News & Blog

Welcome to Diamond’s Hidden Gems, a blog series in which I introduce you to the University of Central Florida’s library services that you may not know about!

True to its nature as a public research university (a university that drives discovery and advancement), UCF places heavy emphasis on research. This occurs especially during a student’s college career, in which we are encouraged to network and get involved with projects that draw our attention. UCF does not leave us on our own in these ventures, however, offering resources and assistance throughout the entire research process. One such resource is the department of Scholarly Communications.

The term “scholarly communication” refers to the steps of scholarly output (ex. research, writing, and publishing). The process includes:  

• Doing research
• Preparing to write a journal article
• Determining which publisher to use
• Facilitating awareness and access to your works.

The Office of Scholarly Communication (SC) provides services for research, Open Access, and copyright. UCF recognizes that research is a complex process with many steps and pathways. SC offers services to help you along the steps below:

• Research Planning
• Project Management
• Publishing and Presenting
• Preserving and Disseminating
• Prestige, Impact, and Discovery.

Use the Office of Scholarly Communication and its resources to acquaint yourself with the research process and receive assistance for your own research. Visit the consultation page to schedule an appointment. For additional information, comments, questions, or suggestions, email Sarah Norris (sarah.norris@ucf.edu).

To read on about all of the services the Office of Scholarly Communication has to offer, please visit “Diamond’s Hidden Gems – Scholarly Communications” in STARS!

Data is everywhere, an ever-growing and pervasive feature from our everyday lives to cutting-edge research across a myriad of disciplines. According to Forbes, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data were generated daily, and as of 2018, 90% of all data gathered occurred between 2016 and 2018! Love (Your) Data Week is an annual celebration and ode to data acquisition, processing, analysis, and visualization. Individuals, academic, and research institutions can participate in data-related activities throughout the week to be a part of the changing landscape of data. Love Data Week 2022 is from February 14th-18th, 2022, and this year’s theme is “Data is for Everyone.” Given the technological revolution in which we are actively a part, it’s more vital than ever for individuals to come together with information that can help us better our world. Explore the information, resources, and activity ideas below during this year’s Love Data Week and share your knowledge with your communities. Together, we can make information streamlined and accessible for the future.

The UCF Libraries presents a Spring 2022 Foundations of Data Management Library Workshop Series starting in February. These workshops are a part of the Research Computing and Data Workshop Series, which is being jointly presented by UCF Library, UCF Graduate and Research IT, and UCF Advanced Research Computing Center (ARCC). The UCF Libraries will hold workshops in February and March 2022 remotely via Zoom. Topics include: managing your data and maximizing the impact of your data post-publication. Come join us!

Open access provides free access to scholarly research to anyone, anywhere in the world. However, publishing in open access may not be free for authors. That’s because there may be costs associated with publishing.

In some open access journals, if an author wants to publish and make their work openly accessible, they will often have to pay a fee, called an Article Processing Charge (APC). This fee helps off-set publishing and editorial costs that are typically charged as a part of a subscription. Prices for APCs vary and will depend on the publication.

At UCF, there are currently a few different options for APC support for researchers. For more information about these, be sure to visit our guide on open access. 

APC Funding: College of Graduate Studies is currently offering the following APC support for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Students.

• Open Access Publishing Fund (Graduate Students & Postdoctoral Scholars): The College of Graduate Studies currently offers annual support up to $1,500/year for Article Processing Charges (APCs) for current and recent (within one year of graduation or employment) graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.

APC Discounts and Waivers from Read & Publish: The UCF Libraries has several ”Read & Publish” agreements with major publishers that covers the APC for UCF authors.  The Libraries pays a yearly subscription fee bundled with waivers for some or all APCs for articles from UCF authors. See the list of current Read & Publish agreements below.

For additional information or if you have questions about current Open Access publishing support, please contact Scholarly Communication Librarian, Sarah Norris. 

Did you know that open access materials, like journal articles, can be found using UCF Libraries’ library system Primo? Sandy Avila, Science Librarian, shows you how to search Primo for OA resources with just a few easy steps.

For more information about locating resources for your research, contact your subject librarian. For more information about open access visit our guide or contact Sarah Norris, Scholarly Communication Librarian.