Medical research charities and open access

This paper provides an analysis of the attitudes and activities of UK medical research charities in relation to open access (OA). Both quantitative and qualitative data are presented derived from a recent survey of charities covering areas such as policy development, funding arrangements, and business process design for OA. Positions on key issues including green and gold OA, funding article-processing charges (APCs), and publication licences are assessed. Modelling of potential APCs as a percentage of overall annual research spend is undertaken to show possible costs of a charged for gold system. Medical research charities clearly regard OA as important and some see it as an opportunity to further their mission. However, many expressed significant concerns particularly about the costs and expertise required to support OA. Further co-ordination of policy development and action across the sector and with other stakeholders is recommended in order to help ensure optimal implementation of OA

Regulatory Issues in Biosecurity

The management of biosecurity risks (risks to the production sector, to indigenous biodiversity, and to public health) involves the exercise of extensive regulatory powers both at the border and within New Zealand. This paper reviews the Biosecurity Act 1993, paying particular attention to its requirements for risk analysis and decision-making. These are generally of a high standard. Requirements at the border are significantly influenced by New Zealand’s trading obligations and opportunities. Requirements for domestic pest management strategies are elaborate but can be sidestepped. Cost recovery practices for biosecurity differ widely and have been controversial.biosecurity, pests, regulation, risk management, cost recovery

Research data management and libraries: Current activities and future priorities

This paper reports research carried out at the end of 2012 to survey UK universities to understand in detail the ways in which libraries are currently involved in research data management (RDM) and the extent to which the development of RDM services is a strategic priority for them. The research shows that libraries were offering limited RDM services, with highest levels of activity in large research-intensive institutions. There were major challenges associated with skills gaps, resourcing and cultural change. However, libraries are currently involved in developing new institutional RDM policies and services, and see this as an important part of their future role. Priorities such as provision of RDM advisory and training services are emerging. A systematic comparison between these results and other recent studies is made in order to create a full picture of activities and trends. An innovation hype-cycle framework is deployed to understand possible futures and Abbott’s theory of professions is used to gain an insight into how libraries are competing to extend their jurisdiction whilst at the same time working collaboratively with other stakeholders

Enabling authors to pay for open access: the gold open access market and the role of an institutional central fund

Having tracked and analysed the usage data of one university’s central open access fund over an eight year period, Stephen Pinfield shares findings from a detailed case study of the paid-for Gold Open Access market. Mandates, particularly if accompanied by funding, have played a very important role in encouraging uptake of Gold OA. Communication was a crucial factor in making potential users of the fund aware of its existence and in helping to change perceptions of OA in general

Creating institutional e-print repositories

This article aims to address three questions: What are �institutional e-print repositories�? Why create them? How can they be created

A mandate to self archive? The role of open access institutional repositories

This paper argues that the best way to achieve major improvements in scholarly communication in the short and medium term is to make it mandatory to deposit research papers in open access institutional repositories. This is what the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee report of 2004 on scientific publishing recommended. The paper defines what open access repositories are and explains why they should be institutional. It also deals with question of what should be deposited in institutional repositories and why these improve scholarly communication. It then deals with the issue of mandating deposition: why deposition should be mandatory, who should mandate deposition and who should carry out deposition. The paper concludes with an analysis of the wider implications of mandating deposition in institutional repositories and a summary of the existing situation in the UK and elsewhere. The paper discusses the Select Committee report and the UK Government response in relation to institutional repositories

A Wel(l)come development: research funders and open access

This paper discusses the implications of the Wellcome Trust agreement with Blackwell, OUP and Springer in which authors of accepted papers are able to pay an open-access publication charge to make their article freely available online. In bringing together flexible licence terms and clear funding streams, the agreement has the potential to be used as a way of migrating towards possible new business models for journal publishing. It also has the potential, if implemented more widely, to deliver greater open access in such a way as to work in the interests of a broad range of stakeholders

The use of theory in research relating to open access: practitioner perspectives

The relationship between theory and practice has long been considered problematic for many applied academic disciplines. In this short paper we report preliminary findings from a two‐year research project investigating the ways and the extent that theory and practice have interacted in the development of open‐access (OA) approaches to the publishing and dissemination of research outputs. Based on interviews with practitioners and researchers working on OA related issues, we explore the ways in which theory is (and isn't) of value to practice. We find that while practitioners acknowledge that theory has the potential to improve understanding, bestow credibility on work, and codify existing knowledge about OA, they also perceive it as “mood music” to the practical work of OA, lacking explicit links to action

Researchers’ adoption of an institutional central fund for open-access article-processing charges: a case study using innovation diffusion theory

This article analyzes researchers’ adoption of an institutional central fund (or faculty publication fund) for open-access (OA) article-processing charges (APCs) to contribute to a wider understanding of take-up of OA journal publishing (“Gold” OA). Quantitative data, recording central fund usage at the University of Nottingham from 2006 to 2014, are analyzed alongside qualitative data from institutional documentation. The importance of the settings of U.K. national policy developments and international OA adoption trends are considered. Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) is used as an explanatory framework. It is shown that use of the central fund grew during the period from covering less than 1% of the University’s outputs to more than 12%. Health and Life Sciences disciplines made greatest use of the fund. Although highly variable, average APC prices rose during the period, with fully OA publishers setting lower average APCs. APCs were paid largely from internal funds, but external funding became increasingly important. Key factors in adoption are identified to be increasing awareness and changing perceptions of OA, communication, disciplinary differences, and adoption mandates. The study provides a detailed longitudinal analysis of one of the earliest central funds to be established globally with a theoretically informed explanatory model to inform future work on managing central funds and developing institutional and national OA policies