31 October 2017

Regional Focus: United States

Differing DREAMs: Estimating the Unauthorized Populations that Could Benefit under Different Legalization Bills (Migration Policy Institute, Oct. 2017) [text]

"Double Crossed: Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Has Trapped Migrants on Both Sides of the Border," Mother Jones (Sept./Oct. 2017) [text]

Immigrants Make up a Smaller Share of the U.S. Population Than They Did 100 Years Ago (Immigration Impact Blog, Oct. 2017) [text]

Justices Strike Second Travel-ban Case from Docket (SCOTUSblog, Oct. 2017) [text]

"Legal Consequences of DACA Rescission," Houston Journal of International Law Sidebar, vol. 2, no. 2 (2017) [full-text]

The Role of the Attorney General in Reviewing and Defending Executive Orders (Frank Church Institute, 2017) [text]

The Self-Fulling Prophecy of Demonizing Immigrants (The Asylumist Blog, Oct. 2017) [text]

Temporary Protected Status in the United States: Beneficiaries from El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti (American Immigration Council, Oct. 2017) [text]
- Note: This Washington Post article reports on upcoming deadlines for TPS extensions.

Tilted Justice: Backlogs Grow While Fairness Shrinks in U.S. Immigration Courts (Human Rights First, Oct. 2017) [text]
- See also related press release.

Travel Ban 3.0: Maryland District Court Orders Preliminary Injunction (Lawfare Blog, Oct. 2017) [text]

Trump's Travel Ban and the Limits of the US Constitution, Legal Studies Research Paper, no. 17-10 (Widener Univ. Commonwealth Law School, Oct. 2017) [text via SSRN]

"Unpublished Decisions and Precedent Shaping: A Case Study of Asylum Claims," Georgetown Immigration Law Journal, vol. 31, no. 1 (Fall 2016) [full-text via SSRN]

The US Role in Forced Migration from the Middle East (OpenGlobalRights, Oct. 2017) [text]

Who is Represented in Immigration Court? Mexican Immigrants Lowest, Chinese Highest Representation Rates (ImmigrationProf Blog, Oct. 2017) [text]

Related post:
- Regional Focus: United States (19 Oct. 2017)

Tagged Publications.

Open Access Round-up: 31 Oct. 2017

Below is a listing of Open Access literature that I have referenced on this blog since 15 October 2017. If you are not familiar with Open Access, please visit my other blog for an introduction.

Green Open Access [info]

"Bifurcation of Mobility, Bifurcation of Law: Externalization of Migration Policy before the EU Court of Justice," Journal of Refugee Studies (Forthcoming, 2018?)
- Postprint version of article.

"Social Workers as Collaborators? The Ethics of Working within Australia's Asylum System," Ethics and Social Welfare, Latest Articles, 6 April 2017
- Preprint version of article.

Welcome or Not-Welcome: Reactions to Refugee Situation on Social Media (arXiv.org, Oct. 2016)
- Preprint version of article.

Gold Open Access [info]

Articles, health-related:

"Creative Arts Therapies as Temporary Home for Refugees: Insights from Literature and Practice," Behavioral Sciences, vol. 7, no. 4 (Oct. 2017)

"Development and Preliminary Validation of Refugee Trauma History Checklist (RTHC): A Brief Checklist for Survey Studies," International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 14, no. 10 (Oct. 2017)

"Mental Health Assessments in Refugees and Asylum Seekers: Evaluation of a Tablet-assisted Screening Software," Conflict and Health, 11:18 (Oct. 2017)

"Multidisciplinary Treatment for Traumatized Refugees in a Naturalistic Setting: Symptom Courses and Predictors," European Journal of Psychotraumatology, vol. 8, no. 2 (2017)

"Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in a Clinical Sample of Refugees: A Network Analysis," European Journal of Psychotraumatology, vol. 8, suppl. 3 (2017)

Articles, other topics:

"A Generalized Simulation Development Approach for Predicting Refugee Destinations," Scientific Reports, 7: 13377 (Oct. 2017)

"Now is the Time to Deliver: Looking for Humanitarian Innovation’s Theory of Change," Journal of International Humanitarian Action, 2:8 (Sept. 2017)

"Understanding the Images of Alan Kurdi with 'Small Data': A Qualitative, Comparative Analysis of Tweets about Refugees in Turkey and Flanders (Belgium)," International Journal of Communication, vol. 11 (2017)

Journals:

Groningen Journal of International Law, vol. 5, no. 1 (2017)
- Special issue on "Migration and International Law."

Journal of Mediterranean Knowledge, vol. 2, no. 1 (2017)
- Special issue on "Migrations and Diasporas."

Hybrid Open Access [info]

"The Best Interests of the Child in EU Family Reunification Law: A Plea for More Guidance on the Role of Article 24(2) Charter," European Journal of Migration and Law, vol. 19, no. 2 (2017)

"Emergent Groups and Spontaneous Volunteers in Urban Disaster Response," Environment and Urbanization, vol. 29, no. 2 (2017)

"Forced to Leave? The Discursive and Analytical Significance of Describing Migration as Forced and Voluntary," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Latest Articles, 18 Oct. 2017

"Insecurity, Distress and Mental Health: Experimental and Randomized Controlled Trials of a Psychosocial Intervention for Youth Affected by the Syrian Crisis," Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Early View, 2 Oct. 2017

"No Country of Asylum: 'Legitimizing; Lebanon’s Rejection of the 1951 Refugee Convention," International Journal of Refugee Law, Advance Articles, 5 Oct. 2017

Law Reviews

"The Sovereign at its Shores: An Analysis on Australia's 'Stop the Boats' Offshore Processing and Pacific Island Detention Policy for Refugees and Asylum Seekers," Ateneo Law Journal, vol. 60, no. 3 (Feb. 2016)

Related post:
- Open Access Round-up: 15 Oct. 2017

Tagged Publications.

