ORCiD Researcher Identifier – sign up today!

ORCiD member logoThe UI Libraries, partnering with Information Technology Services, the Office of the Provost, the Division of Sponsored Programs, and the Big Ten Academic Alliance are leading an initiative to help all research active University of Iowa staff and faculty obtain an ORCID iD and/or link their existing identifier to their University of Iowa email address.

ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is a non-profit, platform agnostic registry of unique author identifiers. Many publishers, funders and academic institutions have already adopted ORCID and may be requiring its use in the near future.

Having an ORCID iD

  • makes your work discoverable by others
  • connects your research to you throughout your career, no matter how your name appears in publication
  • distinguishes you from other researchers with similar names
  • minimizes the time you spend filling out forms when submitting research or applying for grants
  • is being required by major journal publishers and funders
  • gives you access to an ImpactStory page (an altmetrics tool)

Click the green button below to sign up for your ORCID iD (Hawk ID and PW required)

Click to create and ORCID iD or Connect Your ORCID iD

To learn more about ORCiD at the UI, see the UI Libraries information page.

If you have any questions about ORCiD please contact the Sciences Library.

See an example ORCID iD page.

See an example ImpactStory.

Fall 2016 Workshops

sciences-library-workshop-series-1The following workshops will be offered at the Sciences Library during the Fall semester. Our workshops are open to everyone and there is no need to register. They will be held in 102 SL, the classroom on the first floor of the Sciences Library. If you have any questions, please contact Sara Scheib.

EndNoteMonday, September 12 at 1:30 – 2:20 PM
In this workshop you will learn to use EndNote to import references from popular databases, organize and share your references, use tools to automatically format in-text citations and bibliographies, and use Microsoft Word add-ons to include pre-formatted citations in your paper.

MendeleyWednesday, September 28 at 2 – 2:50 PM
Mendeley Reference Manager is a popular tool used to save, organize, and cite references from journals, books, and other sources. In this workshop, you will learn how to use Mendeley for your research and writing.

Staying Current – Thursday, October 6 at 3:30 – 4:20 PM
How do you keep up with the news and research in your field? Would you like to learn how to use technology to find new information? Join us for a Staying Current workshop, and learn how to use RSS feeds and other alert options to keep up with blog posts, news, and scholarly articles.

Scholarly Publishing and Open Access – Wednesday, October 19 at 2 – 2:50 PM
Have you ever wondered how the scholarly publishing process works? Have you heard the buzz about open access and wonder if/how it changes things? Are you worried about predatory publishers? This workshop will provide an overview of traditional scholarly publishing and how the open access movement is changing things. Participants will also learn more about the UI Libraries Open Access Fund and how to identify predatory publishers.

Data Management – Monday, November 7 at 2 – 2:50 PM
Are you confused about funding agencies’ new data management and sharing policies? Or do you need some help managing your research data? You’re not alone, and we can help! The purpose of this workshop is to explain research-data management and its importance, help identify some common data management issues, and learn about best practices and resources that are available.

Scholarly Impact – Thursday, November 17 at 3:30 – 4:20 PM
In this workshop, participants will learn how to use tools such as Ulrich’s, Journal Citation Reports, Web of Science, and Scopus to determine the impact that journals, articles, and authors have had on a particular field. Topics such as impact factors, Eigenfactors, and H-indices will also be discussed.

If you’re interested, but unable to attend these workshops, private appointments are available. Contact Sara Scheib for more information.

NASA

Public access to NASA-funded research

NASA made an exciting announcement this week. It’s launching a new research portal to provide free public access to the data and publications resulting from NASA-funded research. The portal points to two new services.

The first, called “NASA’s Data Portal” is a catalog of publicly available datasets, APIs, and visualizations. You can use it to explore by category, or search to find a specific dataset.

The second service, called “PubSpace“, will provide free public access to peer-reviewed journal articles and other publications resulting from NASA-funded research. It is an extension of PubMed Central (PMC), which is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and operated by the National Library of Medicine (NLM). PubSpace will be fully functional in Fall 2016.

If you have question or would like to learn more about accessing federally-funded research data or publications, please contact the Sciences Library.

Coming soon: ChemRxiv

The American Chemical Society has announced it plans to launch a preprint server for chemistry, called ChemRxiv. The launch date for the service has yet to be released.

From American Chemical Society News Releases, August 10, 2016:

“The American Chemical Society (ACS) today announced its intention to form ChemRxiv, a chemistry preprint server for the global chemistry community, proposed as a collaborative undertaking that will facilitate the open dissemination of important scientific findings. The Society is presently in the process of inviting interested stakeholders to participate in helping to shape the service ahead of its anticipated launch.”

“”ChemRxiv is expected to follow the established models of arXiv in physics and bioRxiv in the life sciences by enabling researchers working across diverse areas of inquiry to share early results and data with their scientist-colleagues ahead of formal peer review and publication,” says Kevin Davies, Ph.D., who, as Vice President within the ACS Publications Division, will be spearheading the effort as part of a joint undertaking with the Society’s Chemical Abstracts Service.”

And more information from Nature: Chemists to get their own preprint server

This is an exciting announcement with the potential to change scholarly publishing in the chemistry community. The Sciences Library will provide more information about this new resource as it becomes available. Stay tuned!

Lego Exhibit

It’s the summer of super heroes at the Sciences Library! Come check out our Lego exhibit, featuring Marvel Superheroes, DC Comics Superheroes, and Star Wars sets. Many thanks to the Scheib family for sharing their collection with us.

First floor display case with superhero Legos

third floor display case with Star Wars Legos

Exhibit: 350th Anniversary of Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation

Newton ExhibitThe new exhibit at the Sciences Library celebrates the life of Isaac Newton and the 350th anniversary of his Universal Law of Gravitation, presented for the first time in 1666.

We’ve all heard the story about Newton and the apple, but how did Newton really come to understand gravity? Our exhibit describes Newton’s life and work, with an emphasis on the Universal Law of Gravitation and its evolution over time. Many thanks to the Department of Physics & Astronomy for loaning us several items for the exhibit, including an antique refracting telescope and a prism like the one used in Newton’s famous light refraction experiments.

To learn more about Newton and his Universal Law of Gravitation, ask a librarian or check out these excellent resources:

Exhibit: Einstein and the General Theory of Relativity

Pic for blogOur new exhibit at the Sciences Library celebrates the life of Albert Einstein and the 100th anniversary of his general theory of relativity, presented for the first time in 1915.

The exhibit explains the general theory of relativity and its significance to modern physics. It also provides some interesting background information about his life and family.

To learn more about the general theory of relativity, ask a librarian or check out these cool websites: