RCUK Research Outcomes Reporting Discussion

This short session looked at concerns with the new research outcomes reporting system that is currently being developed for reporting of outcomes from RCUK awards

ARMA Open Access Problem Solving Workshop June 2014

This document is an informal summary of the Open Access Problem Solving Workshop which took place at the 2014 ARMA annual conference

OpenDOAR : the Directory of Open Access Repositories

The last year has seen wide-spread growth in the idea of using open access repositories as a part of a research institution's accepted infrastructure. Policy development from institutions and funding bodies has also supported the growth of the repository network. The next stage of expansion will be in the provision of services and cross-repository facilities and resources. Of course, it is hoped that these will then establish a feed-back loop to encourage repository population and further repository establishment, as the potential of open access to research materials is realised. The growth of repositories has been organic, with a variety of different repositories based in departments, institutions, funding agencies or subject communities, with a range of content, both in type and subject. Existing repositories are expanding their holdings, from eprints to associated research data-sets, or with learning objects and multimedia material. This presentation will look at the development of the Directory of Open Access Repositories, OpenDOAR, and the way we intend to clarify the overall picture of repositories and their holdings. In providing this information, OpenDOAR should act as a bridge between data providers and service providers in analysing and listing repositories and facilitate the interchange needed to establish services. It will look at OpenDOAR's place as one of a number of registers of open access sources and repository based services and the scope of its initial survey of repositories. OpenDOAR is intended to help repository administrators in providing a better service for their users and facilitating repository growth. We will be asking what help we can give to repository administrators and to service providers to facilitate the development of innovative services like search, access, analysis and linking of repository holdings

The library as a virtual research environment

Intervention à la 33e conférence générale annuelle de la Ligue des bibliothèques européennes de recherche (Liber)

RoMEO Studies 8: self-archiving: the logic behind the colour-coding used in the Copyright Knowledge Bank

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to show how the self-archiving of journal papers is a major step towards providing open access to research. However, copyright transfer agreements (CTAs) that are signed by an author prior to publication often indicate whether, and in what form, self-archiving is allowed. The SHERPA/RoMEO database enables easy access to publishers' policies in this area and uses a colour-coding scheme to classify publishers according to their self-archiving status. The database is currently being redeveloped and renamed the Copyright Knowledge Bank. However, it will still assign a colour to individual publishers indicating whether pre-prints can be self-archived (yellow), post-prints can be self-archived (blue), both pre-print and post-print can be archived (green) or neither (white). The nature of CTAs means that these decisions are rarely as straightforward as they may seem, and this paper describes the thinking and considerations that were used in assigning these colours in the light of the underlying principles and definitions of open access. Approach – Detailed analysis of a large number of CTAs led to the development of controlled vocabulary of terms which was carefully analysed to determine how these terms equate to the definition and “spirit” of open access. Findings – The paper reports on how conditions outlined by publishers in their CTAs, such as how or where a paper can be self-archived, affect the assignment of a self-archiving colour to the publisher. Value – The colour assignment is widely used by authors and repository administrators in determining whether academic papers can be self-archived. This paper provides a starting-point for further discussion and development of publisher classification in the open access environment

ARMA Open Access Problem Solving Workshop June 2014

This document is an informal summary of the Open Access Problem Solving Workshop which took place at the 2014 ARMA annual conference

SHERPA and Institutional Repositories

The SHERPA project (Securing a Hybrid Environment for Research Preservation and Access) has been set up to encourage change in the scholarly communication process by creating open-access institutional "e-print" repositories for the dissemination of research findings. This article looks at the terminology involved with such repositories and at the issues that such repositories raise for their construction and use. It reviews the advantages of having an institutional basis for a repository and identifies the key issues that have arisen so far in project work

Reviews

Teaching and Learning Materials and the Internet by Ian Forsyth, London: Kogan Page, 1996. ISBN: 0–7494‐ 20596. 181 pages, paperback. £18.99

Current issues in research communications: open access and the research economy - 1st report to JISC, March 2010

This report identifies some significant issues in the practice of research communication, with special reference to methods of promoting open access to research outputs. In particular it addresses the following questions: • Can open access offer financial benefit to HE institutions and to the wider economy? • How can the costs of open access publication be met by research funders and/or institutions? • What is the role of an institutional repository in the management of research across an institution