Open Access Research: Opportunities to broaden
your impact
Meredith T. Niles, PhD
Post-doctoral research fellow
Sustainability Science Program
Harvard University
2013 Switzer Fellow
Overview
• Why Switzer and open?
• The current state of academic publishing
• What is Open Access?
• Pathways for Open Access – Open Access publishing
– Self-archiving
• Emerging trends in open access policies and funding
Why Switzer and Open? Switzer Values
• Belief in Individuals.
• Environmental Stewardship.
• Sustainability and Systems Thinking.
• Interdisciplinary and Innovative Problem-solving.
• Maximizing Impact.
• Accountability and Results.
Current state of publishing • The internet changed the world, and with it was
an opportunity better share research cheaper.
-25%
25%
75%
125%
175%
225%
275%
325%
375%
425%
1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010
% C
han
ge
Sin
ce 1
986
Source: ARL Statistics 2010-11 Association of Research Libraries, Washington, D.C.
*Includes electronic resources from 1999-2000 onward.
Monograph and Serial Costs
in ARL Libraries, 1986-2011* Serial Expenditures
Monograph Expenditures
Monographs Purchased
Current state of publishing • Despite the internet making publishing
cheaper, journals have gotten more expensive
Current state of publishing • Many for-profit publishers have high profit margins
as a result
80% of research is
publicly funded
Source: “Academic Publishing: Survey of funders supports the benign Open Access outcome priced into
shares, HSBC Global Research,” February 11, 2013:
https://www.research.hsbc.com/midas/Res/RDV?ao=20&key=RxArFbnG1P&n=360010.PDF
1
Current state of publishing • Even though most of scientific research is publicly
funded
Things are changing "The system is absurd, and it is inflicting terrible damage on libraries…We simply cannot go on paying the increase in subscription prices. In the long run, the answer will be open-access journal publishing, but we need concerted effort to reach that goal.“ -Robert Darnton, Director of Harvard Library
Things are changing
Things are changing
Free, immediate online access to scientific &
scholarly articles with full reuse rights
Berlin Declaration on Open Access
Budapest Open Access Initiative
A history of open access
Many ways to Open
• Open Access Journals
• Hybrid Journals
• Self-Archiving
– Pre-prints
• Institutional, funder repositories
OA Options: OA Journals
• Open access journals
OA Options: Hybrid Journals
• Publish in a traditional journal with an open option and pay
• $2,950 for a Taylor and Francis article
OA Options: Self-archiving
• Pre-print servers
• Institutional repositories
Fact: Majority of publishers allow self-archiving
http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/statistics.php?la=en&fIDnum=|&mode=simple
Know your options for archiving
http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/
Funding OA
• Many open access journals are FREE
• Fee waivers (everybody’s doing it)
• Scholarship funds
• Write article processing charges into your funding
Of 9,645 researcher-authors who published in
Open Access journals between 2009 and 2011,
83% reported obtaining publication fee
assistance, with 12% of authors paying their
own publication fees and 5% receiving other forms of assistance (SOAP Survey).
Funding OA
http://www.plos.org/publications/publication-fees/open-access-funds/
OA benefits
Universi Personal
Open Sphere of Benefits
University/ Community
Public Good
Personal Benefits
2014 European Commission Report: +40.3% citation advantage for freely accessible papers -27.0% citation disadvantage for non-freely accessible papers
Source: European Commission Report: “Proportion of Open Access Papers Published in Peer-Reviewed Journals at the European and
World Levels—1996–2013 URL: http://science-
metrix.com/en/publications/reports#/en/publications/reports/proportion-of-open-access-papers-published-in-peer-reviewed-journals-
at-the
Growing Trend: OA Policies
Institutional Open Access Policies
Federal Open Access Policies
• White House directive
• Federal bi-partisan legislation
Emerging Trends: State Policy
Emerging Trends: Funder Policies
What you can do
• Make your work open in some capacity – Self archiving – OA journals – hybrid
• Encourage institutional or funder policies • Get involved in policy efforts
Making science more open benefits us all.
[email protected] @MeredithNiles1 (Twitter)
Knowing Your Responsibilities
Emerging Trends: Institutional Policies
45 countries
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http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/advocacy12
OA myths
http://libraries.mit.edu/scholarly/mit-open-access/general-information-about-open-access/dispelling-myths-about-open-access/
OA myths
http://libraries.mit.edu/scholarly/mit-open-access/general-information-about-open-access/dispelling-myths-about-open-access/
OA myths
http://libraries.mit.edu/scholarly/mit-open-access/general-information-about-open-access/dispelling-myths-about-open-access/
OA myths
http://libraries.mit.edu/scholarly/mit-open-access/general-information-about-open-access/dispelling-myths-about-open-access/
OA myths
http://libraries.mit.edu/scholarly/mit-open-access/general-information-about-open-access/dispelling-myths-about-open-access/
Many OA journals have high impact factors
McKiernan, Erin (2014): Being Open As An Early-Career Reseacher - OpenCon 2014. figshare. http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1243319
McKiernan, Erin (2014): Being Open As An Early-Career Reseacher - OpenCon 2014. figshare. http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1243319
McKiernan, Erin (2014): Being Open As An Early-Career Reseacher - OpenCon 2014. figshare. http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1243319