[GOAL] SHERPA/FACT – BETA Release Now Available

{Forwarded from GOAL] "Joint Press Release: Centre for Research Communications, Wellcome Trust, and RCUK SHERPA/FACT – BETA Release Now Available To coincide with the RCUK’s new OA policy and Wellcome Trust policy changes, the Centre for Research Communications (CRC) is pleased to announce the availability of SHERPA Funders’ & Authors’ Compliance Tool (SHERPA/FACT) Beta. The beta release of SHERPA/FACT interprets data from SHERPA/RoMEO, JULIET and other sources to provide clear guidance to RCUK and Wellcome Trust funded authors on compliance with their Open Access (OA) policies and advises on the options available. SHERPA/FACT Beta: • Asks authors to select which of the RCUK Councils or Wellcome Trust has funded their work. • Asks authors to enter the journal name or ISSN of the journal they wish to use. • Cross-references the information held in RoMEO and in JULIET on both Funders' and Publishers' policies. • Gives the author clear information as to whether that journal offers publication or archiving rights compliant with their funders' policy. • Notes the level of OA fee payable, if any, and if available from the publisher site. • Gives guidance to the author as to what action to take next to comply with their funders' policy, customising guidance according to the stage of the author's publication - accepted, published, etc. For more information and to use SHERPA/FACT beta, please visit www.sherpa.ac.uk/fact IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a beta version and has been tested for accuracy against existing data held by SHERPA/RoMEO, JULIET and other third party sources. However, information in this area is dynamic and many publishers are currently updating, changing and clarifying their policies in response to the launch of the RCUK and Wellcome Trust policies. As updated policy information becomes available from publishers, SHERPA/FACT will be updated accordingly. We are aware of a number of changes due to be released soon – indeed, FACT may even prompt further clarifications to be made. FACT beta will, over the coming weeks, undergo continuous improvements to the information it holds. Please use SHERPA/FACT beta for evaluation purposes and report any information that needs updating and any other comments to fact at sherpa.ac.uk. Bill Hubbard, Director of the CRC, said: 'For more Open Access research from the RCUK and Wellcome Trust to be made available to everyone, researchers need clear guidance about whether their chosen journal complies with their funder's policy. SHERPA/FACT will give them a clear answer, help raise an institution's rate of compliance and ultimately help more research to be made available to us all.' Robert Kiley, Head of Digital Services at the Wellcome Trust, said: 'Providing clear guidance to our researchers will help to ensure they can comply with the Trust’s Open Access mandate.' Mark Thorley, chair of Research Councils UK Research Outputs Network, said: 'The launch of this beta version of SHERPA FACT is part of our strategy of providing a range of resources to support implementation of the new RCUK Policy on Open Access'".