ECU Graduate Research School Forum of Postgraduate Students

Scholarly Publishing and Open Access

Julia Gross ECU Library August 2012

Open Access (OA)

1. Scholarly publishing crisis

2. Open access

3. Open access and research impact

4. Copyright and open access

5. ECU’s open access repository Research Online

6. New open access requirements tied to NHMRC funding

Scholarly communication crisis

Key players

publishers authors libraries scholars

Publishers

Global publishing business

The big 3 STM (Science, Technology, Medicine)

42% of STM journals

Research is publically funded– Authors not paid– Publishers get free content

Authors (Researchers)

Authors interested in– Creating new knowledge– Research outcomes– Citations and impact factors– Peer review, quality control– Career, academic promotion, tenure

Vested interest in the status quo

Authors value open access

Libraries

Online = library pays access fee to publisher

Licence agreements with publisher

Library budgets are under pressure

Percentage spent on journals increasing (80% +)

Journal price increases33% over 5 years (Ebsco data)

Scholars (Researchers)

Scholars need access to publications

Scholars lose out in closed access

Only staff/students of institution get access

Not free to those outside institution

Journals charge toll-access to articles

e. g. US$30 per journal article (Elsevier)

is there another

way

forward ?

Open Access

research articles should be freely,

immediately and permanently

available online to anyone

Open Access (OA)

OA to publicly funded research

OA embraced by libraries, scholars, research funders

OA benefitsGreater exposure

Universal access

Discovery via Google

Open Access – how?

Green Road OAAuthor self archives

Institutional e-repository - ECU Research Online

Discipline repository

Gold Road OA

Publisher provides free access in OA journalSometimes author pays fee to publisher

Free access to scholars

Available worldwide

Digital preservation for the long term

Challenges the closed publishing model

Faster access

Citation benefits

Green Road OA: E-Repositories

Advantages

Green Road OA: E-Repositories

Promotes and showcases your research

Preserves your research online

Stores and organises your research

Discovery via Google and Google Scholar

Advantages

ECU’s E-Repository: ro.ecu.edu.au

Published works

book chapters, conference papers

journal articles, working papers

Digital formats

media, music, images

Dissertations, theses

Conference and journal publishing

ECU’s E-Repository content

Copyright and OA

Commercial publishers usually ask you to sign over copyright

Each publisher has different rules on OA repository copies

Mostly post-print version

Post-print is version accepted for publication, after peer review changes

ECU Library repository staff can advise researchers

Gold Road Open Access

Directory of OA Journals

Over 7000 OA journals

Many are peer reviewed

Sometimes author pays a fee to publish

Example: Public Library of Science (PLoS)

PLoS charges authors

Research funding and OA

New NHMRC requirements for OA“publications arising from an NHMRC supported

research project must be deposited into an open access institutional repository within a twelve month period from the date of publication.”

ARC not yet mandating OA, but may follow

Library repository staff can advise

U.S. Research Works Act (anti OA)

7,000+ researchers boycott Elsevier

U.S. Federal Research Public Access Act (pro OA)

The Guardian (U.K.) pro-OA articles

U.K. Finch report (supports Gold OA)

International developments

What should you do?

Think before you give away your copyright

Find out the OA journals in your field

Greater access = greater impact

If you report your publication information to ECU’s RAS, it will come thru to Research Online

Be aware of funder requirements re OA

Thank you

any questions?