1. Recent Developments in Open Access
The Library is leading the University’s Open Access project, running until 31st July 2013.
Helen Dobson & Caroline Martin
Research Services Librarians

2. Definition
“Open access (OA) literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.”
Suber, Peter. Open Access. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2012.
Standard definition of OA.
Peter Suber’s book is a great introduction to OA -
OA means that others can read research for free and also that machines can carry out text mining.
Common misconception that OA research doesn’t include peer-review – this is not true.

3. Open Access and the World Wide Web
OA is a natural consequence of the launch of the World Wide Web
What’s happening in academic publishing now is as radical as changes already seen in the music and film industry

4. Why Open Access … serials crisis
“The system is absurd, …. One year's subscription to The Journal of Comparative Neurology costs the same as 300 monographs. We simply cannot go on paying the increase in subscription prices.”
Robert Darnton, Director of Harvard Library, The Guardian newspaper. April, 2012.
The traditional journal publishing practice has turned into one of the most profitable businesses in the world.
Commercial publishers have controlled academic publishing for many years. Their insistence that libraries could not disclose cost of journal deals meant that the cost of publishing was not known by the academic community or the public at large.
The status quo has become unsustainable.

5. Serials crisis
“Harvard has one of the richest libraries in the world. If Harvard can't afford to purchase all the journals their researchers need, what hope do the rest of us have?”
David Prosser, Executive Director of RLUK, The Guardian newspaper. April, 2012.
UoM library currently spends around £4.5 million per year on subscriptions.
Smaller universities have been cancelling subscriptions for many years. Harvard began cancelling subscriptions recently.

6. The benefits of OA are many and varied
OA makes publicly funded research accessible to all (including the taxpayer)
OA provides access to researchers in institutions with smaller budgets than Manchester’s and to researchers in countries in the developing world
OA increase access to publicly funded research for individuals who can’t afford journal costs
OA increases access for practitioners, eg, nurses, doctors, social workers, teachers
OA increases visibility of research - studies indicate increased visibility → increased number of downloads → citations → more impact [

7. 2012 - Finch Report published
“Open Access Timeline,” ©2010 Project NECOBELAC, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License:
OA movement is not new
Researchers funded by Research Councils UK have been required to make papers since 2005 – previous policies weren’t strictly enforced
RCUK OA policies introduced
Finch Report published
Manchester eScholar launched
Wellcome Trust OA policy introduced

8. What Finch did Finch Working Group Funders Publishers
Research community
Librarians
The current UK government has an emphasis on openness and transparency
David Willetts (Minister for Universities and Science) requested formation of a working group, chaired by Dame Janet Finch.
Task was to recommend how “Expanding Access to Published Research Findings” might be achieved
Working group included representatives from all sectors with interest in academic publishing
UK government accepted Finch’s recommendations.
Each group has been preparing for OA since summer 2012

9. What’s new…? 1. Wellcome Trust introduced CC-BY licence requirement
2. RCUK introduced new Open Access Policy
New policies/requirements from RCUK [ and Wellcome Trust came into effect on 1st April 2013.
Wellcome Trust OA fund is now managed by the Library.
RCUK policy replaces existing weaker policies. One key change is how RCUK fund OA.
More policies mandating OA expected soon, including an institutional policy.
OA is an issue for all UoM researchers.

10. £824,459 RCUK institutional funding
RCUK’s policy favours Gold OA. In some cases there are costs associated with Gold OA. To pay OA fees, RCUK are allocating a block grant to institutions .
OA funding can no longer be costed into individual grants.
Library is managing this fund.
UoM allocation for (figure has been calculated based on Direct Labour Costs).
Same formula used to divide block grant between the 4 faculties.
This fund is for APCs, but can also be used for other publishing charges – publication fees, colour images, etc.
Centrally managing this fund means we can negotiate with publishers to obtain deals, pushing down costs for University and achieving best value.
The University also received funds from the government to support the transition to OA, and part of that money has been allocated for APC payments. We’re using that fund now and up until the end of July, and we can be more flexible with that money, ie, we can pay fees for non-RCUK funded authors.

