Re: The ROARMAP database of Open Access policies

From: Alma Swan <a.swan_at_TALK21.COM>
Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2009 16:51:52 +0100

I wish to make clear that my message below is merely to encourage the
registration of policies in ROARMAP, giving an adoption date if
possible if this differs from the announcement date. When I used the
ROARMAP data to draw up the graphs that were published last week I
used the adoption date wherever it was available rather than the
announcement date, because the former indicates the time when the
decision was made even if implementation came later.

There was not the slightest, tiniest, minutest whiff of criticism
intended in the words I used, but it has been pointed out that that
they can be read that way. UCL's mandate is a big, big prize and
congratulations to all involved.

Alma Swan
Key Perspectives Ltd
Truro, UK


On 04/06/2009 12:25, "Alma Swan" <a.swan_at_TALK21.COM> wrote:

      UCL's Open Access mandate was adopted in October 2008,
      but only announced in June 2009. It would be helpful if
      all universities that adopt mandatory policies on Open
      Access would register them immediately upon adoption in
      the ROARMAP database
      (http://www.eprints.org/openaccess/policysignup/).

      Being able to see the details of existing policies helps
      other institutions that are developing their own and
      means that new policies are included in summary data like
      this chart
      (http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090603/full/news.2009.538/box/1.html
      ) at the soonest possible moment.

      Alma Swan
      Key Perspectives Ltd
      Truro, UK


      On 03/06/2009 13:28, "Stevan Harnad"
      <amsciforum_at_GMAIL.COM> wrote:

            The United Kingdom continues to lead the
            world in Open Access:

            University College London (UCL)
            <http://www.ucl.ac.uk/>  has just adopted the
            UK's 22nd (and the world's 84th<http://www.eprints.org/openaccess/policysignup/fullinfo.php?inst=University
            %20College%20London%20%28UCL%29> ) mandate to
            make all of its research output Open Access
            (by depositing it in UCL's Institutional
            Repository, UCL Eprints
            <http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/> ). 

            With its 13 funder mandates and 9
            institutional/departmental mandates
            <http://www.eprints.org/openaccess/policysignup/>
             so far, the UK still has the planet's
            highest proportion of Open Access Mandates. 

            But the world is catching up (see Figure
            <http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/harnad/Temp/alma-mand1.png>
            )!

            Dr. Alma Swan of Key Perspectives
            <http://www.keyperspectives.co.uk/>  and
            University of Southampton, has just
            documented how mandates
            <http://www.eprints.org/openaccess/policysignup/>
             to provide Open Access to research output
            have almost doubled globally in the year that
            has elapsed since Harvard University's
            Faculty of Arts and Sciences adopted
            the world's 44th Open Access mandate<http://www.eprints.org/openaccess/policysignup/fullinfo.php?inst=Harvard%20
            University%3A%20Faculty%20of%20Arts%20and%20Sciences>
             in May 2008.

            The world's first Open Access mandate<http://www.eprints.org/openaccess/policysignup/fullinfo.php?inst=University
%20of%20Southampton%3A%20School%20of%20Electronics%20and%20Computer%20Scienc
            e>  was adopted in 2002 by the University of
            Southampton's School of Electronics and
            Computer Science (ECS). Southampton had
            previously designed, in 2000
            <http://www.dlib.org/dlib/october00/10inbrief.html#HARNAD>
            , the first free, Open Source software for
            creating Open Access Institutional
            Repositories, Eprints
            <http://www.eprints.org/> , now used
            the world over<http://roar.eprints.org/?action=home&q=&country=&version=eprints2&type=&ord
            er=name&submit=Filter> .

            In 2004 the UK Parliamentary Select Committee
            on Science and Technology (as urged
            by evidence
            <http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/harnad/Temp/UKSTC.htm>
             provided by Southampton University and
            Loughborough University) recommended<http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmsctech/399/399
            03.htm>  "that all UK higher education
            institutions establish institutional
            repositories on which their published output
            can be stored and from which it can be read,
            free of charge, online [and] that Research
            Councils and other Government funders mandate
            their funded researchers to deposit a copy of
            all of their articles in this way." Research
            Councils UK
            <http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/outputs/access/default.htm>
             went on in 2006-2008  to make a clean sweep,
            with all seven councils mandating Open Access
            in 2006-2008.

            But Alma Swan's analysis shows that the UK is
            at last going to lose its lead, as the global
            growth spurt of mandates we had all been
            awaiting appears to have begun.

            The globalization of Open Access mandates is
            of course something that all UK universities
            heartily welcome as a win/win outcome,
            optimal and inevitable for research and
            researchers worldwide. Open access is
            essentially reciprocal. The only way every
            university on the planet can gain open access
            to the research output of every other
            university on the planet is by each providing
            open access to its own research output:
            "Self-archive unto others as you would have
            them self-archive unto you<http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&num=100&q=%28%22self-archive+un
to+others%22++OR++%22golden+rule%22%29+%22open+access%22+harnad&btnG=Search&
            aq=f&oq=&aqi=> ."
Received on Thu Jun 04 2009 - 17:06:54 BST

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