[LIS-Forum] OA for publicly funded research - the German example

[Subbiah Arunachalam]

Friends:

We in India will do well to go one step beyond this model from Germany and follow the Wellcome Trust policy of mandating OA for all publicly funded research! Please read Peter Suber's comment at the end of this mail. Best regards.

Arun
[Subbiah Arunachalam] 

-------------------------

From Peter Suber's blog

OA to publicly-funded research in Germany 

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation, DFG) has adopted some Open Access Guidelines that encourage grantees to provide OA to DFG-funded research. (Thanks to Ingegerd Rabow.) From the press release (January 30, 2006):
  In 2003 the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) signed the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities. The DFG supports the culture of open access. Unhindered access to publications increases the distribution of scientific knowledge, thereby enhancing the authors' visibility and contributing to their reputations. 
  The DFG has now tied open access into its funding policy. During their meetings in January 2006, the DFG's Senate and Joint Committee recommended encouraging funded scientists to also digitally publish their results and make them available via open access. In order to put secondary publications (i.e. self-archived publications by which the authors provide their scientific work on the internet for free following conventional publication) on the proper legal footing, scientists involved in DFG-funded projects are also requested to reserve the exploitation rights. Recommendations are currently being integrated into the usage guidelines, which form an integral part of every approval. They are worded as follows: 

    "The DFG expects the research results funded by it to be published and to be made available, where possible, digitally and on the internet via open access. To achieve this, the contributions involved should either be published in discipline-specific or institutional electronic archives (repositories), or directly in referenced or recognised open access journals, in addition to conventional publishing. When entering into publishing contracts scientists participating in DFG-funded projects should, as far as possible, permanently reserve a non-exclusive right of exploitation for electronic publication of their research results for the purpose of open access. Here, discipline-specific delay periods of generally 6-12 months can be agreed upon, before which publication of previously published research results in discipline-specific or institutional electronic archives may be prohibited. Please ensure that a note indicating support of the project by the DFG is included in the publication." 
  The revised usage guidelines are expected to be available in April 2006. 

Comment. It's a breakthrough for the DFG to incorporate its commitment to OA into its funding policy. On the other hand, it's ironic that it has proposed a policy like the NIH's, which merely encourages grantees to make their work OA, at a time when the NIH is documenting that mere encouragement does not work. I hope the DFG will read the NIH's January 2006 report to Congress, in which it shows that only 3.8% of its grantees have complied with its request or encouragement in the first eight months under the policy. The most effective way to assure OA to the results of DFG-funded research is to mandate it. Two good examples are the draft RCUK policy, not yet adopted, and the Wellcome Trust policy, in effect since October 2005.
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Friends:
 
We in India will do well to go one step beyond this model from Germany and follow the Wellcome Trust policy of mandating OA for all publicly funded research! Please read Peter Suber's comment at the end of this mail. Best regards.
 
Arun
[Subbiah Arunachalam]
 
 
-------------------------
 
From Peter Suber's blog
 
OA to publicly-funded research in Germany
http://www.dfg.de/en/ Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
(German Research Foundation, DFG) has adopted some http://www.dfg.de/en/news/information_science_research/other_news/info_wissenschaft_04_06.html Open Access Guidelines
that encourage grantees to provide OA to DFG-funded research. (Thanks to Ingegerd Rabow.) From the http://www.dfg.de/en/news/information_science_research/other_news/info_wissenschaft_04_06.html press release
(January 30, 2006):
In 2003 the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) signed the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities. The DFG supports the culture of open access. Unhindered access to publications increases the distribution of scientific knowledge, thereby enhancing the authors' visibility and contributing to their reputations.
The DFG has now tied open access into its funding policy. During their meetings in January 2006, the DFG’s Senate and Joint Committee recommended encouraging funded scientists to also digitally publish their results and make them available via open access. In order to put secondary publications (i.e. self-archived publications by which the authors provide their scientific work on the internet for free following conventional publication) on the proper legal footing, scientists involved in DFG-funded projects are also requested to reserve the exploitation rights. Recommendations are currently being integrated into the usage guidelines, which form an integral part of every approval. They are worded as follows:
"The DFG expects the research results funded by it to be published and to be made available, where possible, digitally and on the internet via open access. To achieve this, the contributions involved should either be published in discipline-specific or institutional electronic archives (repositories), or directly in referenced or recognised open access journals, in addition to conventional publishing. When entering into publishing contracts scientists participating in DFG-funded projects should, as far as possible, permanently reserve a non-exclusive right of exploitation for electronic publication of their research results for the purpose of open access. Here, discipline-specific delay periods of generally 6-12 months can be agreed upon, before which publication of previously published research results in discipline-specific or institutional electronic archives may be prohibited. Please ensure that a note indicating support of the project by the DFG is included in the publication."
The revised usage guidelines are expected to be available in April 2006.
Comment
. It's a breakthrough for the DFG to incorporate its commitment to OA into its funding policy. On the other hand, it's ironic that it has proposed a policy like the NIH's, which merely encourages grantees to make their work OA, at a time when the NIH is documenting that http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2006_02_12_fosblogarchive.html#114010172443964693 mere encouragement does not work
. I hope the DFG will read the http://publicaccess.nih.gov/Final_Report_20060201.pdf NIH's January 2006 report to Congress
, in which it shows that only 3.8% of its grantees have complied with its request or encouragement in the first eight months under the policy. The most effective way to assure OA to the results of DFG-funded research is to mandate it. Two good examples are the http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/access/index.asp draft RCUK policy
, not yet adopted, and the http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/doc_WTD002766.html Wellcome Trust policy
, in effect since October 2005.