SN22: Introduction to Open Access Publishing for Research Administrators and Managers

SN22: Introduction to Open Access Publishing for Research Administrators and Managers

Matthew Cockerill, Publisher, BioMed CentralNeil Thakur, Special Assistant to the Deputy Director for Extramural Research, NIH

Heather Joseph, Executive Director, SPARC Ian Carter, Chair, Association of Research Managers and Administrators

A brief introduction to Open Access

Matthew CockerillPublisher, BioMed Central

Why is Open Access important?

The internet makes it possible to share research results universally

In an online environment, nearly all publishing costs are ‘first copy’ costs

Cost of distribution is negligible Researchers want to share their

research as widely as possible Eliminating access barriers is a natural

way to achieve this

Two paths towards Open Access

Gold OA Publishing in an open access journal – Fully OA journals

e.g. BioMed Central, Public Library of Science etc– Optional OA in traditional journals

(now offered by many major publishers) Green OA

Depositing articles in an OA repositorySubject repositories– PubMed Central– UK PubMed Central– ArXiV

Institutional repositories–DSpace–Eprints–Fedora–Open Repository

The two forms of open access are complementary

Deposit of embargoed manuscript versions is a useful stepping stone

Open access publishing – ensures official final version can be deposited

immediately– addresses concern that OA deposit will lead to

subscription cancellations / undermine peer review Funders are requiring OA archiving, and

taking active steps to encourage and facilitate OA publishing

How do the traditional and Open Access publishing models

compare?

Traditional research publishing

The research community transfers the rights to the research

The publisher resells access rights to cover costs

Open Access research publishing

The publisher is paid for the service of publication

There are no barriers to access

Definition of Open Access(Bethesda Statement, 2003)

Freely available via the internet Licensed to allow redistribution

and reuse Permanently archived in

multiple international repositories

Benefits of OA for authors Maximizes potential readership Articles are widely accessible via

aggregators, indexing services, search engines etc.

Breaks down barriers between fields Promotes public understanding of

scientific and medical research Allow literature and data to be mined

Open Access has grown rapidly to become part of the mainstream

Growth of OA publishing in BioMed Central’s journals

Open Access is not evenly spread!

Open Access publishing,then and now…

20082000

And more…

Open Access journals have already established excellent reputations

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OA Publication Fees

What do OA publication fees cover?

Open access publishing is not without costs

Publication fees need to cover costs– Editorial– Technical– Production– Customer services– Marketing (e.g. conference attendance)

Typical OA publication fees BioMed Central $1700 Public Library of Science $2100 Company of Biologists $3100 Oxford University Press $2700 Royal Society $3000 Springer $3000 Taylor & Francis $3250 Wiley $3000

Who pays OA publication fees?

Authors may pay out of grant funds Some funders provide dedicated funds

for open access publishing costs Institutions may cover costs centrally

(via open access funds and/or membership arrangements with OA publishers)

Some journals are run by organizations which cover costs themselves

Does Open Access offer good value compared to traditional publishing?

Oxford University Press datahttp://www.oxfordjournals.org/news/oa_workshop.html

Nucleic Acids Research received $3000-$4000 of subscription revenue per article published

Comparable to the amount charged by traditional publishers for their OA options

OA publishers like BMC charge substantially less OA publication fees make costs much more transparent,

and authors can choose between alternative options This guards against over-pricing

I. Cost per article published

II. Cost per article download

Studies have shown that open access, unsurprisingly, leads to a significantly increased number of downloads compared to the traditional model

This helps make open access a much more cost-effective way to disseminate research results

Funder policies on Open Access

NIH Public Access Policy

UK PubMed Central funders

HHMI Policy

Funders have a key role in the transition to open access

A fully Open Access publication system is no more expensive than the traditional model

But libraries can’t easily free up their budgets Funders are breaking this stalemate In biomedical research areas, the cost of

publication is estimated to be only around 1% of the cost of carrying out the research

A tiny fraction of the indirect research costs from funders can cover the full cost of sharing the results of that work

Progress towards open access needs coordinated action

Research Funders Research Administrators Librarians Faculty

Centrally managed funds for Open Access publication charges

Harvard University

Interview with Stuart Shieber, head of Harvard’s Office of Scholarly Communication

Stuart Shieber’s goal is to see OA journals exist on “equal footing” with subscription-based journals.

Authors don’t get underwriting help from the library when they publish in OA journals, while they do from publishing in subscription-based journalsTo put OA and subscription journals on a “level playing field” you’d want to underwrite OA journals just as you do subscription journals.

May 29th 2008

BioMed Central membership Prepay membership

– Institution pays funds into a deposit account– Article Processing Charge is covered by funds from

account– Discount depending on deposit amount– Author does not have to pay– Simplified administration/reporting

Supporter membership– Institutions pay a flat fee– Authors pay a discounted Article Processing Charge

160+ Prepay Members

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160+ Supporter Members