What is happening 'Free Access' 3. The Position of SPARC Raf Dekeyser

What is happening 'Free Access'

3. The Position of SPARC

Raf Dekeyser

PreambleAn example of OAI as CRIS

• Technical high school developed a project for a repository with support from the Flemish IWT (Institute for Science and Technology)

• The aim was not scholarly communication, but information for local industries about ongoing research (through theses)

• 2004: Fully operational (and OAI-compliant)• Already in use at 2 schools, with plan for

extension to all of them• Local harvester will collect the data from all the

schools

http://doks.khk.be/

What is happening 'Free Access'

3. The Position of SPARC

Raf Dekeyser

In brief:

• Originally, SPARC was looking for solutions for the “serials crisis”, mainly through new (and cheaper) journals.

• Gradually, belief in Open Access has been growing and SPARC now strongly supports– Open access journals– Institutional repositories

• Many of its actions are now fostering new initiatives in these fields.

A short history of SPARC(Scholarly Publishing and Academic

Resources Coalition)

• 1998: « To publish and perish » (ARL & AAU): analysis of journal crisis + recommendations:– Change academic evaluation procedures (too quantitative and

dependent on journals!)– Invest in electronic forms of scientific publication (+ role of

societies for evaluation?)– Make libraries more price conscious– Try to get a grip on copyright

• June 1998: Launching of SPARC:– an alliance of universities, research libraries and organizations that

seeks to serve ‘as a catalyst for action, helping to create systems that expand information dissemination and use in a networked digital environment…’ [ repository network??? ]

– an attempt to introduce competition, change and alternative strategies into the market place. [ BMC, PLoS ???]

• Under the umbrella of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL)

• Membership based: fees + moral obligation to subscribe to SPARC partner products.

• Original task: to make scientific journals affordable for average university library.

• First activities: Alternative journals support– Organic Chemistry Letters ( Tetrahedron Lett.)

– Theory and Practice of Logic Programming

– Publishing Partners: Bio-One

• 2001: Help in setting up SPARC Europe, originally under the umbrella of LIBER.

Organization

SPARC Coordinating

body

Worldwide (non-Europe) Members

European Members

SPARC Steering CommitteeNorth American & European representation

SPARC Europe Management Board

SPARC Europe

initiative

ARL

LIBER

• Programs: "Create Change" ( scientists on editorial board of expensive journals!), "Declaring Independence",…

• Gradual shift in scope of activities:– From cheaper journals (Alternatives Program)

– to open-access journals (Leading Edge Program)

– to repositories (especially after OAIMHP)

• Present activities:– Publications

– Workshops

– Contributions to relevant activities of others

From an early SPARC communication:

Competition Constrains Price

Alternative$2,609

SPARCLaunchSPARCLaunch

OrganicLettersLaunch

OrganicLettersLaunch

$4,256 Saving

SPARC Titles Are Less Expensive

Title Price Title PriceTopology & Its Applications

$2,672 Algebraic and Geometric Topology

Free $2,672

Journal of Crystal Growth

$9,220 Crystal Growth & Design

$1,781 $7,439

Evolutionary Ecology (price reduced in 2001)

$467 Evolutionary Ecology Research

$340 $127

Topology $1,303 Geometry & Topology

Free $1,303

Organic Geochemistry

$2,513 Geochemical Transactions

$100 $2,413

Sensors & Actuators, A & B

$5,313 IEEE Sensors Journal

$395 $4,918

Machine Learning $1,050 Jnl of Machine Learning Research

Free $1,050

Plant Ecology (formerly Vegetatio)

$2,861 Jnl of Vegetation Science

$450 $2,411

Tetrahedron Letters $9,624 Organic Letters $2,609 $7,015 Chemical Physics Letters

$10,264 PhysChemComm $100 $10,164

Jnl of Logic & Algebraic Programming

$747 Theory & Practice of Logic Programming

$300 $447

$46,034 $6,075 $39,959

Established Title Savings Oppty

From a recent SPARC communication:

Disaggregated systemScholarly publishing comprises four functions*:

Disaggregated models:• Allow functions to be fulfilled independently – • Lower prices by increasing cost efficiency

(* Roosendaal & Geurts)

ARCHIVINGPreserving research

for future use

AWARENESSAssuring

accessibility of research

CERTIFICATIONCertifying the quality/validity of the research

REGISTRATIONEstablishing intellectual

priority

• Institutional repositories supply basic step of initial registration

• Requires some formal control of the database

How institutional repositories?


for future use

AWARENESSAssuring




priority

• Certification is necessary to validate registration

• Publication in an existing journal is one method, but various new mechanisms become possible



for future use

AWARENESSAssuring




priority


• Awareness services enabled by OAI-compliance & interoperability

• There is already proven evidence for increased awareness (number of citations) thanks to OA


for future use

AWARENESSAssuring




priority

• No final answer on archiving• However, disaggregation helps put librarians —

rather than journal publishers — in charge of digital archiving

• Legal deposit of e-documents?



for future use

AWARENESSAssuring




priority

Why institutional repositories?• For the Individual

– Provide a central archive of their work– Increase the dissemination and impact of their research– Acts as a full CV

• For the Institution– Increases visibility and prestige– Acts as an advertisement to funding sources, potential new faculty and

students, etc.

• For Society– Provide access to the world’s research– Ensures long-term preservation of institutes’ academic output

They may coexist with subject oriented repositories!

WorkshopsSeries of workshops on OAI at CERN, organized together with LIBER (and sponsored by OSI, JISC, ESF,...)

• OAI-1: The Open Archives Initiative (OAI) and Peer Review Journals in Europe (March 2001)

• OAI-2: Gaining independence with e-prints archives and OAI (October 2002)

• OAI-3: Implementing the benefits of OAI (February 2004) (+ tutorials!)

• OAI-4: (October 2005)

http://www.sparceurope.org/

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What is happening 'Free Access' 3. The Position of SPARC Raf Dekeyser