right to research subscription-based vs open access journals

Right to ResearchSubscription-based vs Open Access Journals

Pavlinka Kovatcheva, Sciences LibrarianUniversity of Johannesburg

E-mail: pkovatcheva@uj.ac.za Open Access Week @ WITs, 21 Oct 2010

Presentation Outline

• Impact of Open Access on Research • Subscription-based Databases• SA Open Access Journal Collections

& Institutional Repositories• International Institutional Repositories• Top Open Access Journals• Subscriptions meet Open Access• Way forward for Universities Book review

Impact of Open Access on Research

Why do we promote Open Access (OA)?

Open Access provide free, immediate, online access to the published results of scholarly research

• About 25,000 peer-reviewed journals are published worldwide• Universities and research institutions afford to subscribe to a

fraction of those journals ...... that means that research is having only a fraction of its potential usage and impact

• If 100% of research articles were freely accessible through OA, then the usage, impact, productivity and progress of research would be maximised.

“Scientific Dissemination using Open Access”

Open Access for Researchers

• Open Access- maximises the access to research findings,- increases research impact to a wider readership,- expands shared knowledge across scientific field,- make their research output more visible to researchers elsewhere, and make research from elsewhere more accessible to them,- increases the citation impact of the author,- over time increases the journal impact factor (?)

What else do Researchers need to know about OA?

• What OA journals exist in your research field? - Open Science Directory, PubMed Central, PloS, DOAJ...• What Institutional Repository your institution use and how a

researchers can benefit from it? - WIReDSpace, UJDigispace, IRSpace, OpenDOAR, ROAR

• Publishing in subscription-based journals, can limit your readership• Publishing your pre-print article in OA repositories can enlarge your

readership and citation impact: Arxiv.org; WIReDSpace. • Deposit your post-prints in a OA repository: WIReDSpace• As a Researcher you have an option to publish in Accredited Open

Access Journals (AOAJSA, cont.)

Accredited Open Access Journals – South Africa (AOAJSA) http://www.ais.up.ac.za/aoajsa.htm

WITS Institutional Repository http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za

Eprints: http://www.eprints.org/

Funding for publishing in OA Journals• Funding options for OA journals and researchers:

- OA journals do not generate revenue- OA Publishers receive funding in exchange for advertising on their web- Some OA journals require payments from the Authors for article submission- Government can subsidise OA publishers/institutions for producing freely available information- International funding agencies (Collaboration)- Institutional/University Membership paid on behalf of the Authors

Open Access Journal Collections & Web Resources

Subscription-based Journals & Databases

eIFL.netHow do University Libraries Support Research?

Access to knowledge is fundamental to education and research, the improvement of lives, and the creation of human capital upon which the development of societies depends.

Libraries play a key role through the provision of high quality information resources and services.

However, factors such as the high cost of commercial e-resources, legal barriers and poor technology infrastructure risk leaving many people around the world behind.

http://www.eifl.net/cps/sections/about

UJ Subscription-based DatabasesOver 150 Databases in 2011; Over R 7.5 millions

WITS Subscription-based DatabasesOver 130 Databases

http://www.univen.ac.za/library_databases.html

Only 12 Databases + 2 Open Access Journals

collections The lack of Databases subscriptions, will restrict

students access to information and

consequently will lead to low research output.

Access to Databases: Comparison Top Multidisciplinary Databases

WITS University

• No subscription• Proquest• Sage Journals Online (400 journals,

1999+)• Science Direct (1995+)• Springer Link (2400 journals)• Taylor & Francis (1000 journals)• Wiley Library Online (400 journals,

1997+)• IEEE Xplore (1998+)• EbscoHost• Scopus

Top Multidisciplinary DatabasesUniversity of Johannesburg

• Cambridge Journals Online• Cancelled for 2009• No subscription (under

consideration for 2011)• Science Direct (1995+)• Springer Link (S & T collection)• No subscription• Wiley Library Online (400

journals, 1997+)• IEEE Xplore (full Collection)• EbscoHost• No subscription

Money! Money! Money!Budget restrictions: • CrossFire upgrade to Reaxys

- Increase substantially in cost (Over R 100,000)- Impact for Chemistry researchers, if cancelled- Way forward for 2011 subscription

• ISI Web of Science vs Scopus - Both serve the same purpose to find citation and abstracts (ISI Accredited Journals; Impact factor)- Complement each other (for how long?)

• Proquest vs Ebsco vs Infotrac databases- Duplication of titles vs Unique titles/ Cancelation

• Books 24x7 – cancelled for 2011

Some thoughts on...... Shrinking budgets

• Maintaining journal subscription renewals is a challenge• The rising % of subscription fees is unpredictable• Cancellation of print journals for online access could be

beneficial (sometime it saves up to 10%) or not.• Book Budget cuts, less and less funds for books.• Budget vs exchange rate. The economy rule! • Databases usage vs Cost per search. • Evaluation of existing resources• All of the above can lead to > Cancellation of useful

resources for researchers.

SA Open Access Journals Collections & Institutional Repositories

African Journals Archivehttp://www.ajarchive.org

http://www.sabinet.co.za/?page=open-access-journals

http://www.scielo.org.za

The Scientific Electronic Library OnlineAcademy of Science of South Africa - ASSAf

http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=013518019117943970829%3Atlw8-sayn_q

International Institutional Repositories

Open DOAR http://www.opendoar.org/search.php

Registry of Open Access Repository (ROAR)http://roar.eprints.org/

Driver for European Research http://search.driver.research-infrastructures.eu/

Top Open Access Journals & Collections

http://www.opensciencedirectory.net/

http://www.doaj.org

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc

http://www.plos.org/journals

http://www.openaccesscentral.com/

Golonka Resourcese-Math for Africa; e-Physics for Africa; e-Chemistry for Africa

e-Physics for Africa: http://physics.golonka.se/

e-Math for Africa: http://math.golonka.se/

e-Chemistry for Africa: http://chemistry.golonka.se/

The main purpose is to promote the use of Open Access journals and other scientific resources, as well as being a

platform for consortia building.

http://arxiv.org

http://arxiv.org/corr/home

http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596

Subscriptions meet Open AccessCommercial Publishers on the move???

Open Access Publishers: some statisticshttp://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1010/1010.0506.pdf

http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1010/1010.0506.pdf

Commercial Publishers with hybrid option

Google & Google Scholar (Academic articles)Bridging Subscriptions + Free + Open Access

http://scholar.google.com

Open Access & Institutional Repository:Way forward for Universities

• Establish Open Access Mandates • Institutional Repositories and deposition of research output• Building OA Community within the University & nationally• Join the world OA movement• Discuss Institutional Memberships to Open Access Publishers• Collaborate in creation of new SA Open Access Journals • Open Educational Webcasting (lectures; training)• Raising awareness of OA & IR among our peers• Nationwide initiative for subscription based journals – equal access to

information and knowledge• Use Social Media for Open Communication

Open Access eBook

http://sdu.ictp.it/openaccess/book.html

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/2582125/UJ_Open_Access_Week_2010

Open Access! Open Source! Open everything!

Pavlinka KovatchevaE-mail: pkovatcheva@uj.ac.za

UJ Sciences Librarian Portal: http://ujsciencelibrarian.pbworks.com/FrontPageSlideshare presentations: http://www.slideshare.net/pavlinka163/presentations

Thank you