OSTI Continues Working to Improve DOE PAGESBeta
The Department of Energy (DOE) Public Access Gateway for Energy and ScienceBeta – DOE PAGESBeta – is the portal and search engine that makes scholarly scientific publications resulting from DOE research funding publicly accessible and searchable at no cost to users. It represents DOE's response to the February 2013 White House Office of Science and Technology Policy memorandum that called on federal agencies to develop plans to provide public access to the results of research they fund within a year of publication. The DOE public access tool was developed and is maintained by the DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), a unit of the Office of Science.
Launched in August 2014, the site is called DOE PAGESBeta for a reason: as its name indicates, it is in beta or test mode. As part of OSTI’s ongoing efforts to enhance the site’s functionality and make it easier to use, a number of enhancements and changes designed to improve the user experience have recently been made.
DOE PAGESBeta is the search engine that will allow you to find research articles funded by DOE. But what is the best way to find what you are looking for? OSTI recently added to the site’s FAQ a section devoted to helping the user search the contents of DOE PAGESBeta more efficiently and accurately. What are some tips for searching DOE PAGESBeta? We have answers. What’s the difference between the basic results view and the detailed results view? Do Boolean operators work in the basic search box? Visit the new Search FAQ section to find out.
OSTI has also overhauled the underlying search mechanics of DOE PAGESBeta. Users may not notice the change – the site looks and functions in the same way as before – but this upgrade improved the quality of search results, refining relevance ranking of the results to give users better matches to their queries.
The DOE PAGESBeta user experience has been enhanced in another way. OSTI has streamlined author affiliation information on a record’s details screen. (See a record with a good example of this.) Instead of placing the author’s affiliation after his/her name, making a long and burdensome list, author affiliations are now listed separately below their names. This makes it easier to read and allows the user to find the necessary information more quickly.
Please go to DOE PAGESBeta and check out these enhancements. As always, if you have any questions or suggestions for other improvements, we welcome all feedback at pagesfeedback@osti.gov. OSTI will continue to work to improve DOE PAGESBeta in the months to come.
What Is An Accepted Manuscript?
In the course of performing research and development (R&D) and other scientific and technological work, researchers funded by DOE produce scientific and technical information (STI) in many different forms, including technical reports, conference presentations, books, and more. Beginning October 1, 2014, DOE began requiring public access to any scholarly publication published on or after that date, with public access enabled within 12 months from the publication date. When a publisher provides a publicly accessible article about DOE R&D results, DOE PAGESBeta, the DOE public access portal, will link to that article; if the article is not available, DOE PAGESBeta will provide access to the corresponding accepted manuscript.
What is an accepted manuscript? This is the version of a journal article that has been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication, and includes changes made by the author during the peer-review process. The content is the same as the published article, but it does not have the final formatting and copy-editing done by the publisher in the final published version, and it is not a reproduction copy of what appears or will appear in the journal; it is not a reprint of the published article.
Recently, DOE also began accepting articles or links to articles published as open access, freely available to the public without embargo or subscription restrictions, in lieu of accepted manuscripts; however, the vast majority of DOE-funded articles are not freely available upon publication.
Submission of accepted manuscripts is done through the DOE E-Link system per instructions provided in the award package and the federal reporting requirements checklist. Once a manuscript is accepted for publication, submission is required, effective for any award made or renewed after October 1, 2014. Through E-Link, the metadata/citation information for the journal article is submitted as well as either an upload of the accepted manuscript in PDF format or a link to the manuscript located in the author’s institutional repository. Submission of open access articles in lieu of accepted manuscripts is accomplished via the same path, with the author uploading the article in PDF format or submitting a link to the article at the publisher’s site.
Any questions about accepted manuscripts, open access articles, and other submission requirements related to public access can be directed to stip@osti.gov.
Metadata Submitted to E-Link: Key to Searching OSTI’s Collections
If you regularly search scientific and technical information records, articles, and technical reports offered by OSTI (or other resources), then you have probably encountered the term “metadata.” Or if you have read about DOE PAGESBeta, the portal to journal articles and accepted manuscripts resulting from DOE-funded research, you are aware that DOE-funded authors are required to provide accepted manuscript metadata and links (or the full text of the manuscript itself) to OSTI, effective October 1, 2014. So what is metadata, and why is it important?
According to OSTI’s definition, metadata is “[d]ata that describes the attributes of a document or other type of Scientific and Technical Information product and is used for announcement and retrieval.” In other words, metadata is the information contained within a detailed bibliographic record: the title, author(s), publication, issue, date, product type, keywords, report numbers, etc. are all basic document metadata.
“An important reason for creating descriptive metadata is to facilitate discovery of relevant information,” the National Information Standards Organization noted in Understanding Metadata. “In addition to resource discovery, metadata can help organize electronic resources, facilitate interoperability and legacy resource integration, provide digital identification, and support archiving and preservation.”
