From: Colin Steele <[log in to unmask]> Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2018 01:59:18 +0000 An interesting short piece from Research Fortnight Colin Think differently on open access, UKRI told Research Fortnight, 28 March 2018 Advocates of publishing reform are pushing UK Research and Innovation to tighten up on journal spending. Since 2013, the research councils have provided a block grant to ensure that the research they fund is freely accessible, either immediately or shortly after publication. Much of the grant is spent on ‘hybrid’ journals, which charge readers for subscriptions but also accept article-processing charges (APCs) from authors to make specific papers free to access. “Very few people are looking at the UK and thinking that what we’ve done is a good idea,” said Danny Kingsley, deputy director, scholarly communication, at the University of Cambridge Library. “Nobody else has thrown millions of extra pounds into the system.” UKRI is reviewing its policy on open access. Its head Mark Walport said in February that the review would ensure the UK’s approach was “financially sustainable” and delivered “maximum impact for taxpayers”. The Wellcome Trust is also reviewing its own policies. Reformers sense an opportunity in these developments. The UKRI review needs to start with a proper discussion of its policy’s greater goal, Kingsley said. Open-access compliance is seen as success, she said, “but that isn’t an end in itself”. If the aim is to improve public engagement, that needs to be measured, she added. Block grants were intended to incentivise publishers to flip to exclusively open-access models, but “all that has happened is that publishers receive monies for subscriptions and for APCs”, said Paul Ayris, pro viceprovost for library services at University College London. Ayris wants UKRI to introduce caps on the charges. The average cost of APCs at UCL is £1,500 per article, he said, and the cap should be no higher than that. As part of UKRI’s review, Walport has said the agency could consider preventing block grant spending on any hybrid journals. Publishers favour other options, arguing that disinvesting in hybrid journals would restrict authors’ freedom to publish in the journals of their choice. Carrie Calder, vice-president for open research at publisher Springer Nature, points to the Springer Compact, a deal that offsets universities’ APCs against journal subscriptions. Kingsley agreed funding for hybrid journals should be predicated on such offsetting agreements. --------------------------------------------- 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 P: + 61 2 6125 8983 <+61%202%206125%208983> E: [log in to unmask]