To better understand the value of current information services and to forecast the evolving information and data management needs of researchers, a study was conducted at two research-intensive universities. The methodology and planning framework applied by health science librarians at Emory University and The Ohio State University focused on identifying the need for new or retooled information services supporting health and biomedical researchers and their increasing use of digital resources. The lessons learned and outcomes described herein are informing the development and implementation of new information service models and can help forecast changing user needs across the broader library community.

Objectives: In 2017 the journal Nature published challenges to the assumption that research intensive U.S. institutions are immune to the hazards of predatory publishing. Sample articles from hundreds of potentially predatory journals were analyzed: the NIH was the most frequent funder and Harvard was among the most frequent institutions. Our study was designed to identify the publication prevalence at our institution. Methods: Predatory publishers were defined using an archived version of Beall’s list, a now defunct website that was widely recognized as the only comprehensive black list for potential predators. The archive was collected January 15, 2017 and reflects updates made 1-2 weeks prior. To identify our NIH publications, records were collected from PubMed Central using an institution search and limiting to 2011-2016 to reflect a five-year period covered by Beall’s last update. PMC was selected under the assumption that direct journal inclusion in PubMed/MedLine serves as a proxy for quality. Journal and ISSN data were referenced against Ulrich’s Periodical Directory to determine publishers. Data were then compared against the Beall’s listing of potentially predatory publishers and standalone journals. The publication costs for the predatory journals were used to determine the total amount of NIH funding used to pay for publications in predatory journals. Results: The review of the University’s Publications submitted to PubMed Central from 2011 to 2016 revealed 15090 publications. Of those 15090 articles 218 publications (1.4%) were from publishers that fell in Beall’s list of predatory publishers. A review of publication fees for the publishers that University faculty published in revealed that approximately $300,000 dollars of Federal grant money was spent over the 5 year period publishing in predatory publications. Conclusions: Previously, it was thought that publishing predatory journals was primarily a problem in developing countries. However, like the 2017 Nature study, we found that researchers publishing at Emory are publishing in journals that are considered predatory. While the rate of publication in predatory journals is low (1.4%) it did cost approximately $300,000 of Federal tax payer money, which amounts to approximately 70% of the funds of one year of the average NIH R01 grant.

Drosophila melanogaster is a common animal model for genetics studies, and quantitative proteomics studies of the fly are emerging. Here, we present in detail the development of a procedure to incorporate stable isotope-labeled amino acids into the fly proteome. In the method of stable isotope labeling with amino acids in Drosophila melanogaster (SILAC fly), flies were fed with SILAC-labeled yeast grown with modified media, enabling near complete labeling in a single generation. Biological variation in the proteome among individual flies was evaluated in a series of null experiments. We further applied the SILAC fly method to profile proteins from a model of fragile X syndrome, the most common cause of inherited mental retardation in human. The analysis identified a number of altered proteins in the disease model, including actin-binding protein profilin and microtubulin-associated protein futsch. The change of both proteins was validated by immunoblotting analysis. Moreover, we extended the SILAC fly strategy to study the dynamics of protein ubiquitination during the fly life span (from day 1 to day 30), by measuring the level of ubiquitin along with two major polyubiquitin chains (K48 and K63 linkages). The results show that the abundance of protein ubiquitination and the two major linkages do not change significantly within the measured age range. Together, the data demonstrate the application of the SILAC principle in D. melanogaster, facilitating the integration of powerful fly genomics with emerging proteomics.