1 Researchers’ institutional support for OA publication costs

2 Background Question What can your institution do to support OA publishing, when costs occur? –Exemplified by Bielefeld University research-intensive university: x-1000 pub. p/A –Local effects of large scale initiatives BMC, OpenChoice-Deals (, Compact?, …) –But mainly: the simple and the little things

3 A Short Local History OA-Resolution in 7/2005 Massive repository activities All kinds of dispersed OA-Activities –Managed by researchers themselves BMC: Prepay membership library –Dramatic increase: 2003 (2) to 2008 (50) –Significant share of local WoS-corpus (Even without medical faculty) - PubLister - OAI-Mining - ECO4R

4 Idea: „OA Publication Funds“ Crystallization point for all processes at the institution related to OA fees –support questions, money flows, invoices… –researchers, administration, library, publishers … Lower financial, psychological and administrative barriers Embedded in publication services family –OA repositories, journal platforms, DOIs/URNs

5 OA Publication Funds: Principles Non-Invasive > authors‘ decisions untouched Help the poor! > declaration of inability to pay Sustainable business > hybrid OA if(f) transparent subscription discount Cost effective > lightweight administration First come, first serve > budget limitation Disciplinary balanced > specials for humanities

6 OA Publication Funds: Timeline Start of the one-year pilot in 10/2008 –Feel out the potential / defining the rules –No large-scale announcements / active infos Interim Evaluation –Around 30 claims, 50% approved –Plus ~50 for BioMedCentral and the dispersed –Many interesting side effects Prolongation for 2010 and beyond approved

7 Process Request during publ.-prep. Initial consultation (e.g. phone) Claim (written, e.g. ) Check (maybe enquiryCall) Notification (e.g. ) Decision Regular publication preps. Publication process Invoice reception Invoice distribution Payment author library publisher Terms & Conditions for OA publ. Researchers‘ extra work: approx. one phone call and two s

8 Experiences and Anecdotes Who asks what? –Health Science, Biology &Technical Faculty but also Philosophy –Mainly pure OA journals but sometimes also hybrid journals –Other interesting projects arose, e.g. OA conversion of a journal Problems and reasons for refusal –Unclear affiliation (shared payment models) –Statement of financial shortage not convincing –Hybrid journals / Unclear scholarly status of journal Does it change the (micro-) world of research? –Submission biases ? Limited, intended and transitional!

9 Future of the OA-Funds Strategic effects –Enriches researchers‘ support opportunities –Helps focusing processes around OA –Helps structuring negotiation with publishers & administration Future work with publisher‘s contracts –Hybrid publishing (subscription/OA) ex post subscription discount based on OA costs (e.g. Springer?) ex ante OA discount based on subscriptions (e.g. OUP) –OA-Publishing: BMC, PLoS, NAR etc. Future local work –Relation “Acquisition::OA-Funds::Institution” –OA ‚projects‘ for humanities –Dedicated awareness raising for researchers

10 Thanks! - PubLister - OAI-Mining - ECO4R