ‘healthy’ and food industry is pushing back   Less saturated fat, less sodium, less added sugar; manufacturers say almost no packaged foods would qualify under the agency’s new rules.

Planetary Defense, Healthy Food, Slime, Software Citation, Parthenon Marbles

Guinea Worm Disease Reaches All-Time Low: Only 13* Human Cases Reported in 2022

ChatGPT is fun, but not an author

Meet the first Neanderthal family

Welcome to the Tidyverse

Guinea worm disease reaches all-time low: only 13* human cases reported in 2022   Only 13 human cases of Guinea worm disease were reported worldwide in 2022. This Neglected Tropical Disease is on the WHO 2030 roadmap to become only the second human disease in history to be eradicated, after smallpox.

Guinea Worms, ChatGPT, Neanderthals, Plagiarism, Tidyverse

Syldavia Gazette

[![](https://syldavia-gazette.org/images/photo-1471094114392-6a87b3e78ee0.jpeg){.img-fluid}](../../images/photo-1471094114392-6a87b3e78ee0.jpeg){.lightbox
gallery="quarto-lightbox-gallery-1"}

Happy Birthday, Open Access! Last Sunday, the Berlin Declaration turned
twenty years old ([Pampel & Kindling,
2023](https://www.tagesspiegel.de/wissen/20-jahre-open-access-wie-berlin-das-offene-publizieren-pragte-10657489.html)).
Its anniversary coincides with the international Open Access Week.
During this action week, events promoting Open Access are organized
worldwide (an overview can be found at
[openaccessweek.org](https://www.openaccessweek.org/). Another list of
events in Germany is available at
[open-access.network](https://open-access.network/fortbilden/open-access-week/open-access-week-2023)).
In panel discussions or digital formats, such as blog posts, the current
state and future of Open Access are examined.

This action week is a good opportunity to take a look at the Rogue
Scholar Science Blog Archive ([Di Giambattista
2023](https://doi.org/10.59350/vwajv-ym488)). A search in the archive of
English-language blogs archived by Rogue Scholar yields [493
hits](https://rogue-scholar.org/posts?page=1&query=open+access+week&language=en)
for the term **open access week**. The same search for German-language
blogs resulted in [44
hits](https://rogue-scholar.org/posts?page=1&query=open+access+week&language=de)
(as of October 22, 2023).

In the following, I will introduce some of the posts. To do this, I will
use the [Five Ws](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Ws) method and will
present a blog post for each W.

::: {#who .section .level3}
### Who? {#who .anchored anchor-id="who"}

In 2009, Martin Fenner discussed the perspective of researchers on Open
Access in a blog post titled Open Access Week: A researcher's
perspective ([Fenner,
2009](https://doi.org/10.53731/r294649-6f79289-8cw3b)). He emphasized
the potential for the reuse of scholarly articles.
:::

::: {#why .section .level3}
### Why? {#why .anchored anchor-id="why"}

The question of the motivations behind Open Access is addressed in
several parts of the blog post Twitter interview with Open Access
Nigeria by Mike Taylor ([2014](https://doi.org/10.59350/4v1nk-69837)).
This post is a transcript of a Twitter interview. Still worth reading!
:::

::: {#what .section .level3}
### What? {#what .anchored anchor-id="what"}

Georg Fischer ([2023](https://doi.org/10.59350/7hdpg-hm144)) provides
suggestions for those who decide at the last minute to celebrate Open
Access Week with an event or another format in his German-language blog
post Veranstaltungen in Berlin und Brandenburg (English translation:
Events in Berlin and Brandenburg). He provides an overview of activities
in the Berlin-Brandenburg area for this year's Open Access Week. There
is also a reference to a [panel
discussion](https://blogs.fu-berlin.de/open-access-berlin/2023/06/01/oaweekbbb-auftakt/)
taking place in Berlin (at the Zuse Institute Berlin) on Tuesday, in
which I am also involved, and which deals with the current state and
future of Open Access in Germany ([Kindling,
2023](https://doi.org/10.59350/trt30-p4845)).
:::

