First Scottish University Green OA Self-Archiving Mandate: Stirling

From: Stevan Harnad <harnad_at_ecs.soton.ac.uk>
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 17:18:41 +0100

Scotland's first University Green OA self-archiving mandate has been adopted
by
University of Stirling.

This is actually Scotland's second Green OA self-archiving mandate: The
first
was a funder mandate: Scottish Executive Health Department.

This is also the 17th UK Green OA mandate (13 funder mandates, 3
institutional
mandates, 1 departmental mandate: Southampton ECS, Brunel U, Southampton
U, and now Stirling U).

There are now 41 mandates in all, worldwide.

http://www.eprints.org/openaccess/policysignup/

(The UK continues to lead the world in both funder and institutional
mandates, but watch out for the waking giant! The 791 universities in
46 countries in the European University Association, whose Council has
unanimously recommended mandating Green OA self-archiving.)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 15:42:39 +0100
From: Michael White <michael.white STIR.AC.UK>
To: JISC-REPOSITORIES JISCMAIL.AC.UK
Subject: STORRE (Stirling Online Research Repository)

You may be interested in the following press release and associated
policy the University of Stirling put out today in relation to its
recently issued institutional mandate.

Michael White
eLearning Developer
Centre for eLearning Development (CeLD)
S7, The Library
University of Stirling
Stirling SCOTLAND
FK9 4LA

Email: michael.white stir.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 1786 466877
Fax: +44 (0) 1786 466880

http://www.is.stir.ac.uk/celd/ <http://www.is.stir.ac.uk/celd/>

=================================================

Media Release - Wednesday 9 April 2008

STIRLING RESEARCH GOES GLOBAL

The University of Stirling has become the first academic institution in
the UK to oblige staff to make all their published research available
online.

Stirling is leading the way in open access to its research work, after
the University's Academic Council issued an institutional mandate which
requires self-archiving of all theses and journal articles.

Professor Ian Simpson, Deputy Principal (Research and Knowledge
Transfer) said: "We believe that the outcomes of all publicly funded
research should be made available as widely as possible. By ensuring
free online access to all our research output, we will maximise the
visibility and impact of the University's work to researchers
worldwide."

The four year project to create STORRE (Stirling Online Research
Repository) has been brought to fruition by information technology
specialists Clare Allan and Michael White.

Clare Allan said: "The University now requires all published journal
articles to be deposited by authors, as soon as possible after they are
accepted for publication, and in compliance with the publishers'
copyright agreements.

"It is an important landmark in our archival development and marks the
conclusion of a process that started in 2004 when Stirling was one of 20
academic institutions which signed up to the OATS (Open Access Team for
Scotland) declaration. The repository project initially focused on
electronic theses and in session 2006/07 we became one of the first
universities to require these to be submitted electronically.

"The next stage was a pilot scheme for self-archiving of journal
articles by some researchers, and this has now become mandatory. We are
also building up a retrospective archive."

Many of the major UK research funders now require open access to
published results from research awards they fund, but by going a step
further and ensuring that this is done in every case, the University of
Stirling is setting a high standard of access that is expected to reap
rewards.

Michael White added: "We are hopeful of a very positive response from
researchers to the requirement to self-archive, as they will benefit
from greater visibility of their work - such as increased citations from
their published work, which in turn can lead to improved funding. To
quantify this, they can track how often each article is viewed.

"Being a secure central and searchable database, STORRE acts as a record
of each individual's research career and can help with research
reporting exercises. The repository also conforms to open standards for
metadata harvesting, enabling articles to be included in national,
international and subject-based cross-repository searches. Even general
internet search engines, such as google, rank results from repositories
far higher than personal pages, which makes it easier for others to find
their work. The figures are impressive."

Further information:

Andy Mitchell, Media Relations Manager, the University of Stirling
Tel 01786 467058
mediarelations stir.ac.uk <mailto:mediarelations stir.ac.uk>
STORRE is growing rapidly and can be searched at
http://dspace.stir.ac.uk <http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/>
====================================================

University of Stirling Open Access Institutional Repository Policy

The University of Stirling:

* supports the principle that the outcomes of publicly funded research
should be made available as widely as possible.

* welcomes moves by Research Councils to promote unrestricted access to
the published output from the research they fund.

* aims to maximise the visibility, usage and impact of the University's
research output by maximising online access to it for all would-be users
and researchers worldwide.

* aims to minimise the effort that individual members of the University
must expend in order to provide open online access to their research
output.

* requires all staff to submit copies of their research output, after it
has been accepted as suitable for publication, to the University of
Stirling Institutional Repository.

It is our policy:

1. To maximise the visibility, citation, usage and impact of our
research output by maximising online access to it for all would-be users
and researchers worldwide.

