In this post, Carolyn Alderson gives us an update on an initiative we’ve been pursuing to describe how journal publishers can help with OA compliance.
Last year Neil wrote about the steps publishers might take to help their customers in the management of Open Access, in order to meet funder requirements and also to assist in streamlining what is currently a complex and multi-faceted process for academic support staff and authors. The ‘OA Publisher Compliance document’ also had resonance with a growing number of libraries, groups and institutions in different countries grappling with the same issues.
A year later and many publishers are still in the process of transitioning to full Open Access, adapting to new work environments and developing policies to address the terms in which they allow peer-reviewed articles to become openly available. A discussion on the subject with publisher representatives, ALPSP and the PA last year, in which it became clear that publishers needed to understand the scale of need beyond the UK, led to Jisc approaching a number of interested parties and stakeholders to gain this feedback and harness a broader understanding to feedback to publishers.
This feedback has led to further development of the 13 recommended standards for publishers to adopt which will help authors and institutions globally with implementation of open access more effectively and reduce their cognitive and administrative burden. The standards, some of which might better be described as ‘best practice’ currently include: adopting ORCID IDs; registering articles DOIs with CrossRef; populating co-authors’ affiliation; populating funding metadata; ensuring clarity on OA licensing terms; ensuring clarity on licensing/policy position for article versions; ensuring CC-BY licences for Gold OA; setting embargo periods aligned with those of the academic research community; detailing specific information in the author’s acceptance letter; supplying the accepted manuscript in the acceptance email; delivering an automated notification of acceptance; passing key dates in metadata; and allowing text/data mining. In addition to identifying standards for publishers to adopt, information is provided on the ways in which the academic research sector is asking for publishers’ support in reaching these Open Access standards.
The latest version of the document has been reviewed and endorsed by universities, research libraries, learned societies internationally, and by members of the Research Libraries UK (RLUK) and the Association for Research Managers and Administrators (ARMA).
The next steps are to promote further support and the adoption of the standards by publishers globally through a partnership with UKSG. We are discussing with UKSG how we might partner with them in the promotion and development of OA best practice to ensure a level of consistency and convergence. More news soon.