Thematic Focus: General

Events:

Seminar: Borders, Boxes and Disciplinary Boundaries: The Delineation of Forced Migration in Research and Practice, Oxford, 1 November 2017 [info]

Seminar: Migration Knowledge and Migration Policy: An Uneasy Fit, Copenhagen, 1 November 2017 [info]
- Will also be livestreamed.

Conference: Transregional Migration, Mobility and Forced Displacement: Moving Beyond Methodological Nationalism, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, 9-10 November 2017 [info]

Harrell-Bond lecture: The Displacement Paradox: Good Refugees, Bad Migrants. Where Can the Unwanted Go?, Oxford, 22 November 2017 [info]
- Register by 20 November 2017.

Publications:

“Papers please?”: The Importance of Refugees and Other Forcibly-displaced Persons Being Able to Prove Identity (Dev4Peace Blog, June 2017) [text]

Forced Migration and Protracted Crises: A Multilayered Approach, Guidance Note (FAO, 2017) [text via ReliefWeb]

Livelihoods in Displacement: From Refugee Perspectives to Aid Agency Response, Oxford, 20 Oct. 2017 [info]
- Follow link for podcast.

"'Things Could Get Very Ugly' Following Europe's Refugee Crisis," The Atlantic, 27 Oct. 2017 [text]
- See also related Border Criminologies blog post.

U.N. Representative: Migration Compact Will Require Political Courage (Refugees Deeply, Oct. 2017) [text]

Witchcraft Accusations and Persecution; Muti Murders and Human Sacrifice: Harmful Beliefs and Practices Behind a Global Crisis in Human Rights (Witchcraft & Human Rights Information Network, Oct. 2017) [access]
- See also related blog post on The Asylumist.

Related post:
- Thematic Focus: General (25 Oct. 2017)

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

30 October 2017

Regional Focus: Australia

News:

On 31 October 2017, the Manus Regional Processing Centre in Papua New Guinea will close down. For background and an overview, read this Al Jazeera article and FlagPost blog post. See also the following news coverage & commentary:
  • Australia Must Prevent Looming Humanitarian Emergency in Papua New Guinea (UNHCR, Oct. 2017) [text]
  • Australia/PNG: Refugees Face Unchecked Violence (Human Rights Watch, Oct. 2017) [text]
  • *History Suggests Refugees on Manus and Nauru can be Resettled in Australia without Reviving Boat Arrivals (Refugee Research Blog, Oct. 2017) [text]
  • Manus Detention Centre Closure Sparks Safety Fears for Refugees (The Conversation, Oct. 2017) [text]
  • "Papua New Guinea Tells Australia It Must Resettle Refugees Unwilling to Stay," The Guardian, 29 Oct. 2017 [text]
  • *The Refugees Australia Tried to Offshore are Still Its Responsibility (Forbes Inside Asia, Oct. 2017) [text]
Event: 

History, Headlines and the Law: What's Shaping Refugee Policy in Australia?, Sydney, 2 November 2017 [info]

Publications:

Australia Takes a Seat at the UN Human Rights Council (FlagPost Blog, Oct. 2017) [text]
- See also related post in The Conversation.

Belonging Begins at Home: Housing, Social Inclusion and Health and Wellbeing for People from Refugee and Asylum Seeking Backgrounds (Flinders University, 2017) [text]

Crimmigration Law in Australia: Exploring the Operation and Effects of Mandatory Visa Cancellation, Immcarceration and Exclusion (SSRN, July 2017) [text]

Human Rights Committee Examines the Report of Australia (OHCHR, Oct. 2017) [text]
- See also related Guardian article.

*Negotiating Dehumanising Experiences of Asylum Seeker Policies in the Australian Community (Refugee Research Blog, Oct. 2017) [text]

Proposal for Australia’s Role in a Regional Cooperative Approach to the Flow of Asylum Seekers into and within the Asia-Pacific Region (Law Council of Australia, Oct. 2017) [text]

Quarterly Access Magazine, vol. 10, no. 2 (June 2017) [full-text]
- Special issue on "Refugees, Migration and the Asia Pacific: The Passions and Complexities of Discourse and Debate in our Region."

Refugee Protection in the United Kingdom beyond Brexit: The Perils of Australian Exceptionalism (RLI Blog, Oct. 2017) [text]

"Social Workers as Collaborators? The Ethics of Working within Australia's Asylum System," Ethics and Social Welfare, Latest Articles, 6 April 2017 [preprint]

"The Sovereign at its Shores: An Analysis on Australia's 'Stop the Boats' Offshore Processing and Pacific Island Detention Policy for Refugees and Asylum Seekers," Ateneo Law Journal, vol. 60, no. 3 (Feb. 2016) [full-text]

*UPDATED

Related post:
- Regional Focus: Australia (6 Oct. 2017)

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

Regional Focus: Europe

Dublin Family Reunification: Neither Subject to Limits nor Delay: Note on the Administrative Court Wiesbaden, Decision from 15 September 2017 (EDAL Blog, Oct. 2017) [text]

Ending Restrictions on Family Reunification: Good for Refugees, Good for Host Societies (Human Rights Comment, Oct. 2017) [text]

Enough Pasta Already: Why Asylum Seekers in Italy are Fed up with Their Food Rations (The Conversation, Oct. 2017) [text]

Essay: Life after the Jungle, the Route That Will not Close (Refugees Deeply, Oct. 2017) [text]

