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Open Access in the UK Developments since the Finch Report. Michael Jubb Research Information Network 5th Conference on Open Access Scholarly Publishing Riga 18 September 2013. Accessibility, sustainability, excellence. The Question and the Process.
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Open Access in the UKDevelopments since the Finch Report Michael Jubb Research Information Network 5th Conference on Open Access Scholarly Publishing Riga 18 September 2013
The Question and the Process • how to expand access, in a sustainable way, to peer-reviewed research publications • bearing mind the strong competitive position of the UK research community • group of 13 representatives of universities, libraries, funders, learned societies, publishers • different groups with different interests • no perfect solution: ‘best-fit’ • review meeting on 24 September
Mechanisms and Success Criteria • more UK articles available globally • more global articles available in the UK • sustain high-quality research • sustain high-quality services to authors and readers • financial health of publishing and learned societies • costs to HE and funders • open access articles & journals • repositories • extensions to licensed access
Conclusions • no single mechanism meets all the success criteria • a mixed economy for the foreseeable future • transition to OA should be accelerated in an ordered way • tensions between interests of key stakeholders, and risks to all of them • risks and costs associated with each of the three mechanisms • the global environment • promote innovation and sustain what is valuable
Recommendations • balanced package of moves towards Gold, Green and extensions to licensing • clear policy direction towards Gold • better funding arrangements, focusing responsibilities in universities, not funders • minimise restrictions on use and re-use • develop repository infrastructure • caution about limitations on embargoes • future negotiations on subscriptions to take account of growth in APC revenues • expand and rationalise licensing • universities and National Health Service • SMEs, voluntary and public sectors, public libraries
Initial responses • Government accepts recommendations • £10m one-off transition funding • RCUK policy announcement • consultation on REF 2020 • universities establishing publication funds, policies, procedures and systems • see RIN report: http://www.researchinfonet.org/publish/rcuk-oa-requirements/
Research Councils UK (RCUK) policies • requirement from 1 April 2013 for • Gold with a CC-BY licence (preferred), or • Green with 6/12 months maximum embargo (12/24 months for humanities and social sciences) • block grant to universities to meet costs of APCs • assumes c45% of articles from Research Council-funded projects will be published in Gold OA journals in 2013-14, rising to 75% by 2017-18 • management of publication funds in hands of universities • reporting and monitoring arrangements
Implementation • real momentum, but mixed progress • two Parliamentary inquiries • lively debate • sometimes driven by entrenched attitudes?
Balance? • imbalance between • work to increase access to UK-authored publications across the world • work to increase access to global articles in the UK
Pace of change • sufficient attention to detail? • keeping everyone on board?
Green vs Gold • Green with short embargoes (or none) the cheap option? • Gold the sustainable option? • parity of esteem for Gold and Green publications?
Funding and costs • publishing costs integral to research costs? • funds from both sides of the dual support system? • uncertainties about costs to individual universities • offsets between subscription costs and APCs?
International developments • EU, Australia, Science Europe, OSTP, Global Research Council, G8, California…. • impact on UK, and on costs
Embargoes • the 6/12 and 12/24 month policy • sticks and carrots? • principles for setting embargoes • half-lives? • disciplinary differences? • protection for learned societies a separate but important issue
Extensions to licensing • walk-in access in public libraries initiative • little progress with health service, voluntary organisations or SMEs
Infrastructure • repository infrastructure? • infrastructure for Gold? • interoperability and information flows
Co-ordination • all stakeholders working together? • need for a disinterested co-ordinator?
Thank youQuestions? Michael Jubb www.researchinfonet.org