OSTI’s E-Link is a management system for the submission, acquisition, preservation, and dissemination of DOE-funded STI and its accompanying metadata. It accommodates multiple product types such as accepted manuscripts of journal articles, final scientific and technical reports, software, audiovisual media, and research datasets. E-Link’s STI submission forms include instructions regarding required and optional metadata elements for products derived through harvesting or manual submission.
The success of a search is directly related to the accuracy and completeness of metadata. For instance, a basic search for “renewable energy” in SciTech Connect returns over 19,000 results. However, limiting the search to records published within the past couple of years (i.e., 01/01/2013 to 01/01/2015) narrows the results to nearly 5,000. The publication date, a crucial piece of metadata, facilitates this kind of search specificity. Additional metadata, such as the associated research organization, the author or authors, and the abstract, among others, allows for even further customization of results.
Because OSTI’s Catalog of Collections contains diverse types of science resources, the metadata can vary. New types of media, including videos, images, and datasets, may have unique associated information that makes them more findable. For example, users searching videos in ScienceCinema can choose to search media types by audio or video, or search by speaker rather than author. Users searching for datasets in DOE Data Explorer can refine searches to include only specific kinds of data results, like software or numeric data. These refined searches are possible because of metadata that helps to categorize the records.
Without good metadata, even the best material can be overlooked. OSTI places a strong emphasis on metadata quality, reviewing incoming records and enhancing legacy data on an ongoing basis. This commitment to quality is a key way OSTI supports the DOE mission and ensures optimal retrieval of the Department’s R&D results.
2015 DOE STIP Working Meeting
2015 STIP Working Meeting Attendees
OSTI spearheads the DOE Scientific and Technical Information Program (STIP), a collaboration of STI managers and technical information officers from across the DOE complex who work to ensure that the results of DOE-funded R&D are identified, collected, preserved, and disseminated. The DOE STIP network includes STI liaisons from DOE program, field, site, and procurement offices, national laboratories, and research facilities; led by OSTI, they work together to implement best practices for STI management and effective ways to respond to new policies and initiatives.
Representatives of the DOE STIP convened for the 2015 STIP Working Meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico, April 22-23. The meeting was organized by OSTI and hosted by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Library Director Dee Magnoni and STI Manager Frances Knudson. In addition to the two-day workshop, representatives participated in orientation sessions about STIP and E-Link, the DOE corporate STI submission system, attended DOE-contractor and DOE-only sessions, and spent time at LANL.
The theme of the 2015 working meeting was STIP – Advancing Science and Technology through Public Access & MORE, and it focused on implementation of public access to scholarly scientific publications resulting from DOE-funded research through the DOE PAGESBeta portal as called for in the July 2014 DOE Public Access Plan. Dr. Jeffrey Salmon, Deputy Director for Resource Management in the DOE Office of Science, Brian Hitson, OSTI Director, and Daniel Lamb, Intellectual Property Counsel in the DOE Oak Ridge Office, made presentations on public access to publications; Dr. Laura Biven, Senior Science and Technology Advisor in the DOE Office of Science, provided a briefing on Office of Science data management plan requirements. STIP representatives from LANL and Oak Ridge National Laboratory discussed implementation of public access at their respective laboratories, and technical information officers from several DOE site offices shared their insights on advancing public access in roundtable sessions. In addition, Judy Gilmore, OSTI Assistant Director for Acquisitions and Information Programs, gave a talk on the STIP year in review and a look ahead.
Afterwards, Gilmore, who is also the DOE STIP Program Manager, posted an OSTIblog about the meeting, The DOE STIP: At the Center of Public Access for DOE. “…[T]here was something different in the air” at the 2015 STIP Working Meeting, she observed:
Each year there is lively discussion, new contacts are made, and important information is shared, but this year's meeting had a different feel overall. Perhaps it was the record number of participants, perhaps it was the number of first-time participants who were eager to learn and gain insight from strong STI management programs in place at other labs and offices, or perhaps it was the feeling of being part of something groundbreaking as the DOE STIP community works together to implement the Department of Energy Public Access Plan. In reflecting on the April meeting, I have concluded that it was “all of the above.” This is an important and exciting time to be a part of the Department's STIP.
Meet Administrative Officer Kelly Dunlap
Kelly Dunlap
OSTI Administrative
Officer
Kelly D. Dunlap joined OSTI in 1990 as an environmental science subject matter expert. During her tenure at OSTI, she has been responsible for a wide range of programmatic functions, including reports processing, data analysis, project management, and program management. As Administrative Officer, she is currently responsible for financial management, budget formulation/execution, contract management, human resources management, training, oversight of facility operations, and OSTI’s cost-reimbursable work program.