2. To minimise the effort that each of us has to expend in order to
provide open online access to our research output.

3. That all journal articles, published from January 2007, are to
be self-archived in the University's Digital Research Repository
(http://dspace.stir.ac.uk). The process of self-archiving will be
supported by Information Services.

Submission Policy - concerning depositors, quality & copyright

1. Items may only be deposited by accredited members of the
organisation, or their delegates.

2. Authors may only submit their own work for archiving (including
co-authored papers).

3. Articles are to be submitted immediately upon acceptance for
publication.

4. The author's final accepted draft should be submitted.
Submission of this version complies with the policies of the majority of
publishers. Where publisher conditions allow, or require it, the
publishers own version, or a pre-print, will be accepted.

5. Items must be submitted in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document
Format (pdf), or, where appropriate, an alternative format as agreed by
the Repository Administrator.

6. The administrator will vet items for the eligibility of
authors/depositors, relevance to the scope of the University of Stirling
Institutional Repository, valid layout & format, and the exclusion of
spam. Publisher policies will also be checked to ensure compliance.

7. The validity and authenticity of the content of submissions is
the sole responsibility of the depositor.

8. Items can be deposited at any time, but will not be made
publicly visible until the item has been published, and until any
publishers' or funders' embargo period has expired.

9. All deposited items will contain any acknowledgements as
specified by publisher policies; the Repository Administrator will
ensure these are added as required.

10. Any copyright violations contained within items are entirely the
responsibility of the authors/depositors.

11. If University of Stirling Institutional Repository receives
proof of copyright violation, the relevant item will be removed
immediately.

Compliance with Publisher and Research Funder Policies

1. Our policy is compatible with publishers' copyright agreements
as follows:

* For all submitted items the Repository Administrator will
check the Publisher's policy. Most policies are documented via the
SHERPA/ROMEO database (http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo.php) and
Information Services will use this as a major support tool.

* Many publishers will allow the peer-reviewed final draft to be
self-archived, often specifying that a specific acknowledgement be used
along with the self-archived item. The Repository Administrator will
ensure any such acknowledgements are included in the Repository.

* Occasionally publishers allow their own final pdf version to
be self-archived, in these instances the Repository Administrator will
contact the submitter to ask for the appropriate item version.

* Occasionally publishers will not allow either the author's own
final, post refereed version or the publisher's version to be
self-archived. In these instances the Repository Administrator will
contact the submitter to inform them, and, if appropriate, recommend
that the author's preprint version (pre-refereed version) can be
submitted instead if desired by the author.

2. For all submitted items, where Research Funder information is
supplied, the Repository Administrator will check the Research Funder's
policies as regards ensuring Open Access to research results and
publications arising from their funding. Policies are documented via the
SHERPA/JULIET data base (Research Funders Archiving Mandates and
Guidelines http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/juliet/index.html) and Information
Services will use this as a major support tool. Where possible, the
Repository Administrator will fulfil any archiving requirements on
behalf of the submitting author, or alternatively inform them of what
they need do to fulfil the conditions of funding.

3. We do not require deposit of the full text of books or research
monographs.

Preservation Policy

1. Items will be retained indefinitely.

2. University of Stirling Institutional Repository will try to
ensure continued readability and accessibility.

3. Items may be migrated to new file formats where necessary.

4. It may not be possible to guarantee the readability of some
unusual file formats.

5. University of Stirling Institutional Repository regularly backs
up its files according to current best practice.

6. The original bit stream is retained for all items, in addition
to any upgraded formats.

7. Items may not normally be removed from University of Stirling
Institutional Repository.

8. Acceptable reasons for withdrawal include:

* Journal publishers' rules

* Proven copyright violation or plagiarism

* Legal requirements and proven violations

* National Security

* Falsified research

* At University of Stirling's discretion

9. Withdrawn items are not deleted per se, but are removed from
public view. Since any item that has existed at some time may have been
cited, a "tombstone" marker will be supplied when the item is requested.
This will include the original metadata (for verification) plus a
withdrawal explanation statement. The metadata will be visible, but not
searchable.

10. Items will be deleted from the Repository if there is a legal
requirement to do so, or if it is deemed by the University to be in its
best interests. Deletion of items will mean removal of the item itself,
plus any metadata. In this instance there will be no "tombstone"
marker.

11. Changes to deposited items are not permitted.

12. If necessary, an updated version may be deposited. The earlier
version may be withdrawn from public view.

13. In the event of University of Stirling Institutional Repository
being closed down, the database will be transferred to another
appropriate archive.

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Received on Wed Apr 09 2008 - 17:20:22 BST

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