The evolution of the internet has resulted in digitisation of many scholarly tomes, but also further obscured what we know about the influence of monographs.

Setting one benchmark for universities is hard.

How do you avoid talking to the same groups of individuals with your research publications?

The Curtin Open Knowledge Initiative (COKI) project is developing online, interactive data dashboards relating to aspects of university research performance. Dashboards include a broad range of metrics, relating to open access, citations, collaboration, funders, publishers and journals, altmetrics, and the diversity of academic and non-academic staff.

There are often lots of questions when we talk about our latest project, building the world’s first data repository for open access books. Most people accept that free books are a good thing, particularly if they are providing insights into cutting-edge research – but how many are free, how frequently are they read and are they having an impact in the community?

Great careers often don’t take linear paths. Most people don’t tend to phone in for their job interview on their way to board a ship travelling to Antarctica, but after a research career spanning multiple continents and a range of sectors, the setting seemed appropriate for Dr Rebecca Handcock – who was subsequently snapped up as a Senior Data Scientist with the Curtin Open Knowledge Initiative (COKI) project.