France: Inquiry Finds Police Abused Migrants in Calais (Human Rights Watch, Oct. 2017) [text]

Greece: Asylum Seekers in Abysmal Conditions on Islands (Human Rights Watch, Oct. 2017) [text]

"How Europe Exported Its Refugee Crisis to North Africa," The Guardian, 30 Oct. 2017 [text]

Legal Note: UNHCR Has Failed to Stand Up for Refugee Rights during Crucial EU-Turkey Deal Judgment ((Refugee Support Aegean & Pro Asyl, Oct. 2017) [text]

L’Expérience des Centres d’Accueil et d’Orientation (CAO) et des Centres d’Accueil et d’Orientation pour Mineurs Isolés (CAOMI) en France (UNHCR, Oct. 2017) [text]

Migration to the UK: Asylum (Migration Observatory, Oct. 2017) [text]

Mind the Gap! A Closer Look at the Inconsistencies in the EU-Turkey Statement Progress Reports (Border Criminologies Blog, Oct. 2017) [text]

One Year after Calais Camp Dismantlement: 70 Per Cent of Its Asylum Seekers Confirmed in Need for Protection (ECRE, Oct. 2017) [text]

Refugee, Asylum-seeker and Migrant Perceptions: Austrian States Excluding Vienna (Mixed Migration Platform, Oct. 2017) [text]

The Reintegration of Returning Migrants (EPRS, Oct. 2017) [text]

Rethinking Containment through the EU-Libya Migration Deal (Völkerrechtsblog, Oct. 2017) [text]

Returned and Lost: What Happens after Readmission to Turkey? (Border Criminologies Blog, Oct. 2017) [text]

Twelve Months On: Filling Information Gaps Related to Refugees and Displaced People in Northern France a Year on from the Demolition of the Calais Camp (Refugee Data Rights Project, Oct. 2017) [text]

UNHCR's Eight Priorities for the Irish Government (UNHCR, Oct. 2017) [text]

Winter Has Arrived: Thousands Left at the Mercy of Winter in Greek Hot-spots (Refugee Support Aegean, Oct. 2017) [text]
- See also related openDemocracy post.

Related posts:
- Regional Focus: Europe - General (19 Oct. 2017)
- Regional Focus: Europe - Indiv. Countries (19 Oct. 2017)

Tagged Publications.


28 October 2017

Open Access Week: OA Discovery Tools

To finish out the week, here are a few tips for finding open access materials:

1. Look for my bimonthly round-ups of open access articles referenced on this blog. (Scroll past the OA week posts first!)

2. Install the Google Scholar and/or Unpaywall buttons.
- These can help you to quickly identify if a freely available counterpart for a specific article is available online.

3. Search for OA items in BASEGoogle Scholar and ScienceOpen.
- Google's index is the biggest, but BASE and ScienceOpen offer more search features.

Happy searching!

Tagged Publications and Web Sites/Tools.

27 October 2017

Open Access Week: Overcoming the Self-Archiving Embargo

As I've noted in earlier posts, many journal publishers have imposed an embargo on postprints that are deposited in repositories, stipulating that a certain period of time must pass before they become publicly available. The length of the embargo varies from journal to journal, and can range from 6-24 months for social science & humanities titles.

The way around this restriction in some repositories is the implementation of the "request a copy" button. This service allows you to request a copy of the postprint and have it emailed to you with the consent of the author. Often, the turn-around time is as short as a day. This blog post describes how the service has worked at LSE.

And here is an example of a postprint for a Refugee Survey Quarterly article that was recently published online. Access to it is currently restricted, but a "request a copy" button is provided. Who would like to try it out?

Another option for these authors to make their work available immediately? Oxford's self-archiving policy allows them to upload the postprint to their personal web sites. This action accommodates the short-term, while depositing the postprint in the institutional repository ensures access over the long-term.

What if you don't have a personal web site? Set one up using a free service - it's generally pretty straightforward and doesn't require major technical skills.

Tagged Publications.



Regional Focus: MENA, incl. Syria

Event:

Seminar: Diasporas as Soft Power in World Politics, Cairo, 30 October 2017 [info]

Publications:

3RP Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan 2017-2018 in Response to the Syria Crisis (UNHCR, Oct. 2017) [reg. strategic overview] [2017 progress rpt.]

"An Anthropological Approach to Understanding Perceptions, Aspirations, and Behavior of Refugees, Practitioners, and Host Community Members in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey," Middle East Journal of Refugee Studies, vol. 2, no. 1 (Winter 2017) [open access]

Best Practices in Hosting Refugees (Center for Mediterranean Integration, Oct. 2017) [text via ReliefWeb]

Cash Transfers for Syrian Refugees in Jordan: Bridging the Gap between Short-term Assistance and Long-term Social and Economic Integration (Humanitarian Practice Network, July 2017) [text]

Examining the Protection of Migrants in Vulnerable Situations in the Contexts of Jordan and Lebanon (Mixed Migration Platform, Oct. 2017) [text]

Journal of Palestinian Refugee Studies, vol. 7, no. 2 (Autumn 2017) [full-text]
- "[T]he theme of this edition is to offer insight into the conditions of Palestinian refugees in Egypt and Iraq, which fall outside of the UNRWA mandate. A number of writers offer different takes on the situations of Palestinian refugees in those two countries, covering their history, living conditions, and the protection gaps they are forced to endure."

