Benefits of Open Access to Scholarly Research to the Public Sector

Use the link above to access the full text final report from JISC issued on March 12, 2012. The introduction provides background information on objectives and findings as follows: “The objective of this project was to synthesise and generate evidence on the benefits that Open Access to scholarly research outputs has generated to the public sector, and to provide case studies of organisations that have realised such benefits. The project considered the benefits of Open Access for researchers in public sector organisations. It did not aim to be comprehensive in its coverage of the public sector... We have also focused on Open Access to research articles, as these still make up the largest proportion of research outputs used in analysis, policy and decision-making: research data is becoming more important but is still nascent in its influence in the organisations we surveyed. The objectives were to: [1] Identify and collect as much evidence as possible that direct and indirect benefits could reasonably be traced to Open Access to university research outputs for the public sector (beyond Higher Education) 2. Identify any common enabling processes that occurred in creating the opportunity for these benefits to be realised, 3. Where possible, quantify the direct benefits (savings in time and money) and indirect benefits (realised with the application of research information) 4. Describe the ways in which these benefits were realised in three or four case studies, in such a way as to enable generalisations to be made. Such models should be carefully defined and typologised where possible. 5. Give an indication of the timescale over which the benefits were realised, recognising short and longer term for both direct and indirect benefits 6. Present the findings both as evidence of the benefits of OA, and as guidance for HEIs and national organisations that, if followed, would lead to greater and more open engagement between HEIs and the wider economy and society.7. Draw from the research literature, in particular that relating to translating research findings into improved practice and policy, science and technology studies, and to scholarly communication... The total cost to the public sector of accessing journal papers is around £135 million per annum. The direct cost savings that accrue from the availability of Open Access articles (using both Green and Gold routes) amount to £28.6 million (£26 million in access fees and £2.6 million in time savings). The indirect benefits were not quantifiable as within the scope of the study the impact of Open Access cannot be traced through to better decisions, analysis or policy making in such a way that a figure could be put to them. However, we did identify ways in which Open Access has the potential to create quantifiable indirect benefits if sufficient research effort was given to the issue. These include lessened risk in decisions and advice and ability of researchers keep up to date with developments in their field more effectively...”