::: {#when .section .level3}
### When? {#when .anchored anchor-id="when"}

One must discuss preprints when addressing the question of "When" in the
context of Open Access. A noteworthy post in the archive, written by
Scott Edmunds in 2021, is titled Preprints Meet Open Peer Review
([Edmunds, 2021](https://doi.org/10.59350/j2nnd-43b72)).
:::

::: {#where .section .level3}
### Where? {#where .anchored anchor-id="where"}

The question of "Where" was frequently discussed, especially in the
early years of Open Access. Green or gold were possible answers. With
the rise of preprints, the distinction becomes less important. Many
authors choose both paths. A noteworthy blog post titled The number and
proportion of freely available articles is growing; reaching 45% of the
literature published in 2015 from 2015 in the archive is by Juan Pablo
Alperin ([2017](https://doi.org/10.59350/9abst-wk467)). He examines the
paper The State of OA: A large-scale analysis of the prevalence and
impact of Open Access articles ([Piwowar et al.,
2018](https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4375)) in this post---a paper that
continues to be very important for scientometric research on Open
Access.
:::

::: {#conclusion .section .level3}
### Conclusion {#conclusion .anchored anchor-id="conclusion"}

This subjective selection of articles from the Rogue Scholar Archive
demonstrates that looking back is not only fascinating because it allows
us to contextualize current developments; it also shows the potential of
blog posts in academia. For example, they allow us to describe thoughts
and backgrounds that traditionally are not discussed in academic
articles. Thus, academic blogs also contribute to bibliodiversity. The
motto of this year's Open Access Week (Community over Commercialization)
emphasizes the importance of community-supported publication initiatives
for Open Access. Academic blogs also make a significant contribution to
this. For curation purposes, overlay blog posts are a great solution
([Fenner, 2023](https://doi.org/10.53731/gzrse-p5d35)). They allow me to
consolidate blog posts on a specific topic, enabling a collective view
of diverse discussions and perspectives.
:::

::: {#references .section .level2}
## References {#references .anchored anchor-id="references"}

1.  Alperin, J. P. (2017). The number and proportion of freely available
    articles is growing; reaching 45% of the literature published
    in 2015. ScholCommLab. <https://doi.org/10.59350/9abst-wk467>

2.  Di Giambattista, C. (2023). The OpenCitations blog posts are now
    archived on Rogue Scholar with DOIs. OpenCitations blog.
    <https://doi.org/10.59350/vwajv-ym488>

3.  Edmunds, S. (2021). Peer Review Week 2021: Preprints Meet Open Peer
    Review. GigaBlog. <https://doi.org/10.59350/j2nnd-43b72>

4.  Fenner, M. (2009). Open Access Week: A researcher's perspective.
    Front Matter. <https://doi.org/10.53731/r294649-6f79289-8cw3b>

5.  Fenner, M. (2023). Generating Overlay blog posts. Front Matter.
    <https://doi.org/10.53731/gzrse-p5d35>

6.  Fischer, G. (2023). 23. bis 29. Oktober: International Open Access
    Week 2023 „Community over Commercialization" -- Veranstaltungen in
    Berlin und Brandenburg. Open Access Blog Berlin.
    <https://doi.org/10.59350/7hdpg-hm144>

7.  Kindling, M. (2023). Podiumsdiskussion: Open Access in der Region
    Berlin-Brandenburg: Was wurde erreicht und wo geht es hin? (Hybrid).
    Open Access Blog Berlin. <https://doi.org/10.59350/trt30-p4845>

8.  Pampel, H. & Kindling, M. 20 Jahre Open Access: Wie Berlin das
    offene Publizieren prägte. (2023). Der Tagesspiegel Online.
    Retrieved October 23, 2023, from
    <https://www.tagesspiegel.de/wissen/20-jahre-open-access-wie-berlin-das-offene-publizieren-pragte-10657489.html>

9.  Piwowar, H., Priem, J., Larivière, V., Alperin, J. P., Matthias, L.,
    Norlander, B., Farley, A., West, J., & Haustein, S. (2018). The
    state of OA: A large-scale analysis of the prevalence and impact of
    Open Access articles. PeerJ, 6, e4375.
    <https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4375>

10. Taylor, M. (2014). Interview with Open Access Nigeria. Sauropod
    Vertebra Picture of the Week. <https://doi.org/10.59350/4v1nk-69837>
:::

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