Requirements for transformative Open Access agreements: Accelerating the transition to immediate and worldwide Open Access - Jisc Collections

"Six years ago, the Finch report set an objective of ‘better, faster access to research publications for the benefit of all.’(1) Funders (2) and government responded with policies which supported OA whilst recognising academic freedom, economic challenges and local considerations. Jisc Collections was tasked to ‘limit and constrain the negative financial impact on institutions of subscribing to journal content and paying for APCs with those same publishers’.(3) It led the development and testing of a range of ‘offsetting agreements’ for hybrid journals based on a set of principles.(4) The resulting agreements delivered savings (5) and, at their most effective, supported institutions in the administration and implementation of OA, but the transition remains slow, the costs are only partially constrained and APC spend is, for the most part, going to the same publishers who receive the most in subscription revenues.(6)

In 2017, the Universities UK Open Access Co-ordination Group (UUK OAACG) report - Monitoring the Transition to Open Access (7) – confirmed that 70% of total spend on OA publishing is going to hybrid journals. In addition, between 2013 and 2016 the mean APC hybrid payment by UK universities increased by 19%. What has become clear is that, while progress towards open access has been made, progress has been at a cost and remains slow with only 37% of outputs available OA on publication. The newly formed UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is about to embark on an internal review of its OA policy (8) with a view to ensuring the policy is effective and the Wellcome Trust also have a review underway.

Internationally, targets are being set to increase the speed of transition, including the 2020 goal of the European Commission (9), and consortia are collaborating to evaluate the costs and effectiveness of OA models. Effecting a global move to OA requires the commitment of funders, publishers and institutions to work in unison to implement innovative and affordable agreements for hybrid journals which accelerate the transformation to full open access in the UK and beyond.

UK academic institutions and sector agencies, working alongside Jisc Collections, have established the following requirements which set out the measures required to accelerate open access in the UK, and ensure that journals agreements offer the maximum benefit with the minimum burden, on public finances, to researchers and for institutions...."