"Nation of Refugees Struggles with an Unwanted Group," Bloomberg News, 25 Oct. 2017 [text]

Parenting in Displacement: Adapting Vroom for Displaced Syrian Families (International Rescue Committee, Oct. 2017) [text via ReliefWeb]

Perceptions of Internally Displaced Persons: Northern Iraq (Mixed Migration Platform, Oct. 2017) [text]

Perceptions of Refugees: Northern Iraq (Mixed Migration Platform, Oct. 2017) [text]

Report of the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, 1 January-31 December 2016, UN Doc. No. A/72/13 (UN General Assembly, May 2017) [text via Refworld]

Risk-Taking, Trust, and Traumatization among Syrian Refugees in Jordan: A Lab-in-the-Field Experiment (SSRN, Oct. 2017) [text]

"Why Jordan is Deporting Syrian Refugees," The Atlantic, 20 Oct. 2017 [text]

Why the Arab World Needs Better Data Literacy on Syrian Refugees (Refugees Deeply, Oct. 2017) [text]

Resource:

Center for Migration & Refugee Studies Database [access]
-  Provides "a comprehensive location where migration and refugee research material (especially, but not exclusively) on the Middle East region is compiled. This database aims to facilitate research by bringing together legal authorities (international treaties, regional agreements and national legislation), analytical sources and academic publications and statistical figures in one location to be accessed by researchers with interest in this field of study."


Related post:
- Regional MENA, incl. Syria (16 Oct. 2017)

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

Regional Focus: Asia Pacific, esp. the Rohingya

Rohingya crisis:


An Alternative to 'Refugee Camp, then Repatriation' Strategy for Rohingya Crisis? (Devex, Oct. 2017) [text]

Bangladesh Refugee Emergency: Key Protection Concerns (UNHCR, Oct. 2017) [text via ReliefWeb]

Bangladesh Resists Greater UNHCR Role in Rohingya Crisis (IRIN, Oct. 2017) [text]

Donors Pledge over US$344 Million in Response to Rohingya Refugee Crisis (UNHCR, Oct. 2017) [text]

Irresponsible Data? The Risks of Registering the Rohingya (IRIN, Oct. 2017) [text]

"My world is finished". Rohingya Targeted in Crimes against Humanity in Myanmar (Amnesty International, Oct. 2017) [text via ReliefWeb]

"Not Nearly Enough is Being Done for the Rohingyas Fleeing Myanmar," The Economist, 21 Oct. 2017 [text]

The Rohingya Crisis in Numbers (OCHA, Oct. 2017) [text]

‘They shot my two daughters in front of me': Rohingya Tell Heartbreaking Stories of Loss and Forced Migration (The Conversation, Oct. 2017) [text]

UN, Aid Groups Debate Myanmar Internment Plan for Rohingya Refugees (IRIN, Oct. 2017) [text]

Will Anyone Protect the Rohingya? (The Conversation, Oct. 2017) [text]

Other publications:

"China Once Welcomed Refugees, but Its Policies Now Make Trump Look Lenient," Los Angeles Times, 18 Oct. 2017 [text]

Protection Cluster Strategy, 2017- 2019: From Displacement to Sustainable Return (Protection Cluster, Oct. 2017) [text via ReliefWeb]

Proposal for Australia’s Role in a Regional Cooperative Approach to the Flow of Asylum Seekers into and within the Asia-Pacific Region (Law Council of Australia, Oct. 2017) [text]

Quarterly Access Magazine, vol. 10, no. 2 (June 2017) [full-text]
- Special issue on refugees, migration and the Asia Pacific. Includes "Meeting Eri Ishikawa: On Asylum Seeker Policy in Japan" and "Migrant Smuggling into Malaysia: Lessons from the Andaman Sea Crisis."

The State of Conflict and Violence in Asia (Asia Foundation, 2017) [text via ReliefWeb]

Why Indonesia Shows the IOM Isn’t Necessarily Helping Migrants (Refugees Deeply, Oct. 2017) [text]

Related post:
- Regional Focus: Asia Pacific, esp. the Rohingya (17 Oct. 2017)

Tagged Publications.


26 October 2017

News: IMR & JMHS to be Published by SAGE

[I actually just learned about this new development from Jørgen Carling's Twitter feed!]

The Center for Migration Studies (CMS) announced that SAGE Publishing will assume responsibility for the publication of its two periodicals, International Migration Review (IMR) and Journal of Migration and Human Security (JMHS). No dates have been specified yet for the final transition.

IMR has been published by Wiley since 2001; its issues can still be accessed there, although SAGE has a basic IMR page in place at this time. 

What ramifications will this new development have from an open access perspective? Well, JMHS has been published in-house as an open access journal since 2013. I checked with CMS, and happily, JMHS will continue to be made available open access even with the change-over.

As for IMR, SAGE's policies regarding hybrid OA and self-archiving are as follows: 1) The standard APC for SAGE Choice articles is $3000 - the same as Wiley; 2) Postprints can be posted on personal web sites and deposited in institutional repositories immediately upon publication; otherwise, there is a 12-month embargo for archiving in subject repositories. By contrast, Wiley stipulated a 24-month embargo for any posting of the postprint.

Tagged Periodicals.




Open Access Week: Author's Views on OA

Jørgen Carling is a Research Professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). He has provided open access to a number of his articles and has also written a very handy guide on self-archiving. Here are his thoughts on why he chooses to make his work OA:

"I try to publish open access as much as possible so that my work can reach more readers, especially in the Global South. It is not always easy, though, since the fees for OA licenses in subscription journals are so high. Unfortunately, there are not many high-quality, fully open access journals in our field. Sometimes it's therefore necessary to settle for the second-best option: to publish in a regular, subscription-based journal and to post the manuscript online in a repository after the embargo period (i.e. 'green' OA).

