[LIS-Forum] Scotland favours open access

[Subbiah Arunachalam]

Scottish universities sign open access deal 

Polly Curtis, education correspondent (The Guardian, UK)
Monday March 14, 2005 

Scottish university heads have agreed to make their academic research more freely available to one another in a bid to bypass the costly fees for publishing in journals. 
The new Scottish Declaration on Open Access is the latest in a series of challenges by universities to break the stranglehold of the major academic publishers which costs taxpayers millions of pounds a year. Publicly funded universities have to pay to have their academics' work assessed for publication, then again to read the journals. 

The declaration commits each of its 16 university signatories to setting up online libraries of research findings and doctorate papers which all academics can access. 

Universities will also look into developing a joint repository for academic work and some will make it mandatory for academics to publish their work on an open access basis. Funders of research are also considering how they can encourage recipients of their grants to publish their work on an open access basis. 

Timothy O'Shea, principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, said: "The University of Edinburgh wants to ensure that its research is as visible as possible within Scotland, the UK and the world. This open access initiative provides an important route to deliver this." 

Sheila Cannell, the director of library services at the university, added: "We would like to see publicly funded research being publicly available rather than locked up in academic journals." 

Derek Law, university librarian at the University of Strathclyde said: "There is now clear evidence that open access articles are more frequently cited. If Scottish-based research is made available through open access it will be cited more, which means it will by definition be read more. 

"The hope is that this will in turn lead both to a positive cycle of increased research funding and also to increased inward investment as business recognises the added value of a powerful research base." 

Last year MPs on the Commons science and technology committee select committee condemned the rising costs to the taxpayer of publishing and accessing research. They backed new methods whereby the author pays a one-off fee and access is free. But the government rejected this method after what was believed to be a concerted lobby effort by journal publishers. 

Scottish Declaration on Open Access signatories:
Glasgow Caledonian University
Heriot-Watt University
Napier University
National Library of Scotland
Open University
Queen Margaret University College
Robert Gordon University
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
Scottish Agricultural College
Scottish Crop Research Institute
Scottish Library and Information Council
University of Aberdeen
University of Abertay Dundee
University of Dundee
University of Edinburgh
University of Glasgow
University of Paisley
University of St Andrews
University of Stirling
University of Strathclyde



-------------- next part --------------
Scottish universities sign open access deal
Polly Curtis, education correspondent (The Guardian, UK)
Monday March 14, 2005
Scottish university heads have agreed to make their academic research more freely available to one another in a bid to bypass the costly fees for publishing in journals.
The new Scottish Declaration on Open Access is the latest in a series of challenges by universities to break the stranglehold of the major academic publishers which costs taxpayers millions of pounds a year. Publicly funded universities have to pay to have their academics' work assessed for publication, then again to read the journals.
The declaration commits each of its 16 university signatories to setting up online libraries of research findings and doctorate papers which all academics can access.
Universities will also look into developing a joint repository for academic work and some will make it mandatory for academics to publish their work on an open access basis. Funders of research are also considering how they can encourage recipients of their grants to publish their work on an open access basis.
Timothy O'Shea, principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, said: "The University of Edinburgh wants to ensure that its research is as visible as possible within Scotland, the UK and the world. This open access initiative provides an important route to deliver this."
Sheila Cannell, the director of library services at the university, added: "We would like to see publicly funded research being publicly available rather than locked up in academic journals."
Derek Law, university librarian at the University of Strathclyde said: "There is now clear evidence that open access articles are more frequently cited. If Scottish-based research is made available through open access it will be cited more, which means it will by definition be read more.
"The hope is that this will in turn lead both to a positive cycle of increased research funding and also to increased inward investment as business recognises the added value of a powerful research base."
Last year MPs on the Commons science and technology committee select committee condemned the rising costs to the taxpayer of publishing and accessing research. They backed new methods whereby the author pays a one-off fee and access is free. But the government rejected this method after what was believed to be a concerted lobby effort by journal publishers.
Scottish Declaration on Open Access signatories:
Glasgow Caledonian University
Heriot-Watt University
Napier University
National Library of Scotland
Open University
Queen Margaret University College
Robert Gordon University
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
Scottish Agricultural College
Scottish Crop Research Institute
Scottish Library and Information Council
University of Aberdeen
University of Abertay Dundee
University of Dundee
University of Edinburgh
University of Glasgow
University of Paisley
University of St Andrews
University of Stirling
University of Strathclyde