Y OPEN? ISSUES IN OPEN ACCESS FOR GENERATION Y SCIENTISTS Ollie Bridle October 2012, Radcliffe Science Library

Open Access  Publishing your research (papers, data etc) such that it is free for others to access.  Placing minimal restrictions on re-use, distribution and sharing of information.

Who are Generation Y scientists?  Individuals born between 1982 –  Defined by certain characteristics –  Limited access to computers through early education.  Did not grow up with Google.  Many current DPhil, Post-doc and young academics.

Researchers of Tomorrow  Major study by JISC and the British Library.  3 years & 13,593 complete responses.  6,161 Generation Y students.  Attempt to better understand how generation Y access and use information. orts/2012/Researchers-of-Tomorrow.pdf

Two issues Why should generation Y be interested in OA? Are generation Y using OA? What are the barriers? 1 2

Why they should be interested 1. Inability to access research materials is a barrier to research. 2. Funder requirements. 3. Maximising research visibility. 4. Access and reuse of large data sets. 5. Depositing digital copies of theses.

A few questions…  Open access is scholarly publishing in an e-journal without any payment requirement to access and no, or limited, restrictions on use. True

A few questions…  Open access journals are not peer-reviewed. False

A few questions…  Journal articles in conventional, non-open access journals are not self-archived by their authors. False

Why generation Y have problems with Open Access 1. Lack of awareness of OA publishing options. 2. Misconceptions about OA and the quality of OA journals. 3. Poor understanding of intellectual property rules and copyright. 4. Lack of awareness of self-archiving options.

A few more questions…  Copyright is an automatic right and arises whenever an individual or company creates a work. True

A few more questions…  Copyright can protect my ideas. False

What can be done?  Be aware of what's available.  Full range of open access options for publication.  Open access options for archiving.  Know the important journals in your field.  Know your (copy)rights.  Ask publishers what you can do with your papers.  Consider expectations of your funders.  Consider self-archiving.  ORA is our on-line archive (Oxford Research Archive).

Where to get help.  Come to some of our other talks!  With publishing  Use tools like the JCR to discover journals and impact factors.  SHERPA Romeo/Juliet help you find journal policies on open access.  With self archiving  Visit the ORA website.  With copyright and IP  Librarians, ORA staff, Research Support.

Any questions? Images: Microsoft ClipArt collection

To be continued… Join us at the Lamb and Flag from 5 pm on Friday for more debate about Open Access (and beer).