Although I am passionate about open access, I also acknowledge the important work that goes on behind the scenes to produce a good journal. There are real costs that somebody needs to cover. It just shouldn't always have to be readers (or their institutions).

Besides trying to publish scientific papers without paywalls, I think it is important to disseminate the insights in other free formats, such as blog posts, videos or policy briefs. Open access is, after all, only one part of making research-based knowledge accessible to as many people as possible."

Thanks, Jørgen!

New Issues of Env. Justice, GILJ, Gron. J. Intl. Law, Humanit. Exch., Intervention, JEMS, J. Med. Knowl., Migr. Pol. Pract.

Environmental Justice, vol. 10, no. 4 (Aug. 2017) [contents]
- Special issue on "Climate Refugees and the Human Cost of Global Climate Change."

Georgetown Immigration Law Journal, vol. 31, no. 2 (Winter 2017) [contents]
- Mix of articles.

Groningen Journal of International Law, vol. 5, no. 1 (2017) [open access]
- Special issue on "Migration and International Law." Includes articles on statelessness, detention, migrant protection, the migrant workers convention, and development-induced displacement.

Humanitarian Exchange Magazine, no. 70 (Oct. 2017) [full-text]
- Theme of this issue is "The Lake Chad Basin: An Overlooked Crisis?"

Intervention, vol. 15, no. 3 (Nov. 2017) [contents]
- Special issue on "Linking Mental Health and Psychosocial Support and Peacebuilding."

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (Forthcoming) [latest articles]
- This yet-to-be-published special issue will focus on "Aspiration, Desire and Drivers of Migration." The intro and seven articles have been posted online (follow link and scroll down); the intro is free and three other articles are open access.

Journal of Mediterranean Knowledge, vol. 2, no. 1 (2017) [open access]
- Special issue on "Migrations and Diasporas."

Migration Policy Practice, vol. VII, no. 2 (April-Sept. 2017) [full-text]
- This issue "focuses on irregular migration and, in particular, on new ways to collect and analyse data in this major policy area."

Tagged Periodicals.

Open Access Week: Author's Experience with Hybrid OA

I recently asked David James Cantor, Director of the Refugee Law Initiative, about his motivation to provide open access to an article of his published in the Refugee Survey Quarterly. Here is his reply (note: if you are not familiar with the concept of "hybrid open access," read this blog post first):

"In 2014, I was working on one of my UK Research Council (RC)-funded projects and had submitted the paper to the RSQ. The cost of publishing open access (OA) with the Oxford journals was prohibitive and I did not seriously consider it until the RC - in order to encourage universities and academics to think about publishing on an OA basis - made a bloc grant to the university to which academics could apply in order to secure the funds to make one publication from an RC-funded project OA.

The grant required applicants to carefully justify why the particular publication merited the funds to make it OA. My application was approved on the grounds that the research piece - the first to describe and analyse serious new dynamics of forced displacement in Central/North America due to organised crime - had the potential not only to make a novel contribution to the field of study but would also engage interest beyond a purely academic readership.

It was this latter point that most interested me, as the study had direct practical implications for policymakers and practitioners developing a response to this displacement crisis. Whereas the project design required that the outputs be published in a high-quality academic journal, the purchase of OA provided a route for making the research and its analysis accessible to a wider audience that included people working in those sectors. Given the research was publicly-funded, public access to the results was also important as a point of principle."

Thanks, David!


25 October 2017

Thematic Focus: General

News:

The final Report of the Sixty-eighth Session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme has now been posted on the UNHCR web site (see also the official UN version). All other conference documents, statements and video are available here.

Publications:

"Aspiration, Desire and Drivers of Migration," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Latest Articles, 18 Oct. 2017 [free full-text]
- Introductory article for yet-to-be-published special issue.

Data for Migration and Asylum Policies: The Realities Hidden Within and Behind the Numbers, Oxford, 17 Oct. 2017 [info]
- Follow link for podcast.

EU Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World in 2016 (European Union, Oct. 2017) [text via ReliefWeb]

Forced to Flee: A Multi-disciplinary Conference on Internal Displacement, Migration and Refugee Crises, London, 7-8 Nov. 2016 [conf. report]
- Note: This report was published in the International Review of the Red Cross. See also related speech and video.

*"Forced to Leave? The Discursive and Analytical Significance of Describing Migration as Forced and Voluntary," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Latest Articles, 18 Oct. 2017 [open access]

"A Generalized Simulation Development Approach for Predicting Refugee Destinations," Scientific Reports, 7: 13377 (Oct. 2017) [open access]
- See also related Brunel Univ. news story.

Governments Must do More to Protect Displaced Persons, End Forced Disappearances, Experts Tell Third Committee Amid Calls for Greater Adherence to Conventions (UN, Oct. 2017) [text]

"Imagining Refugia: Could a New Transnational Polity Help Solve the Refugee Crisis?," Foreign Affairs, 17 Oct. 2017 [text]
- Register for free to access full-text.

New World Bank-UNHCR Joint Data Centre to Improve Global Statistics on Forced Displacement (UNHCR, Oct. 2017) [text]

Responsibility-sharing and Mobility: Two Ideas for the Second Consultation on the Global Compact on Refugees (Forced Migration Forum, Oct. 2017) [text]
- Note: Feedback is invited re. the proposals presented in this blog post.

"Rethinking Refugees," The Blue Review, 9 Oct. 2017 [text]

State of the World's Emergencies 2017: A Briefing for New UK Parliamentarians (Bond, Sept. 2017) [text via ReliefWeb]

Thematic Discussions: Global Compact on Refugees, Geneva, 17-18 October 2017 [info]
- Discussions 2 & 3 focused on: "Measures to be taken at the onset of a large movement of refugees (Comprehensive refugee response framework pillar one)," and "Meeting needs and supporting communities (Comprehensive refugee response framework pillars two and three)." Follow the link for video. See also written contributions from States and stakeholders as well as this related UNHCR news story.

