<div class="gmail_quote"><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">[Forwarding from JISC</font><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms',sans-serif;">]</span></div>
<div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">Call for sector to unite behind open access</font></div>
<div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">UK Open Access week and the JISC Future of Research conference have seen persuasive</font></div>
<div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">calls for the sector to unite on key issues facing UK higher education and research. Now ten</font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">leading organisations from the higher education and research sector have joined forces to drive</font></div>
<div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">the implementation of open access in the UK, both in terms of policy and promoting a deeper</font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">understanding of the opportunities it offers for the UK to maintain its world-wide reputation and</font></div>
<div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">impact.</font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">Open access is a part of a movement toward more openness and transparency in the public</font></div>
<div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">sector and in universities, which promises significant benefits for universities and the UK</font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">economy as papers, educational resources and data are more widely available to support</font></div>
<div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">teaching, research and innovation.</font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"><br></font></div>
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<font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">While the adoption of open access is growing, some researchers and institutions still worry that</font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">it amounts to a “Robin Hood” approach that gives away research freely. The evidence, however,</font></div>
<div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">shows that opening up access to research outputs provides substantial gains for both. These</font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">gains vary across an increasingly differentiated sector but, to be more fully realised, policy and</font></div>
<div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">infrastructure need to be better coordinated across the sector. This is the role the UK Open</font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">Access Implementation Group will take on.</font></div>
<div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">At the moment the group consists of senior representatives of two UK universities (Edinburgh</font></div>
<div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">and Salford), Universities UK, Research Libraries UK, the Society of College, National and</font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">University Libraries, JISC, the UK Research Councils, Wellcome Trust, the Association of</font></div>
<div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">Research Managers and Administrators UK, and a leading open access publisher in the Public</font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">Library of Science. It will coordinate evidence, policies, systems, advice and guidance, to make</font></div>
<div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">open access an easy choice for authors and one that benefits all universities. The group have</font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">asked JISC to map out a programme of practical work to make progress in these areas.</font></div>
<div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">Meeting at the Wellcome Trust and chaired by Martin Hall, Vice Chancellor at the University</font></div>
<div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">of Salford, the group agreed that existing evidence and guidance on open access should</font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">be brought together and presented as a coordinated summary of why and how to adopt an</font></div>
<div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">open approach. The group noted that the ways in which research excellence and impact are</font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">measured play a key role in influencing behaviour. Where necessary, for example around the</font></div>
<div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">practical arrangements for paying open access publication charges, further work should be done</font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">to clarify what is possible at the moment and where further provision might be needed.</font></div>
<div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">The group were united in their support for innovation and will encourage debate in the sector</font></div>
<div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">around new publication models. “If we don’t collaborate across publicly or semi-publicly funded</font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">institutions and if we don’t take hold of the agenda as a sector then we will be pushed into an</font></div>
<div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">environment where we increasingly compete for diminishing resources”, Hall summed up the</font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">debate. “The UK has consistently led the way in opening access to research. A UK alliance is</font></div>
<div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">now established at the highest level to ensure that we don't lose that lead, and that the impact</font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">of UK research (and therefore the contribution of UK universities to the economy and society) is</font></div>
<div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">maximised.”</font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="'trebuchet ms', sans-serif">To find out more about Open Access and JISC's work in this area, go to <a href="http://www.jisc.ac.uk/" target="_blank">www.jisc.ac.uk/</a>openaccess</font></div>
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