The VHL Open Metadata portal is aligned with Open Science Practices – PAHO/WHO

With the aim of promoting the democratization of access to health information and in line with open science initiatives, the PAHO/WHO (BIREME/PAHO/WHO) Latin American and Caribbean Health Science Information Center makes it possible to open the metadata portal for the information resources of the Virtual Health Library (VHL). This initiative is in line with the corporate open science strategy and responds to the recommendations of the Center’s governance committees. BIREME Science Information Products and Services, with Latin American and Caribbean Literature Database in Health Sciences – LILACS^[1], they updated their journal inclusion criteria with the inclusion of article compliance with Open Science Practices. besides VHL Scientific Communication in Health It has just been reformulated to include the scholarly literature on open science, standards and guidelines for its adoption and point to blogs that bring discussions on the topic, among other innovative topics.

In its beta version in Portuguese, English and Spanish, the . file Open the metadata portal VHL information sources provide information so that the metadata can be reused, that is, it can be downloaded in open formats and used by any user in information studies, searches and bibliographic reference managers, for example.

The easiest way to get VHL metadata is through the search interface. When performing a search that combines the available fields and filters, the result can be exported by selecting one of the available formats: Extensible Markup Language (xml), JavaScript object notation (Jason), Coordination of research information systems (RIS), comma separated values (CSV) and Really simple summaries (RSS). The portal also provides a self-assessment of FAIR compliance, searchability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability. Funbelievable, tocan reach, Iinteroperable and sUsable).

In addition, the VHL provides access to various sources of bibliographic information, such as LILACS, MEDLINE, and national, subject, and institutional reference databases in the health sciences. The scientific technical documents available in these sources of information are described by bibliographic metadata, following the LILACS methodology, which allows identification of document title, authors, abstract, DeCS/MeSH descriptors, author affiliation, year of publication, scholarly journal, etc. .

About Metadata

Metadata is data about data, that is, it is information that allows to organize, classify, relate and infer new data about a data set. the Metadata quality Knowledge facilitates better access, understanding and use of data by users.

On the open flag

Open science is a broad concept that includes many movements that aim to open up the entire research cycle and strive to remove barriers to sharing any kind of results, resources, methods or tools used in the research process. Thus, open access to journals, open research data, open source software, open collaboration, open peer review, open notebooks, open educational resources, open studies, citizen science, or crowdfunding From research on the frontiers of open science.

At the 41st General Conference of UNESCO, held in November 2021, its 193 Member States agreed to adopt the Recommendation on Open Science.^[2]. The Recommendation outlines the common values ​​and principles of open science and identifies concrete measures on open access and open data, with proposals to bring citizens closer to science and commitments to facilitate the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge worldwide.

^[1] Latin American and Caribbean Literature in the Health Sciences. Criteria for selection and continuation of Brazilian LILACS journals. Version 2021. Available at: https://lilacs.bvsalud.org/es/lilacs-journals/criteria-for-selection-and-permanence-of-journals-lilacs-brasil-2021/

^[2] United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. UNESCO Open Science Recommendation. November 2021. Available at: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000379949.locale=es