11. RCUK institutional compliance
Year
Compliance Requirement
Number of Articles
45%
53%
RCUK policy refers to articles and conference proceedings.
RCUK accept that the transition to OA will be gradual, over 5 years, and expect funds to be redirected from subscriptions to APCs during this time.
During Year 1 the institutional target is 45% of total number of UoM RCUK-funded papers.
Funding allocated is enough to achieve compliance target. Compliance can be via gold or green. Green OA does not cost.
***Articles and conference proceedings***

12. Routes to Open Access
Two OA options. RCUK preference is for gold, but green acceptable: other funders prefer green.
Equal status accorded to green and gold at UoM. Other Universities are strongly in favour of green. Especially important for small institutions that don’t get block grant from RCUK.
Choice of OA route remains with researcher at UoM.
“One Way," © 2011 John Fraissinet, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 licence:

13. Publisher makes article Open Access Immediate Open Access
Key Characteristics
Green:
Gold:
Publisher makes article Open Access
Immediate Open Access
May require payment of APC
Author allows article to be Open Access via a repository
May be subject to embargo period
Free for author
How do researchers decide which route to choose?
Key characteristics might help researchers decide.
Journal OA options may dictate what researchers can to do achieve compliance.
Gold OA does not always require payment of an Article Processing Charge (APC) – this is sometimes referred to as Platinum OA.

14. Individual compliance (RCUK)
Licence?
Embargo?
Version?
Gold
CC-BY No
Green
CC-BY-NC
Yes – varies per funder & per publisher
Yes – varies per publisher
Policies specify conditions of compliance. Researchers should check funder requirements. This slide refers to RCUK compliance.
Typical requirements include deposit of paper in repository within specified time period (Green OA).
Funders may state their accepted embargo period, eg, RCUK will accept months for Humanities.
Funders may insist that final accepted version of paper is deposited (publishers don’t usually allow use of their edited version).
Licensing requirements are key new features of RCUK or WT OA policies. Creative Commons licences allow others to reuse research but require attribution to original author.
RCUK fund can only be used to pay APCs where journals are compliant, ie, offer CC-BY or equivalent licence, or acceptable embargo period.
Check SHERPA/RoMEO [ for journal green OA policies. Check SHERPA/JULIET [ for funder OA policies

15. Licensing Open Access Research
1. The principle of applying liberal licences is that others can reuse work without delay of applying to publisher for permissions, author sets out terms of use clearly.
2. Funders see benefits of research they pay for being reusable by other researchers, and of machines being able to text mine content, which improves search tools ability to find research.

16. Achieving Green Open Access
Institutional repository
Subject repository
1. There are no costs to the researcher associated with Green OA
2. Authors can deposit articles in an institutional repository [ or a discipline specific repository

17. Traditional publishers
Commercial publishers have responded to Finch by offering new options on their subscription journals. Most journals within publisher portfolios are now ‘hybrid’ journals.
Authors can pay an APC to make a paper OA or publish in the traditional way. Some content is immediately OA and freely available to readers while some content remains behind a subscription/toll barrier.
58% of Manchester researcher is published with these 14 publishers. Most authors will not have to change where they publish to comply with their funder’s OA policy.
The Library needs to ensure that as more papers are OA within these publisher portfolios, subscription charges decrease.

18. Innovations in publishing
The OA model offers new opportunities to aspiring journal publishers frustrated with the traditional model.
New models have been emerging and some are already well established.
Megajournals, eg, PLoS ONE may threaten future of niche journals.

19. 1. The Library has created an online guide to OA.
2. See the Factsheet for the University’s position on OA. [
3. See the FAQ for common questions about OA. [

20. Further information h www.manchester.ac.uk/openaccess
Dedicated Support Service S
Support from the Library will continue post-project.
RCUK and WT funded authors can check if their journal of choice is compliant with their funder’s policy by using SHERPA/FACT. SHERPA/JULIET provides information on other funder’s OA policies. SHERPA/RoMEO provides information on publisher Green OA policies.

21. What will the future look like?
Things are changing so quickly that the future is difficult to predict.
The University has agreed overarching principles.
The OA project is designing processes and guidance materials.
Researchers should raise questions with School Research Directors, to help inform future decisions.
“Puzzle Pieces” ©2006, Trevor Pritchard, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence:

22. Any questions?