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This article discusses the proposed open access (OAA) archiving among publishers. This does not require the articles to be published in author-pays OA journals, but simply that published research be made freely available on the Web, whatever publishing route is taken. The stress on OAA has given significant traction to the self-archiving program. Since publishers have historically taken a highly proprietary approach to their business, enforcing OA on them would likely be significant. Not only have they routinely acquired the copyright of papers they publish, but they have also often sought to acquire exclusivity retrospectively too. As researchers began exploring the potential of the Internet, many publishers were initially keen to be involved. Former professor Eberhard Hilf points out that the first response of most publishers to researchers posting and organizing research on the Internet was indifference. For years publishers viewed services like PhysNet and Math-Net as offering no threat. But as publishers began to view the embryonic OA movement as a threat to their traditional print journals, they stopped talking to OA advocates in order to hold on to what they had. Publishers began to migrate their closed model to the new online environment, developing powerful new electronic platforms designed to lock research papers behind a subscription firewall.

This section offers news briefs in the information sector as of March 2020. Topics discussed include the Future of Privacy Forum's (FPF) release of a white paper about privacy risks and technologies for enhancing privacy, information analytics company Elsevier's launch of the Novel Coronavirus Information Center which offers information on clinical research about the 2019 corona virus disease (Covid-19), and endowment received by the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled.

The article presents news briefs as of January 1, 2018. Topics discussed include information on the website ScholarlyHub which provides access to research and papers and make scholarship across disciplines both visible and accessible; opening of Turkish library at the Yunus Emre Institute in Johannesburg, South Africa which promotes Turkish language and culture; and improvement in the National Digital Library of India (NDL India).

The article presents 2014 news on medicine. The British organization The Children's Trust will hold events on May 15th and November 13th to celebrate its 30th anniversary. Great Britain's King's Fund announced that it is accepting papers for the International Digital Health and Care Congress which will be held on September 10-12. The General Nursing Council for England and Wales Trust is offering grants worth up to £20,000 for nursing research.

The article reports on research which was conducted to investigate the support that newly qualified nurses need when transitioning from student to registered nurse. The research, which reviewed 24 papers, found that newly qualified nurses need support from management and that preceptorships were effective in helping them transition from students to registered nurses. Recommendations on preceptorships from the Nursing and Midwifery Council and Britain's Department of Health are discussed.

The article provides information related to smoking cessation in Great Britain. It reveals that the country has nearly ten million smokers and smoking remains the main cause of preventable illness and premature death. It also provides details on the study which suggests that 11 million smokers were admitted to the hospital and the move of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to publish a paper advocating the routine and systematic delivery of cessation support to smokers.