Danny Kingsley provides a refreshing realpolitik view of the 2012 Finch Report which took Britain down the Gold Open Access route at arguably, a very heavy price. Professor Adam Tickell, the Vice Chancellor of Sussex University, who has written the Foreword for the UK December 2017 OA report below, was of course on the Finch Committee, which was supported by Dr Michael Jubb in the Secretariat. The Report was arguably more heavily influenced by publishers than by academics and certainly not by librarians.

Best

Colin

 

Citation

Kingsley, D. (2017). So did it work? Considering the impact of Finch 5 years on [Presentation file].   

Abstract

Looking at different open access policies it becomes clear that the institutions and funders behind them ‘believe’ that open access will benefit research and society. With the publication of the Finch Report in 2012, the UK embarked on one of the most expensive open access experiments in the world with the RCUK Open Access Policy. This was with the goal of increasing access to UK research and acting as a transition for journals ‘flipping’ to an open access model. So how has it gone? Certainly more UK research is openly accessible but publishers are no closer to flipping. In fact, it could be argued that the main outcome of the RCUK policy transition period is that it has given large publishers time and space to adapt their practices. Manipulation of embargo periods, confusing information, and a graduated charging system for different licenses all work towards ensuring a second income stream. Far from moving to an open access future we seem to be trapped in a worse situation than we started. It is time to move away from belief – let’s consider the evidence.

 

https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/269913

 

Danny concludes her presentation with the dot points:

·       No other country has joined the push for gold OA

·       We have spent literally millions on hybrid articles

·       Journals have not flipped and are unlikely to (but if Germany rejects Elsevier maybe there is hope, CS)

·       We now have a considerably more complex system in relation to embargos (very expensive in terms of manpower)

 

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Monitoring the transition to open access: December 2017 (52 page report)

The proportion of UK research which is available via open access is increasing at a considerable rate, with 37% of research outputs freely available to the world immediately at publication.

​​This report, the second in a series commissioned by the Universities UK Open Access Coordination Group, aims to build on previous findings, and to examine trends over the period since the major funders of research in the UK established new policies to promote open access.​

The research was delivered by a partnership involving Research Consulting, the University of Sheffield and Elsevier, and was led by Jubb Consulting​.

Foreword by Professor Adam Tickell, Vice-Chancellor of University of Sussex

The UK research base is one of our nation’s greatest assets. The quality of our research outputs is world-leading, and our researchers are among the most productive of any nation. Their expertise is also highly diverse, multidisciplinary, and increasingly collaborative. Individually and collectively, we should value the UK’s contribution to the advancement of knowledge, and be proud of its real-world impact.

To respond to pressing issues such as social harmony, human prosperity, and the very security of our planet’s ecosystem, it is vitally important that all research – in any discipline – is of the highest standard, is open to wide critique, and is accessible to everyone, from anywhere with an internet connection, for free. It is also what we should expect from public investment in research.

It is therefore right that we are undergoing a transition towards open access (OA) in the UK, and as this report shows, we are increasing the proportion of our research which is available via open access at a considerable rate. We now make 37% of our outputs freely available to the world immediately at publication, and this increases to 53% after 24 months.

The UK is well above global averages of open access publishing, and is at the forefront of a significant global movement which is fundamentally changing the way that research is conceived, conducted, disseminated and rewarded. We owe this success to the various stakeholders involved at every stage of the scholarly communications process, for their dedicated work in support this important transition.

These stakeholders include (but are not limited to): academics; research support staff; librarians; technicians and infrastructure providers; university leaders; the national and research funding councils; charitable funders of research; the national academies; learned and professional societies; publishers; and of course, members of the public.

Through a collaborative and constructive approach to aligning efforts, we have all contributed to advancing open access – and it is clear that such engagement will continue to be important to ensure that the transition to open access is maintained, is financially sustainable, and that the benefits to research and to society are maximised.

To that end, I would like to extend my thanks to Dr Michael Jubb and his colleagues for the rigorous analysis presented in this report, and to the members of the Universities UK Open Access Coordination Group and the organisations they represent, without whom this timely, authoritative – and openly available – report would not exist.

http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Documents/2017/monitoring-transition-open-access-2017.pdf

 

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From the UK Bookseller.

Note the APC prices quoted and that expenditure on APC’s is rising faster than expenditure on subscriptions.

 

And what about double-dipping?

Thirty-seven per cent of UK-authored research articles were made freely available to the world immediately on publication last year, via Open Access, according to a report from Universities UK's Open Access Co-ordination Group.

Meanwhile a total of 53% of UK-authored research articles in 2016 were available after 24 months, a research report, titled "Monitoring the Transition to Open Access", found.

The UK's totals far outweigh the global figures, which show just 24% of research freely available immediately and 32% after 24 months.

The report found overall spend on Article Processing Charges (APCs) rising, as well as APC prices, with the mean average APC payment rising from £1,699 in 2013 to £1,969 in 2016, a 16% rise. Expenditure on APCs is rising faster than expenditure on subscription, the report found. Tracking expenditure for a group of 10 universities and a sample of seven publishers, the expenditure on subscriptions rose 20% over the four-year period (from £13.4m to £16.1m), but expenditure on APCs rose fourfold, though from a much smaller base (from £689,000 to £2.7m). Total expenditure across subscription and APCs rose by nearly one third (from £14.1m to £18.8m).

 

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

Colin Steele
Emeritus Fellow

ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences

The Australian National University

Room 3.31, Beryl Rawson Building #13

Acton, ACT, 2601
Australia

 

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