Open Access (OA) Monographs – Why, How and What Next?

Caren Milloy , JISC Collections

@oapenuk #oapenuk

Why monographs & why OA?

• 2/3rd of AHRC funded outputs are monographs and edited collections

• Standard against which performance and standing of researcher is measured

• Sales decline from 2000 to 200 max• What does this mean for scholarship?• Need to demonstrate impact and reach• Could OA make scholarship better?

OA monograph research• SEP 08: OAPEN Project• OCT 10: OAPEN-UK funded by AHRC and Jisc• JUN 12: The “Finch” report excluded monographs but noted:

‘universities, funders, publishers, and learned societies should continue to work together to promote further experimentation in open access publishing for scholarly monographs’

• MAY 13: Wellcome Trust only funder to mandate OA monographs / chapters

• JUL 13: HEFCE Post 2014 REF consultation: noted the OAPEN-UK project and excluded monographs

• SEP 13: Jisc National Monographs Strategy Project• NOV 13: HEFCE Open Access Monograph Reference Group

Main issues to explore

• Academic reaction – perception and attitudes• Quality of content and processes (peer review)• Assessment and career progression• Fears over Creative Commons• Business models and funding • Standards adoption – access, preservation• UK v International• Will the monograph continue to exist?

• OAPEN-UK is an innovative and highly consultative project – working in an area where little research exists and connecting with all the key stakeholders to identify and discuss concerns, challenges, perceptions and opportunities related to a transition to open access monographs. OAPEN-UK recognises that open access will require changes to current working practice as well as cultural change and that resistance to change is inevitable. By working with each stakeholder and sharing findings between stakeholders, the project promotes understanding and knowledge and enables stakeholders to make informed decisions based on evidence, rather than assumptions.

@oapenuk #oapenuk

76 HSS titles: 2006 - 2013

Experimental Group (38 titles)

Control Group (38 titles)

OA with CC licenceOAPEN Library

Publishers websiteInstitutional RepositoryGoogle Books (100%)

Standard e-book agreements

Publishers websiteE-book aggregators

Google Books (10%)

Print version available for sale E-book device friendly version available for sale

OUP, Palgrave, T&F, UWP, LUP, Bloomsbury

The research programme

1.How policies, processes and mechanisms need to change in order to enable OA publication of monographs?

2.What are the measurable effects of a move to OA monographs?

3.How do perceptions of OA monograph publication change among participants during the project?

@oapenuk #oapenuk

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stewart/461099066/

OAPEN-UK Research PlanEllen Collins, Research Information Network

Research process

Initiation

Year 1 11/12

Year 2 12/13

Year 3 13/14 project close 2015

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WP1: Literature Review

Literature Review available and stay up to date with our Diigo Group: OAPEN-UK

http://oapen-uk.jiscebooks.org/further-reading/

WP2. Annual Benchmarking

Baseline survey will provide benchmark to measure how the perceptions and attitudes of project participants change over the course of the project

Baseline results are available at:http://oapen-uk.jiscebooks.org/research-findings/benchmarking-survey/

2nd Benchmarking survey results available by end of Oct 13

WP3. Focus groups

1. Institutional representatives including librarians, institutional repository staff, research managers

2. Publishers3. Learned Societies4. Researchers (as both authors

& readers)5. E-book aggregators6. Research Fundershttp://oapen-uk.jiscebooks.org/research-findings/y1-initial-focus-groups/

WP4. In-depth surveys, interviews & case studiesHSS Survey March to May 2012: 690 usable responses from HSS researchers• 53% are awareness of OA & 38% familiar with OA • Around 50% of researchers think it is ok to make a profit from OA publishing as

long as that profit goes back into supporting the discipline or making more OA content available – 20% think you can make a profit and use it however you like and 20% think that you can make a profit but only to cover costs

• Almost 60% of researchers are aware of Creative Commons but 40% are not & 80% prefer CC BY-NC-ND

• CC BY-ND is preferred over CC BY-NC• Researchers value the distribution and marketing services of publishers the most

– oh and that they give them a print book at the end! • Of the 397 that had published a mono, book chapter or co-authored a mono

since 2000, 45% said that their research was underpinned by core university funds, 22% from RCUK and 20% from another funder

• Perception of the 690 is that open access will have negative impacts on quality, reputation and reward but will be brilliant for availability and efficiency

WP4. In-depth surveys, interviews & case studies

Learned Society Case Studies

1. Royal Historical Society

2. Regional Studies Association

Improve understanding of role of learned societies in monograph publishing and impact of OA on their business model and the service they provide to HSS

WP4. In-depth surveys, interviews & case studies

Institutional Case Studies with 4 UK HEIs

• Better understanding of the environment that researchers are operating within, policies and messages that they will be receiving from employers

• Understanding challenges and potential blockages within institutions which may prevent successful implementation of OA monographs or policies about OA monographs

WP4. In-depth surveys, interviews & case studiesPublisher Interviews with 8 – 10 publishers including OA and UPs

• move beyond the publishers in the pilot to take account of the broader publishing environment

• understanding the attitudes and processes that might prevent a viable open access monograph publishing route for researchers who want or need to take it

• explore the possibility of Green OA for monographs

WP4. In-depth surveys, interviews & case studies

Funder Interviews with HEFCE, AHRC, ESRC, Wellcome Trust, EU and NEH• ensure project remains agile in view of

developing funder interest in this area• discuss and capture aspirations for OA

monographs within policy developments• opportunity to reflect on processes for

implementation

WP5. The Pilot

• Two years of data collected • Have some lessons learned to share:– Implementation issues re integrating OA

into ‘traditional’ workflows–Discovery and transparency of OA content

(metadata)– Supply chain issues (ONIX, Amazon)

WP10. Infographics

Mapping the monograph publishing process from start to finish- a transparent view of activities of authors and publishers towards producing a monograph

• address issues identified in WP3 about lack of clarity for different stakeholders about their relation to other stakeholders in the publishing process

• identifies key differences between OA and traditional publishing processes

• provides information for those considering setting up their own OA presses

WP11. A Guide to Creative Commons for HSS Authors An introductory guide for HSS researchers to creative commons, copyright and open access• Help increase awareness and

understanding of CC• Help make informed decisions• Based on the concerns raised

in the HoL, BIS, LS letters, blogs and our research

Open Access Monographs in HSS Conference

http://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/JISC-Collections-events/oabooksconf/

Business models

OA PDF: OAPEN-UK, OAPEN-NL, Springer, MUP

OA all formats: Palgrave, Ubiqity press

OA HTML: OBP, Bloomsbury Academic

Crowdfunded OA: OBP, De Gruyter

Freemium membership OA: OpenEdition

Consortia OA: Knowlede Unlatched

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/inform/inform37/OpenAccessMonographs.html#.UmPRnlMUOSo

5 take-aways for researchers

1. Know your rights and understand Creative Commons licensing

2. Engage as much as possible in internal and external discussions

3. Visit the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) & OAPEN Library

4. Experiment now & support early career academics

5. Participate in our next OAPEN-UK survey!

Thank you & Further Info

OAPEN-UK website:http://oapen-uk.jiscebooks.org/

Twitter:@oapenuk

Diigo Group:OAPEN-UK

Caren Milloyc.milloy@jisc-collections.ac.uk

Twitter:@carenmilloy

@oapenuk #oapenuk