Caitlin Bakker

Measuring the health literacy of the Upper Midwest

Objectives Health literacy—the ability to obtain, process, and understand basic health information—is a major determinant of an individual’s overall health and health care utilization. In this project, the authors examined predictors of health literacy levels, including numeracy and graphic literacy, among an adult population in the Upper Midwest. Methods The research was conducted at the Minnesota State Fair. Three previously validated scales were used to assess health literacy: Newest Vital Sign, the General Health Numeracy Test, and questions from Galesic and Garcia-Retamero’s Graph Literacy Scale. Demographic information—such as age, educational attainment, zip code, and other potential predictors and modifiers—was collected. Multivariate linear regression was conducted to examine the independent effects of educational attainment, race, ethnicity, gender, and rural or urban location on overall health literacy and scores on each of the individual instruments. Results A total of 353 Upper Midwest residents completed the survey, with the majority being white, college-educated, and from an urban area. Having a graduate or professional degree or being under the age of 21 were associated with increased health literacy scores, while having a high school diploma or some high school education, being Asian American, or being American Indian/Alaska Native were associated with lower health literacy scores. Conclusion Advanced health literacy skills, including the ability to calculate and compare information, were problematic even in well-educated populations. Understanding numerical and graphical information was found to be particularly difficult, and more research is needed to understand these deficits and how best to address them.

Public Funding and Open Access to Research: A Review of Canadian Multiple Sclerosis Research.

Background Multiple sclerosis (MS), a progressive demyelinating disease of the brain and spinal cord, is the leading cause of nontraumatic neurological damage in young adults. Canada has one of the highest reported incidents of MS, with estimates between 55 and 240 per 100,000 individuals. Between 2009 and 2014, the MS Society of Canada provided over Can

Bringing History into the Digital Age: A Case Study of an Online Journal Transition

90 million to researchers and, since 2013, has encouraged researchers to make both current and previous research products openly available. Objective The goal of the study was to determine the open access (OA) cost implications and repository policies of journals frequently used by a sample of MS researchers. This study benchmarked current publishing preferences by MS Society of Canada researchers by examining the OA full-text availability of journal articles written by researchers funded between 2009 and 2014. Methods Researchers were identified from the 2009 to 2014 annual MS Society of Canada Research Summaries. Articles were identified through searches in Web of Science, Scopus, Medline and Embase (both via OVID). Journal level analysis included comparison of OA policies, including article processing charges (APCs) and repository policies. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results There were 758 articles analyzed in this study, of which 288 (38.0%) were OA articles. The majority of authors were still relying on journal policies for deposit in PubMed Central or availability on publisher websites for OA. Gold OA journals accounted for 10.2% of the journals in this study and were associated with significantly lower APCs (US

A qualitative analysis of the information science needs of public health researchers in an academic setting

1900) than in hybrid journals (US

Retracted Publications in Mental Health Literature: Discovery across Bibliographic Platforms

3000). Review of the journal self-archiving options highlighted the complexity of stipulations that authors would have to navigate to legally deposit a version of their article. Conclusions This study found that there are currently researcher- and publisher-imposed barriers to both the gold and green roads to OA. These results provide a current benchmark against which efforts to enhance openness can be measured and can serve as a reference point in future assessments of the impact of OA policies within this field. With funding agencies worldwide releasing OA mandates, future success in compliance will require changes to how researchers and publishers approach production and dissemination of research.

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Scholarly communication and library publishing services are becoming more widespread, giving academic libraries new opportunities to become more active participants in the creation and distribution of resources. These new ventures can help librarians to broaden their understanding of scholarly publishing. Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) Library partnered with WLU Press in an e-journal initiative, launching the digital counterpart of a long-running print publication, Canadian Military History. This article presents a summary of that project.

Developing Open Access Journals: A Practical Guide

Objectives The University of Minnesota (UMN) Health Sciences Libraries conducted a needs assessment of public health researchers as part of a multi-institutional study led by Ithaka S+R. The aims of the study were to capture the evolving needs, opportunities, and challenges of public health researchers in the current environment and provide actionable recommendations. This paper reports on the data collected at the UMN site. Methods Participants (n=24) were recruited through convenience sampling. One-on-one interviews, held November 2016 to January 2017, were audio-recorded. Qualitative analyses were conducted using NVivo 11 Pro and were based on the principles of grounded theory. Results The data revealed that a broad range of skill levels among participants (e.g., literature searching) and areas of misunderstanding (e.g., current publishing landscape, open access options). Overall, data management was an afterthought. Few participants were fully aware of the breadth of librarian knowledge and skill sets, although many did express a desire for further skill development in information science. Conclusions Libraries can engage more public health researchers by utilizing targeted and individualized marketing regarding services. We can promote open science by educating researchers on publication realities and enhancing our data visualization skills. Libraries might take an institution-wide leadership role on matters of data management and data policy compliance. Finally, as team science emerges as a research priority, we can offer our networking expertise. These support services may reduce the stresses that public health researchers feel in the current research environment.

Developing Open Access Journals: A Practical Guide by David J. Solomon [Review]

INTRODUCTION Retractions are a mechanism by which science corrects itself, withdrawing statements or claims that have proven to be erroneous. However, this requires that such corrections be displayed clearly and consistently. This paper considers how retracted publications in the mental health literature are represented across different platforms. METHODS Using Retraction Watch, we identified 144 retracted articles in the mental health field. We looked across seven platforms to determine the consistency and clarity of the retracted status of these publications. RESULTS Of the 812 records for retracted publications, 40.0% (n=325) did not indicate that the paper had been retracted. Of available PDFs, 26.3% (53/201) did not indicate that the paper had been retracted. Of the 144 articles studied, only 10 were represented as being retracted across all resources through which they were available. DISCUSSION Retracted publications in this sample were inconsistently represented across library resources. While technical solutions, such as Crossmark by Crossref, may help mitigate these challenges, the inconsistent display of retractions has implications for education and outreach. CONCLUSION Our study found that the retractions in our sample were not clearly and consistently represented across sources. Libraries, which provide access to and training in these resources, have a responsibility to raise awareness of these inconsistencies and to advocate for more timely and accurate metadata.

Review of the book Developing open access journals: A practical guide by D. Solomon

The objectives are as follows: To assess the effects of penile rehabilitation interventions for post-prostatectomy erectile dysfunction.

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As the founder of Medical Education Online , a peerreviewed open access (OA) journal that has been in existence for 15 years, David Solomon is able to offer useful advice based on extensive experience in the field of electronic publishing. Developing Open Access Journals: A Practical Guide aims to outline the necessary skills and steps involved in implementing and sustaining an OA publication. Although published in 2008, this remains a comprehensive manual to electronic publishing, offering timely, relevant advice regardless of the software used or the subject matter of the journal. The text consists of 10 chapters, divided into three parts, which provide succinct, clear advice for those new to the publishing field. There is an abridged, online version ( http://www.developing-oa-journals.org/ ), but since it is a 17-page summary of a 200-page book, it should be considered an introduction rather than an electronic counterpart.