The UK experience of offsetting Liam Earney

Jisc’s negotiations for offsetting agreements Context Current Jisc open access activity Why do we want offsetting agreements? The approach taken by Jisc Collections Experiences with offsetting agreements Challenges Conclusions

Context

Jisc Open Access Support Service Support throughout an article’s lifecycle from submission to use Submission Select journal Check compliance Acceptance Pay publisher Deposit in repository Policies Decision support Negotiations Notification Publication Report on compliance Maximise impact Use Record impact Report Discovery and access Reporting tools Usage reports Community professional support Open Access

Why is this important to you? National strategy of open access to scientific publications and research data in Slovenia 2015−2020 6.4 Article Processing Charges of an open access publication “the Article Processing Charges (APC) of an open access peer-reviewed article in an open access scientific journal and in a hybrid scientific journal […] are eligible costs for reimbursement during the period of the research” “The organisations managing consortia for access to paid scientific information […] should strive for more favourable Article Processing Charges of open access […] to prevent double payments to publishers of hybrid scientific journals.” “Joint negotiations with publishers of open access journals regarding Article Processing Charges of open access articles should be carried out for the consortium of Slovenian research organisations to ensure economically most favourable publishing.”

Why does the UK want offsetting agreements? UK HEIs create significant number of OA articles as a result of UK policies OA is expanding its scope, scale and reach However, progress is lumpy—fast in some areas, slower in others Initially, there will be minimal impact on global subscription levels for hybrid journals from UK APCs Total cost of journals system to UK universities will increase RCUK and other funding will only cover part of the cost for some of the future What are we doing now to make this manageable? 03/12/2018

Jisc Collections approach Two distinct issues The cost of APCs in pure and hybrid gold OA journals The combined cost of APCs and subscriptions in hybrid journals “Total cost of publication” We targeted number 2 first 03/12/2018

Theoretical rise in Combined Costs What happens when we just add APC costs to subscriptions without overall control mechanism 03/12/2018

Government Response to Finch Report The Government “….looks to the publishing industry to develop innovative and sustainable solutions“ : “….a meaningful proportion of an institution's total [article processing charges] with a publisher to be offset against total subscription payments with that publisher". "Government welcomes efforts by Jisc Collections to develop sustainable funding models that establish a relationship between the payment of APCs (and the costs of administering them) and subscription fees for an institution.“ Letter from Rt Hon David Willetts MP to Dame Janet Finch, 23 January 2014 - Demonstrated support of policy makers - Clearly linked APCs and Subscriptions together in the context of implementation of Finch - Emphasised the role of Jisc Collections - Provided a timeframe for action with the expectation of progress by the time of RCUK’s review of it’s policy later in 2014 03/12/2018

Total APC expenditure 2010–14 for 23 HEIs The growth in APC payments has continued to rise year on year, with 2014 seeing 2.7x more expenditure than 2013. Even removing a high-spending outlier, the increase was 2x. Trend for 2015 indicates a slower rate of growth, but still 40-50% for most institutions Collecting the information is a challenge, Jisc services in this area are improving the capacity of the sector and indeed Jisc to track spend and make rational decisions about what to spend, what to negotiate, where to spend it. So currently Jisc, globally has taken the lead in collecting this information, and Jisc’s activity is actually dependent on us successfully developing these services. (Source: Jisc Collections)

Experiences with offsetting

Negotiation objectives Priorities for negotiations on the combined cost of subscriptions and APCs: Cost efficiency - minimise/remove additional costs to institution Compliance - help/enable institutions to comply with funder policies regardless of whether they are choosing gold or green Administrative efficiency - minimise the burden on institutions of implementing and managing OA payment schemes Transition - implementing schemes that facilitate a real and sustainable transition to open access Open Access

Experiences Working on offsetting proposals since start of 2014 Agreements are pilots Need to monitor changing environment Need to see how effective the agreements are A range of agreements in place: Institute of Physics Royal Society of Chemistry Sage Taylor and Francis Wiley Springer from October

Experiences A variety of schemes Models have different impact based on publisher Offsetting APC spend against subscription costs Credits against APCs based on total expenditure APC vouchers based on level of subscription spend “Flipped models” – subscription fees pay for APCs, small additional fee to cover access to content Discounts of up to 90%

Challenges and conclusions

Challenges Complicated policy environment RCUK, HEFCE, H2020 Uncertain research funding in UK Reviews of UK policy outcomes Managing expectations Extra spend happening now But only 1 negotiation cycle for journal agreements How quickly can we achieve meaningful results?

Challenges Hybrid publishers refusing offsetting agreements Retreat from hybrid in absence of offsetting Increase in support for Green route Sustainability Administrative burden New systems, workflows, data requirements Incentivising researchers and publishers Price sensitivity of authors? Take up of offers by institutions and authors

Conclusions Open access is a journey not an event

Around 157,000 articles published by UK authors in 2014 Conclusions Still much to do… Around 157,000 articles published by UK authors in 2014 Percentages of UK articles available OA in 2014, up to 12 months after publication Open access through repositories 11.7 Open access through wholly OA journals charging fees 9.3 Open access through wholly OA journals not charging fees 2.1 Open access though partially OA journals charging fees 6.5 Open access though delayed release by journals 8.7 Not open access 61.7 Open Access

Conclusions Open access is a journey not an event Too early to be certain of implications and impact Data is sometimes contradictory Ongoing interest in the progress of offsetting schemes Some agreements show it can be done Are the success of offsetting schemes and the fate of hybrid open access linked to each other?

Thank you Liam Earney Director of Jisc Collections Email: Liam.Earney@jisc.ac.uk