Resource:

Rediscovering the Refugee Scholars of the Nazi Era (Northeastern Univ.) [access]
- A research effort "to retrace the forgotten career and life pathways of a group of scholars who attempted to flee Nazi persecution in the 1930s and 1940s. With the assistance of the New York Public Library, researchers have been examining archival files from the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars, a private group that funded a select number of European scholars but was unable to accommodate thousands of others." See also related news story.

*UPDATED

Related post:
- Thematic Focus: General (16 Oct. 2017)

Tagged Publications and Web Sites/Tools.

Open Access Week: Publisher Policy Changes

Publisher policies regarding self-archiving and Open Access evolve regularly. This reality can be frustrating for authors, librarians, repository managers and others who attempt to track and comply with these rules. In today's post, I wanted to point out some policy changes that relate particularly to the forced migration research context.

1. Self-archiving policies:

I use this table to track publisher policies regarding self-archiving for a set of key refugee/migration journals. Specifically, do publishers allow archiving of the postprint and do they stipulate any embargo periods? As I noted yesterday, there has been a general trend on the part of publishers to place greater restrictions on self-archiving. However, some policies have actually become more relaxed:

- Emerald Publishing recently removed embargo periods for all of its journals. This includes the International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, which often carries refugee-related articles.

- Sometime in November 2016, Oxford Journals tweaked its self-archiving policy for the four journals represented in my table (IJRL, JRS, Migr. Stud. & RSQ) to allow authors to immediately upload postprints to their personal webpages upon publication. Past policies only referenced posting preprints on authors' web sites.

- With these changes, there are now 10 journals listed on my table that impose no embargo periods for the uploading of postprints to author web sites. Embargo periods ranging from 6-24 months do still remain for depositing postprints in institutional and/or subject repositories, and sometimes for academic social networks as well.

I hope authors will take advantage of these changes!

2a. APCs for hybrid OA:

In the same table, I also note the publication fees (APCs) for providing hybrid Open Access to articles published in key refugee/migration journals. To date, APCs have remained fairly consistently around $3000. This year, though, APCs have gone down for Disasters, EJML, IJRL, Intl. Migr. and J. Intl. Humanit. Stud., and they have gone up for IJMHSC, JRS and Migr. Stud. The rest have stayed the same.

It is a bit of a mystery why the APCs for Oxford's journals have gone in different directions. They all started at $3000; now IJRL is $2800, JRS & Migration Studies are $3150, and RSQ continues to be $3000!

2b. Uptake of hybrid OA:

Interestingly, the number of authors choosing the hybrid option in key refugee/migration journals is still relatively low. Here, for example, is the total hybrid OA count for Oxford's three refugee titles:

- Journal of Refugee Studies (as of 2005 when the hybrid option was first offered) = 3 articles (in 2006, 2008 & 2016)
- Refugee Survey Quarterly (hybrid option started sometime in 2013) = 3 articles (in 2014, 2016, and 2017)
- International Journal of Refugee Law (hybrid option started sometime in 2013) = 2 articles (in Sept. 2017 and Oct. 2017)

The tallies for other journals that forced migration authors often publish in are not very different, with one exception (based on manual review of issues published 2010-2017; excluded advance access articles):

- Disasters (Wiley) = 3 (first was in 2014)
- European Journal of Migration & Law (Brill) = 5 (first was in 2014)
- Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies (Taylor & Francis) = 3 (first was in 2016)
- International Migration (Wiley) = 6 (first was published in 2014)
- International Migration Review (Wiley) = 2 (first was published in 2014)
- Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies (Taylor & Francis) = 39 (first was in 2010; uptick began in 2015)

It's unclear whether these generally low numbers relate in any way to when a hybrid OA option was first offered, APC rates, the availability of funding to cover APCs, or some other policy. But clearly, the Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies is the exception!

Tagged Publications.




24 October 2017

Open Access Week: Trends

On day two of Open Access Week, I wanted to take a look at what's happening with Open Access in the forced migration sphere, as well as highlight some overall OA developments. (If you need an introduction to OA before proceeding, please visit my other blog.)

As of 2017, I started aggregating the OA publications that I reference on my blog on a bimonthly basis, both as a service to users and as a way for me to track trends. While I don't yet have data for all of 2017, the YTD figures for the different categories of OA literature represented on my blog are as follows:

- Gold OA articles = 207 (107 were health-related, 100 focused on other topics)
- Green OA articles = 55 (34 preprints, 21 postprints)
- Hybrid OA articles = 48

For comparative purposes, here are 2015 totals with 2017 figures in ():
- Gold OA articles = 163 (207)
- Green OA articles = 60 (55)
- Hybrid OA articles = 21 (48)

Keeping in mind that 2017 is not yet over and the final totals will thus change, the general trend shows a strong increase in Gold and Hybrid OA in the past couple of years, while Green OA may end up being about even or a little higher than 2015 totals.

