Open access body needed ‘to coordinate implementation’ | News | Times Higher Education
abernard102@gmail.com 2013-11-19
Summary:
"A formal body should be set up to coordinate efforts to implement open access, the Finch Group has recommended. The proposal is the main conclusion of the group’s review, published on November 18, of progress in implementing its original June 2012 report, which was commissioned by the government and forms the basis of the UK’s open-access policy. The review, titled Accessibility, Sustainability, Excellence: How to Expand Access to Research Publications, follows a reconvention in September of the group, which includes representatives from universities, libraries, publishers and research funders. The review says that although 'significant' progress has been made on implementing the original report, with both Research Councils UK and the Higher Education Funding Council for England adopting open-access mandates, efforts are needed to coordinate ongoing efforts. The coordinating body will be run by Universities UK with a remit to 'avoid duplication of effort and divergent work-streams; to deal with problems as they arise; to develop an interoperable system of repositories and an infrastructure that supports both Gold and Green OA; to monitor the impact of OA policies on learned societies; to co-ordinate communications with the research community; and to oversee the collection and analysis of data from different parties in order to create the evidence base that is essential to the further development of effective policies.' It reemphasises the view expressed in the original report that the UK should seek to achieve a long-term conversion to journal-provided gold open access via a 'mixed economy' of gold, repository-provided green open access and a greater availability of subscription journals to those outside HE by licensing extensions ..."