The Institutional Repository: Will It Achieve Wide Acceptance?

In a recent article in Nature News (Sept. 9, 2009) titled "Data Sharing: Empty Archives," examples are given of institutional repositories (IRs) which have not gained acceptance among researchers. To some degree, whether or not a scientist will deposit his or her work in an IR depends upon the common practice of their particular discipline. But in many research areas the adage "build it and they will come" has not proven to be the case.

The article also provides a number of examples of efforts to encourage data sharing as well as reasons why such sharing is beneficial to researchers. Copyright concerns, privacy rights of study participants, and sufficient funding for technology can slow or halt progress toward open access to data. Successful use of IRs may ultimately depend on the backing of the major players:

Perhaps not surprisingly, data-sharing advocates say, the power to prod researchers towards openness and consistency rests largely with those who have always had the most clout in science: the funding agencies, which can demand data sharing in return for support; the scientific societies, which can establish it as a precedent; and the journals, which can make sharing a condition of publication.

More and More Students are Advocating for Open Access

The student Right to Research Coalition, a body that advocates for increased Open Access to research results, now represents over 5 million students internationally. From SPARC's 15 October's press release:

The student Right to Research Coalition, a group of national, international, and local student associations that advocate for governments, universities, and researchers to adopt Open Access practices, has now grown to include some of the most prominent student organizations from the United States and across the world. The recent addition of 8 new organizations brings the number of students represented by the coalition to over 5 million, demonstrating the broad, passionate support Open Access enjoys from the student community. . . .

“The incredible growth of the student interest in Open Access, especially the depth of their commitment to advocacy, sends a strong signal that this movement is here to stay,” commented Heather Joseph, Executive Director of SPARC. “We’re looking forward to the energy, creativity, and passion that these groups will surely bring to ensuring that scholarly research is accessible to all.”

Student organizations are invited to join the coalition at http://www.righttoresearch.org/endorse.

Harvard, National Library of China Embark on Digitization Project

Harvard College Library and the National Library of China are collaborating on a massive six-year digitization project. One of the largest cooperative projects ever between China and US libraries, the project will digitize Harvard-Yenching Library’s entire 51,500-volume Chinese rare book collection. It is likely that the increased access to these rare texts will have a transformative impact on Chinese scholarship.

See the 9 October, 2009 press release.

New SPARC Guide Reviews Income Models For Supporting Open Access Journals

ARL's SPARC has just released a new guide guide that provides an overview of income models currently being used to support the open-access distribution of peer-reviewed scholarly and scientific journals. From the press release:

“Who pays for Open Access?” is a key question faced by publishers, authors, and libraries as awareness and interest in free, immediate, online access to scholarly research increases. SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) examines the issue of sustainability for current and prospective open-access publishers in a timely new guide, “Income models for Open Access: An overview of current practice,” by Raym Crow.

“Income models for Open Access: An overview of current practice” examines the use of supply-side revenue streams (such as article processing fees, advertising) and demand-side models (including versioning, use-triggered fees). The guide provides an overview of income models currently in use to support open-access journals, including a description of each model along with examples of journals currently employing it.

The website/guide is accessible at http://www.arl.org/sparc/publisher/incomemodels/

Celebrating Open Access Week Oct. 19-24 2009

To broaden your knowledge of Open Access there is a webcast on Tuesday, October 13, 2009 11:00 A.M.-12:00 P.M. Participation is free. Please register no later than 12PM Eastern Monday, October 12th. Additional news on Open Access Week 2009.

October 2009 Issue of the SPARC Open Access Newsletter

The October issue of Peter Suber's SPARC Open Access Newsletter is now available.

GWLA Chief Academic and Research Officers Support FRPAA

On 1 October, 2009 the Chief Academic and Research Officers of the Greater Western Library Alliance member universities sent a letter to Congress supporting the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA). The signatories of the letter were representatives from the following universities: University of Hawaii at Manoa; Washington University; University of Kansas; University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Arizona State University; University of Oregon; Texas Tech University; Kansas State University; University of Utah; Southern Illinois University Carbondale; University of Colorado – Boulder; Utah State University; University of Missouri – Columbia; Oregon State University.

The goal of FRPAA, introduced into Congress by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Joe Lieberman, (I-CT), is to require that final manuscripts of original research papers that have been accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals and result from research supported, in whole or in part, from funding by the Federal Government be made freely available online as soon as practicable, but not later than 6 months after publication. The federal research agencies affected by this bill are those with extramural research expenditures of over $100,000,000.

Excerpt from the letter:

Timely, barrier-free access to the results of federally funded research supports the core mission of our academic institutions and is essential to fully utilize our collective investment in science. FRPAA will help us maximize this investment by increasing the sharing research results, advancing the pace of discovery, and applying this knowledge for the benefit of our communities.

The FRPAA bill also expands on the success of the public access policy of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the first U.S. agency to require public access to taxpayer-funded research. More than 450,000 unique users access material from the NIH repository each day. Under S.1373, we envision researchers and students working in fields of equal importance – from climate change to renewable energy – having the same access to federally funded research to advance their critical work.

Full-text of letter.