Talk used with postgraduate (PhD) students at the University of Nottingham to highlight the challenges and opportunties provided by the emerging open access scholarly communication model.
Transcript of Open Access for Postgraduates students
1. Open Access & Nottingham eTheses & ePrints
Postgraduate Publishing Workshop Gareth J Johnson, SHERPA, IS
[email_address] University of Nottingham, November 2006
2. 1) Introduction
Talk will cover
Traditional publishing barriers to getting your publications
read
How to improve your readership & professional standing
Some options to help here at Nottingham
3. 2) Barriers
Ever tried getting hold of an international thesis?
Does everyone have access to the same journals?
To ensure that your work is read not enough to just
submit/publish
Publishing and indexing timescales are considerable
4. 3) Publishing Barriers
Research is publicly funded
Personal academic efforts
Supported by institutions
Authors sign away rights with publishers in order to
publish
Given away freely to publishers
Publishers make huge proit$
Author gets no tangible reward
And loses rights to copy material for colleagues, teaching
etc
Institution potentially loses out on its investment
5. 4) Cost Barriers
Not all libraries can subscribe to all journals
During the period 1998-2003
RPI +11%
Journal +58%
Library budgets -29%
Increasing prices decrease effective readership
Even in the affluent West
Nottingham pays between 30-9k/journal
6. 5) Routes to Read
Read online journals
Most subscription only
Cost the University just as much
Personal subscriptions never enough
Obtain material physically
Tricky for overseas material
Variable or uncertain timescales
Cost can be a problem
7. 6) Routes to being Read?
Mount texts on your own site?
How retrievable?
Lower Google rankings for personal sites
Long term availability
What happens in 5-10 years?
Will the format still be accessible
Is it legal?
Are you breaching your agreement with the publisher
8. 7) Open Access
Frees research for the good of humanity
Deposition of research into repositories
Electronic versions of any research publication
Freely available online - no subscription to read
A particular constituency can donate
Timely & rapid communication of ideas
Sustainability built in
Material available for years to come
Repositories ensuring continued format accessibility
Funders
Compliance with OA now mandated by some research funders and
boards
9. 8) Legality
Who allows it?
>90% of journals or 75% of publishers
Conditions or restrictions
Conditions allow deposition provided rules followed
E.g. Not publishers version, pre/post print only
Restrictions stop immediate deposition
E.g. Embargos (6 months-2 years commonly)
Open Access Publishing
Peer reviewed titles with NO copyright transfer
See the DOAJ for over 2000 globally
Tools to help
SHERPA/RoMEO
Guide to variations between publishers
SHERPA/JULIET
Guide to Research Funder requirements
10. 9) Advantages
Wider global readership
Citations are the life blood of an academic career.
Which means
Improved citation rankings
Faster communication
Improved long term preservation
Decreased potential plagiarism
All leads to better:
Personal & professional standing
Departmental & Institutional respect/promotion
11. 10) Disadvantages
OA self-archiving not always possible
Restrictions from stakeholders & sponsors
Rejection risk
Ethical or commercial sensitivity
Dont take risks with your publishing!
Can always revisit post-publication
Publishers can change policies
12. 11) Nottingham repositories
Two repositories at Nottingham
Nottingham ePrints
Nottingham eTheses
Easy to use
Submission takes 10 minutes
Registration 1 st time only
Small but growing collection
Already high on search engine rankings
OpenDOAR service searches
13. 12) Hints & Tips
Save electronic copies of your publications
Early versions as well as final
Allows you to choose which version to deposit
DO put your thesis into NETheses & papers into NEP