Open Access to (your) research
Open Access (OA) literature is digital, online, original, free of charge, and free of
most copyright and licensing restrictions. Open Access removes price barriers
(subscriptions, licensing fees, pay per view fees) and permission barriers for
scholarly use (most copyright and licensing restrictions) and thus stands for free
availability and unrestricted use of scholarly content.
Open Access refers to DATA as well.
Peter Suber, A very brief introduction to Open Access
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/brief.htm
Two main routes to Open Access
Open Access Repositories
• Freely available
• Institutional Repositories / Subject Repositories
• Worldwide network
• Preservation and management information
• Funders policies
• Extra services
• Copyright? In Sherpa Romeo authors find if publishers allow self-archiving
Content:
• Articles (pre-print / post-print/official published version)
• Conference proceedings
• Reports
• Books
• Book chapters
• Research data
• Etc.
Freely
available for all; the reader
does not pay to get access
Open Access
Publishing (journals,
books)
Peer Reviewed
Then who pays?
Copyright stays with
the author
Article Processing Charges (APC)
- Funding agencies provide money to the
author or establish agreements with
publisher
- Via Open Access funds
- Via institutional membership
- APC waved by publisher
Is copyright such an easy issue?
Things to know about Copyright
•
As the creator of a work you are automatically the Copyright owner (unless otherwise agreed with your
employer)
•
In the ideal Open Access Situation you don't give away your Copyright, but rather license your publisher to
publish and distribute your work
•
Whereas copyright was originally a tool to encourage creativity and learning, it is now the basis
for business (Statute of Anne, 1709)
o
In other words, in our times toll publishers obtain copyright from authors and then profit by asking users to pay for
access to publications
Reality check:
o
o
many authors sign away their copyright to the publisher
many authors are not aware about copyright issues and how this affects the dissemination of research
Best practice for Open Access: Creative
Commons license CC-BY
Means others can share your work (copy, distribute and transmit) and remix (adapt) as long
as they credit you for the original creation
Other Creative Commons Licenses
CC-BY-SA
CC-BY-ND
CC-BY-NC
CC-BY-NC-SA
CC-BY-NC-ND (most restrictive)
http://creativecommons.org/
How Open Access benefits your work and
career
Distribution and usage
• Immediate access to your research output for everyone upon official publication;
• More visibility and usage, also from non-specialist audiences;
• Immediate impact of your work;
• Intensification of research through fast dissemination and use of research;
• Possibly a citation advantage as well.
Plus:
• Monitoring of your research output;
• Preservation of your research output by your library;
• Keep your rights instead of signing them away.
Open Access also benefits
Universities (and their libraries) / funders
Increased visibility & increase of Return on Investment
Promotion possibilities of the work carried out by staff
Long term preservation of scholarly content
Increase efficiency in monitoring and managing research
Decrease costs in journal subscriptions
Basis to develop added-value services essential for Open Scholarship
Society at large (i.e. citizens and small and medium enterprises)
Immediate and toll-free access to research paid for by public funds
Increase of Return on Investment
Enhance interest and participation in research (citizen science)
Contribution to the development of conditions that foster social and financial
prosperity and development
Publishers
• Optimal distribution service; widest audience
• Opportunity to work with new publishing models and participate
in Open Scholarship / Open Science
• Less overhead in managing access
Enterprises
• Immediate access to research content promote enterprise-based
research
• Development of innovative products and services
• Enhance contact with the research community
Summary:
Adapted from: John Houghton, Colin Steele and Peter Sheehan, Report to the Department of Education, Science and Training
“Research Communication Costs in Australia: Emerging Opportunities and Benefits” [Online] Available at: http://www. dest . gov
.au/NR/ rdonlyres /0ACB271F-EA7D-4FAF-B3F7-0381F441B175/13935/DEST_Research_Communications_Cost_Report_Sept2006.
pdf
Open Access is a strong global movement.
(European) policy developments illustrate:
- Lisbon Treaty, Article 179 ‘a European Research Area in which
researchers, scientific knowledge and technology circulate freely...' as
an objective of the Union
- European Research Counsil: Open Access Guidelines (2008)
- European Commission: FP7 Open Access Pilot
- European Commission: Will FP8 have an Open Access Mandate?
National Funding agencies and other (private) research funders are
embedding Open Access Policies
Myths and truths about OA
Myth 1:
Open Access journals do not practice strict peerreview process; they are of low(er) quality.
Truth 1:
Peer-review practices are not related to access
models of a journal but to editorial policies.
Myth 2:
There are no Open Access journals in my field of
expertise
Truth 2:
- Most journals offer OA possibilities, even if
they are not purely OA. As author you have a lot
to say and you can pay an additional fee for OA.
- Check out the DOAJ for available high quality
Open Access Journals
Myth 3
Self-archiving (depositing in the Institutional
Repository) takes too much of my time
Truth 3
Self- archiving takes some time but is still a
simple process. Check if you can use the
Research Information System for filling out the
data.
Most libraries offer excellent assistance and
help to make it as easy as possible for you.
Myth 4
Open Access aims at punishing commercial
publishers (my publishers)
Truth 4:
Open Access is respectful to all; it facilitates
the access to and dissemination of research
and complements, but does not replace
publishing activities.
Myth 5
There is no funding for publishing in Open
Access Journals
Truth 5
Check out the policies of your funding
organization; many funders have included
OA clauses and cover OA related costs;
Ask your librarian for funding options!
Why is Open Access Beneficial per subject
field:
Zooming in your academic discipline