A backdrop for these trends:
- Publishing in gold Open Access journals continues to be the more common OA delivery mechanism reflected on this blog. As can be seen in the bimonthly Open Access Round-up posts, forced migration authors publish in a wide variety of gold OA journals, a number of which are forced migration-related.
- Green OA involves depositing eprints in institutional or subject repositories. While publishers allow eprint self-archiving, they have complicated the process by placing more restrictions on which eprint versions can be deposited where, when and how (Sterman, 2017).
- Many authors (including those in forced migration!) have resorted to posting the publisher's PDF to academic social networks (ASNs), like Academia.edu and ResearchGate, in part because it's quicker and easier than trying to decipher publisher policies (Lovett et al., 2017).
- This practice may change, however. A group of publishers recently began issuing take-down notices to ResearchGate and as a result, many articles that were once freely accessible no longer are.
- One potential unintended consequence of tightening Green OA policies and limiting activity on ASNs is that more authors and researchers may turn to Sci-Hub, a pirate web site that (illegally) hosts a significant portion of the scholarly journal article corpus (Bjork, 2017; Himmelstein et al., 2017).
- With regard to hybrid OA, the forced migration trend noted above is generally consistent with the global trend (Bjork, 2017).


Tagged Publications and Web Sites/Tools.

Thematic Focus: ICTs

Events:

Webinar: How to Use Social Media to Better Engage People Affected by Crises, 25 October 2017 [info]

Techfugees Summit 2017: From Refugees to Techfugees - How a Generation of Tech Savvy Entrepreneurs, Engineers, Corporates are Stepping in to Build Solutions for and with Refugees, Paris, 25 October 2017 [info]

Publications:

"Europe’s Migrant Trail, through the Instagrams of Refugees: Following the “Digital Breadcrumbs” Left by Refugees on Social Media," The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2017 [text]

"Google and Facebook under Pressure after Helping Anti-refugee Campaign," The Guardian, 19 Oct. 2017 [text]

How to Use Social Media to Better Engage People Affected by Crises: A Brief Guide for Those Using Social Media in Humanitarian Organizations (ICRC, IFRC & OCHA, Oct. 2017) [text via ReliefWeb]
- See also related ICRC news release and Social Media4Good blog post. Also note the a/m related webinar.

Information Exchange between Smugglers and Migrants: An Analysis of Online Interactions in Facebook Groups, Thesis (Univ. of Cambridge, May 2017) [text via SSRN]

Landscape Report: Mobile Money, Humanitarian Cash Transfers and Displaced Populations (GSMA, May 2017) [text]

Mapping Refugee Media Journeys: Smartphones and Social Media Networks (Open Univ., May 2016) [access]
- Follow link for report, short video and more info. re. research project.

Mobile is a Lifeline: Research from Nyarugusu Refugee Camp, Tanzania (UNHCR, June 2017) [text via ReliefWeb]

The Tech Entrepreneur Turning Syrian Refugees into Virtual Teachers (Refugees Deeply, Oct. 2017) [text]

"Tweeting Rage: How Immigration Policies can Polarize Public Discourse," UW News, 16 Oct. 2017 [text]

"Understanding the Images of Alan Kurdi with 'Small Data': A Qualitative, Comparative Analysis of Tweets about Refugees in Turkey and Flanders (Belgium)," International Journal of Communication, vol. 11 (2017) [open access]

Welcome or Not-Welcome: Reactions to Refugee Situation on Social Media (arXiv.org, Oct. 2016) [preprint]

New apps:

Humanitarian Standards Partnership App (HSPapp) [access]
- " provides the humanitarian sector’s flagship standards and guidance in a single, free-of-charge app. Designed for field practitioners providing humanitarian aid in disaster and conflict situations, the app works on- and off-line on mobile phones and tablets."

MSF Medical Guidelines [access]
- "These guidelines are the fruit of a collective effort by a group of experienced practitioners and known experts in their specialty. The texts are intended for non-specialized medical staff and take into account possible basic technical environments, in terms of diagnostic equipment, as well as restricted therapeutic means."

Related post:
- Thematic Focus: ICTs & Information Dissemination (29 Sept. 2017)

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

23 October 2017

News: Open Access Week 2017

I launched this blog back in 2005 in order to help users more easily get their hands on free full-text forced migration-related research and information that was posted on the web. I didn't realize at the time that I was also engaged in promoting Open Access to scholarly literature, i.e., that which is "digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions" (Suber, 2004). In 2009, I highlighted Open Access Week for the first time, in order to raise awareness and understanding of the importance of free and unfettered access to research within the forced migration community.

It's Open Access Week yet again! This year it runs from 23-29 October 2017. The theme is "Open in order to...," the aim of which is to "to move the discussion beyond talking about openness itself and instead focus on what openness enables—in an individual discipline, at a particular institution, or in a specific context; then to take action to realize these benefits."

What does openness mean in the forced migration context?  For a basic introduction to the concept of Open Access and the mechanics of making your research OA, please visit my other blog, "Forced Migration & Open Access." Then return to this blog for posts that take a look at trends in OA publication and tools to help users discover OA literature.

Stay tuned!

Tagged Publications and Web Sites/Tools.

20 October 2017

Events & Opportunities: More Oct. & Nov. 2017

Fellowship: Arthur Helton Fellowship, ASIL [info]
- Applications for the 2018 class of Helton fellows are now being accepted.

Seminars: "Refugee Law in the New World Disorder," 8th International Refugee Law Seminar Series, London, 25 October 2017-8 March 2018 [info]
- The first seminar on 25 October 2017 is entitled "Refugee Protection in the United Kingdom Beyond Brexit: The Perils of Australian Exceptionalism." Two seminars will take place in November.

Seminar series: Refugees and the Economy, Oxford [info]
- The next seminar on 26 October 2017 is entitled "Using Market Design to Improve Refugee Resettlement." Five seminars will be held in November.

