KWR’s open-access publications: the count stands at 5,000!

As a public institution, KWR is committed to making public our research results to the maximum extent possible. This is why we provide an online library containing publications that can be consulted by all of the outside world. The oldest publication is dated 1956 and deals with the infiltration of surface water for the drinking water provision; a subject still relevant today. The increasing number of visitors to the online library in recent years shows that the digital accessibility of our knowledge means a lot to the water sector. In 2022, 13,000 users downloaded a publication. ‘Knowledge generated by KWR research contributes to solutions to major societal challenges and societal transitions in the areas of water, energy and sustainability,’ says Milou Dingemans, KWR researcher and Chief Science Officer. ‘To this end, the knowledge must be as accessible as possible for collaboration partners and societal organisations, for discussion and implementation in practice.’

Card catalogue

One person who has fully accompanied the transition from paper to digital is Jonie Keessen. She has worked at KWR for more than 36 years, the last 25 of which as librarian. ‘It began with a card catalogue system, just like in a public library,’ she remembers. ‘It was intended only for the use by internal staff members. Then came the intranet; which was of course a digital environment, but not accessible for the outside world. When we initiated an update of our website in 2016, we took the opportunity to maximise the accessibility of our publications.’ Researcher Dingemans uses the online library particularly for knowledge sharing with project partners and collaborations with academic partners. ‘The online library’s easily accessible way of sharing knowledge in the form of reports, slide-decks and comprehensive summaries is extremely useful. Its existence therefore should be highlighted much more. This milestone of the five-thousandth upload is well worth taking a moment to think about!’

KWR researchers took a moment to reflect on the milestone of the five thousandth upload in the online library.

Metadata and RSS feed

In the beginning, the automating of the publications was not a simple task, recounts Keessen. ‘Each work needed to be retroactively provided with metadata. The papers could then be retrieved by users by means of search words. But at KWR we have I don’t know how many different publications, ranging from reports to articles, and everything in between. Each work has its own format. This makes it quite difficult to generate metadata in a standardised manner. But we managed to do it!’ Since 2016, each new publication has its associated metadata manually attached to it. And the optimisation of the accessibility continues unabated, says Tim van der Mast, Communications Consultant at KWR and project leader in the development of the online library. ‘A few years after the launch we radically improved the filter system, so that you can combine all the filters with each other, allowing you to find the publication you’re looking for. Another big (invisible) update will be carried out by the end of this year. It will enable the search engines to dig even more deeply into our publications. Because the more findable, the better!’

Top 5

Since KWR is a knowledge institute, its publications are one of its important outputs. Attention is therefore directed annually to the scientific, peer-reviewed publication that is most cited over the preceding year. In 2009 a special annual award was even created to this end: the Willem Koerselman Prize, named after the researcher who with his paper still heads the list. Apart from the citations in scientific publications, we also score the number of times a report is consulted in the online library. Here are the top 5 most consulted publications in the online library so far:

1. Shifting the imbalance: Intentional reuse of Dutch sewage effluent in sub-surface irrigation
2. BLUE PLANET Panel Discussion II – “Hydroinformatics – New Data Sources”
3. Kennisdocument Hergebruik van Restwater voor de Landbouwwatervoorziening – Erratum
4. Hergebruik van industrieel restwater voor de watervoorziening van de landbouw. Praktijkproef subirrigatie met gezuiverd restwater van Bavaria
5. Effect Based Monitoring in Water Safety Planning – Factsheet Perception and barriers to implementation 

Daniel Duarte’s dissertation has become number 5000.

Scientific quality

The treasure of information contained in thousands of publications, provides, among other things, one basis for the five-yearly assessment of KWR’s scientific quality and impact. The last assessment took place in 2019 and the next one will be carried out shortly. The online library also demonstrates that KWR’s visibility has increased considerably in recent years, says Keessen. ‘We register in the database whenever publications and public media, such as newspapers, make references to KWR. Especially during the corona pandemic, it was remarkable how often our sewage analysis and its impact appeared in the media. It’s interesting to witness all these developments. From a storage basement with piles of reports, lying there waiting for a user, to a time when everything is done digitally, and we have to remain updated on the software so as to make as much information as possible accessible for end-users.’