Dunlap has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Tennessee. She and her husband Danny have one son, Noah, and reside in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Retiree Tribute: Polly Blackburn
Polly Blackburn is a former employee who helped make OSTI the organization it has become today. Polly began her professional career as a chemical analyst, first at K-25 and then at Y-12 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. She then moved to the Technical Information Center (TIC), as OSTI formerly was called, where she initially worked as a proofreader on the award-winning Nuclear Science Abstracts. While at OSTI, Polly obtained a second degree in Environmental Science and worked her way up to abstracting and indexing in the chemistry field. After retiring from OSTI in 1995, she worked another 10 years for Oak Ridge Associated Universities before retiring for good. She accomplished all of this while raising five children, including adopted twin girls.
Polly Blackburn
“Working for OSTI was so unique because you were always on the cutting edge of technology,” Polly recalls. She says that her best assignment was being OSTI's liaison with the DOE Headquarters Office of Energy Research, now the DOE Office of Science. She formed the TIC Toastmasters (TIC TALK) so she and her coworkers would feel comfortable speaking for OSTI at Headquarters meetings. TIC TALK still meets at OSTI today.
Polly is best remembered at OSTI for being an advocate for her fellow coworkers. Polly helped form and became the chief steward of the first white collar union at DOE, the Office of Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU). Polly went on to become the Federal Women’s Program Manager and the Equal Employee Opportunity Manager at OSTI.
Polly enthusiastically enjoys retirement and receives inspiration from her incredible garden filled with flowers, herbs, and vegetables of all varieties. She continues to be an advocate on many fronts for her extended family and loves taking care of her two beautiful papillons.
This retiree tribute is intended to help our OSTI community keep up with former colleagues and friends. Look for additional tributes to OSTI retirees in upcoming issues.
Search Tip: DOepatents
DOepatents is a searchable database of patent information resulting from Department of Energy (DOE)-sponsored R&D. Included here are patents that DOE sponsored through a variety of funding mechanisms, including grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements. At DOepatents, the ten most recently issued patents resulting from DOE research funding are listed for easy browsing right on the homepage. You can view more newly issued patents, including those issued within the last month, within the last year, or within any other date range, by utilizing the advanced search. The “Issue Date” range option allows you to specify your range to limit or broaden your results. Limiting the date range to January 1, 2014, through December 31, 2014, returns more than 1,000 patents issued during that year.
In the OSTI Collections: Lithium-ion Batteries
Are lithium-ion batteries better? Dr. William Watson explores their pros, cons, and uses in his latest In the OSTI Collections article, a monthly exploration of science topics and related research in DOE scientific and technical information collections. Lithium-ion batteries have high energy per unit of volume and mass, and other chemical reactions that compete with their current-generating reactions are minimal, so they do not lose much charge when not in use. This makes them a popular and smart choice for small, portable electronics. However, lithium-ion batteries are still less than ideal; over time they lose their capacity for charge, a significant factor in their potential usage for hybrid electric vehicles. Reports available from OSTI’s SciTech Connect and DOepatents describe numerous diverse efforts being made to improve them. Read more from Dr. Watson on this topic at In the OSTI Collections: Lithium-ion Batteries.
Check out In the OSTI Collections to see other featured topics, including Ultrafast Processes, Mesoscale Science, Supernovae, Josephson Junctions, Clean Coal, and Determining How Proteins Fold.
The Latest from OSTIblog
OSTIblog features the technology, services, people, and policies that are crucial to OSTI’s role in increasing accessibility of DOE-sponsored research. Here are some of the most recent OSTIblogs:
- The DOE STIP: At the Center of Public Access for DOE
- The In-Between World of the Mesoscale
- High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Gamma-Ray Observatory
- DOE Research Data and Digital Object Identifiers: A Perfect Match
- How to Accelerate Public Access
DOE-sponsored | DOE-funded accepted | Data from | DOE research videos | DOE-sponsored patents |
DOE Nobel Prize winners | DOE-sponsored scientific | E-prints in basic and | Science resources and other |
SciTech Connect
Science, technology, and
engineering research
information from DOE
www.osti.gov/scitech
DOE PAGES
Scholarly scientific
publications resulting from
DOE-funded research
www.osti.gov/pages
DOE Data Explorer
Scientific research data
resulting from
DOE-funded research
www.osti.gov/dataexplorer
ScienceCinema
Scientific videos featuring
leading-edge research from DOE
www.osti.gov/sciencecinema
DOepatents
Patents resulting from
DOE-sponsored research
www.osti.gov/doepatents
DOE R&D Accomplishments
Remarkable outcomes in science
resulting from past
DOE research and development
www.osti.gov/accomplishments
Energy Science & Technology Software Center
DOE-sponsored scientific
and technical software
www.osti.gov/estsc
National Library of Energy
Science resources and other
information from across the
DOE complex
www.osti.gov/nle
OSTI Mission: To advance science and sustain technological creativity by making R&D findings available
and useful to Department of Energy (DOE) researchers and the public.
