Open access to research: independent advice - 2018 - GOV.UK

This is the second independent report on Open Access received from Professor Adam Tickell, Chair of the UK Open Access Co-ordination Group. The first was received in 2016. It presents a refreshed evidence base, and answers specific questions requested by the Minister for Universities and Science, Jo Johnson, in November 2017. The response from the minister Chris Skidmore MP to Professor Adam Tickell is available here too.

Executive Summary: "The UK has an enviable track record in producing excellent research and scholarship. Since the publication of the Finch Report in 2012, research funders, publishers and universities have been committed to publishing journals. During this period, major advances have been made, both in terms of the share of publications in Open Access journals and articles and in terms of the complicated – and often unglamorous – underpinning infrastructure. Members of the UUK Open Access Coordination Group have worked tirelessly and effectively, through specialist sub-groups, and developed measures that have removed many of the barriers to Open Access publishing.

This report provides an overview of the benefits of Open Access publishing and details the ways in which the United Kingdom has been at the forefront of the Open Access movement. Over half of research publications can be read for free online and I anticipate that this will rise, such that the Government’s aspiration that all publicly-funded research is available in this form if the current funding is maintained.

As anticipated in the Finch Report, such progress has come at additional financial cost and whilst there has been some important experimentation, a transformation of the publication model – from subscriptions to charges for Open Access – has not materialised. Both the Wellcome Trust and UK Research and Innovation are currently reviewing their approach to Open Access.

The UK’s leadership in supporting Open Access has been taken up with enthusiasm in other countries and by major global philanthropic funders of research. This is testament to the influence of the Finch Report, but I note that there is a range of different approaches being taken to achieving the shared aim of global Open Access to research.

In order to ensure that this aspiration can be met, however, universities and funders need to be committed to supporting Open Access further. I have therefore made a set of recommendations to achieve this."