Book colloquium: Voting Rights of Refugees, Oxford, 30 October 2017 [info]

Seminar: Closing the Chapter on Child Detention: Developments in Normative and Legal Frameworks, Melbourne, 31 October 2017 [info]

CFP: Journal of Internal Displacement [info]
- Contributions sought for special issue prepared for the Law & Society's Collaborative Research Network on "Displaced Peoples." Submission deadline is 31 October 2017.

Prizes: Odysseus Academic Network for Legal Studies on Migration and Asylum in Europe [info]
- Submission deadline has been **extended** to 1 November 2017.

Discussion: Research with Refugees: Pulling Back the Curtain, Medford, Mass., 1 November 2017 [info]

Feedback requested: Sphere Handbook, Draft 2 [info]
- Submit comments by 6 November 2017.

Job announcement: Researcher in Migration, COMPAS [info]
- Apply by 13 November 2017.

Conference: Winning Back the Human Race: The Legacy of ICIHI, London, 14 November 2017 [info]
- Note: More info. is available on the companion web site.

Harrell-Bond lecture: The Displacement Paradox: Good Refugees, Bad Migrants. Where Can the Unwanted Go?, Oxford, 22 November 2017 [info]
- Register by 20 November 2017.

Debate: Agreeing a Global Response to Migration, London, 21 November 2017 [info]
- Will be livestreamed.

Academic presentation: Pew Research on Asylum Seekers in Europe and US Refugee Resettlement, Oxford, 28 November 2017 [info]

Call for chapter proposals: Deadly Voyages [info]
- Submission deadline is 30 November 2017.

Related post:
- Events & Opportunities: Even More October 2017/New November 2017

Tagged Events & Opportunities. 

Thematic Focus: Mental Health

Confronting the Mental Health Emergency on Samos and Lesbos: Why the Containment of Asylum Seekers on Greek Islands Must End (MSF, Oct. 2017) [text via ReliefWeb]

"Creative Arts Therapies as Temporary Home for Refugees: Insights from Literature and Practice," Behavioral Sciences, vol. 7, no. 4 (Oct. 2017) [open access]

"Development and Preliminary Validation of Refugee Trauma History Checklist (RTHC): A Brief Checklist for Survey Studies," International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 14, no. 10 (Oct. 2017) [open access]

*Executive Summary: Rapid Assessment of Mental Health, Psychosocial Needs and Services for Unaccompanied Children in Greece (Unicef, Oct. 2017) [text via ReliefWeb]

Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (ICRC, 2017) [text via ReliefWeb]

"Insecurity, Distress and Mental Health: Experimental and Randomized Controlled Trials of a Psychosocial Intervention for Youth Affected by the Syrian Crisis," Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Early View, 2 Oct. 2017 [open access]
- See also related Yale News story.

"Mental Health Assessments in Refugees and Asylum Seekers: Evaluation of a Tablet-assisted Screening Software," Conflict and Health, 11:18 (Oct. 2017) [open access]

"Multidisciplinary Treatment for Traumatized Refugees in a Naturalistic Setting: Symptom Courses and Predictors," European Journal of Psychotraumatology, vol. 8, no. 2 (2017) [open access]

"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depression and Anxiety among North Korean Refugees: A Meta-Analysis," Psychiatry Investigation, vol. 14, no. 5 (Sept. 2017) [full-text via PubMed]

"Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in a Clinical Sample of Refugees: A Network Analysis," European Journal of Psychotraumatology, vol. 8, suppl. 3 (2017) [open access]

Teaching about Refugees: Guidance on Working with Refugee Children Struggling with Stress and Trauma (UNHCR, 2017) [text]

*UPDATED

Related post:
- Thematic Focus: Health (29 Sept. 2017)

Tagged Publications.




19 October 2017

Thematic Focus: Children

Age Assessment: Council of Europe Member States’ Policies, Procedures and Practices Respectful of Children’s Rights in the Context of Migration (Council of Europe, Sept. 2017) [text]

Beasts of Burden: Unaccompanied Refugee Children Biting More Than They Can Swallow (Refugee Law Project Blog, Sept. 2017) [text]

"The Best Interests of the Child in EU Family Reunification Law: A Plea for More Guidance on the Role of Article 24(2) Charter," European Journal of Migration and Law, vol. 19, no. 2 (2017) [open access]

Breakdown: The Dismantling of the Calais “Jungle” and of the Promises to its Unaccompanied Children (Bar Human Rights Committee of England & Wales, Oct. 2017) [text]

Children: Amid a Growing Court Backlog Many Still Unrepresented (TRAC Immigration, Sept. 2017) [text]

*Games of Violence: Unaccompanied Children and Young People Repeatedly Abused by EU Member State Border Authorities (MSF, Oct. 2017) [text]

"Revealed: Rescued Refugee Children Facing Limbo – and Worse – in UK," The Guardian, 19 Oct. 2017 [text]

"Scorned and Stateless: Children of ISIS Fighters Face an Uncertain Future," The Guardian, 7 Oct. 2017 [text]

Specialised Foster Care for Unaccompanied and Separated Children in Serbia: A Case Study (Save the Children, Oct. 2017) [text via ReliefWeb]

"Was DACA Responsible for the Surge in Unaccompanied Minors on the Southern Border?," International Migration, Early View, 16 Oct. 2017 [free full-text]

We Have Forgotten What Happiness is: Youth Perspectives of Displacement and Return in Qayyarah Subdistrict, Mosul (Oxfam, Oct. 2017) [text]

Youth on the Move: Investigating Decision-making, Migration Trajectories and Expectations of Young People on the Way to Italy (REACH, Mixed Migration Hub & Mixed Migration Platform, Sept. 2017) [text via ReliefWeb]

*UPDATED

Related post:
- Thematic Focus: Children (26 Sept. 2017)

Tagged Publications.