POSTNOTE Number 397 January 2012 Open Access to Scientific Information Overview Open Access (OA) to scientific publications could provide more effective dissemination of research and thus increase its impact. The costs and benefits of different models of providing OA to publications need to be considered if a comprehensive shift to OA is to be financially sustainable. The internet has transformed the nature of OA to research data could enable others to scientific research, opening up new ways to validate findings and re-use data to advance collect, use and disseminate scientific knowledge and promote innovation. information. This has led to increased demand Sharing data openly requires effective data for access to such information. Open Access management and archiving. It also presents (OA) to scientific journal publications means challenges relating to protecting intellectual making them freely available online, rather than property and privacy. charging readers to view them. OA to research data means making research data more widely Expanding access to scientific information available for re-use by others to support requires researchers, librarians, higher research, innovation and wider public use. education institutions, funding agencies and publishers, to continue to work together. Background Open Access to Journal Publications The growth of the World Wide Web in the 1990s presented Scientific journals play a central role in the dissemination of new opportunities for disseminating scientific publications. scientific information, especially publicly-funded research. Scientific publishers have made substantial investments in Journal publishers produce, distribute and archive printed online delivery and in digitising old content. Now, 95% of and digital editions of journals. They also administer the journals are available online. The Open Access (OA) peer review (PR) process, where articles are scrutinised movement seeks to make scientific (and other scholarly) free of charge by other researchers before publication. publications freely available online. A drive for greater transparency and more effective exploitation of public funds The “Subscription Model” of Publication has also led to demand for OA to publicly-funded research Traditionally, publishers charge for their services through data, to support research and innovation. subscription fees to libraries and individual users. In the past couple of decades, journal subscription fees have, on Expanding access to scientific publications and data could average, increased above inflation, but library budgets have deliver widespread social and economic benefits. There are decreased, making access more of a challenge for publicly- several ways of achieving this. In March 2011 the Minister funded libraries. Following the recommendations of the for Universities and Science held a round table discussion to 2004 House of Commons Science and Technology explore the issues. At this meeting the government Committee inquiry into scientific publications,1 researchers, committed to supporting efforts to expand access to both librarians, higher education institutes (HEI), funding research publications and data as part of its wider agencies and publishers have been working together to “Transparency Agenda”. OA is seen by many as a key improve access to publications. Although there have been option for expanding access. However, there are challenges significant advances, there is still much debate as to as well as benefits to providing OA to publications and whether the subscription model is the most effective way to research data. This briefing examines these separately disseminate research for maximum access and impact. before highlighting cross-cutting issues. Some researchers, funding bodies and HEIs have argued that the cost of some journal subscriptions is compromising The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA; Tel: 020 7219 2840; email: [email protected] www.parliament.uk/post POSTnote Number 397 January 2012 Open Access to Scientific Information Page 2 the UK’s capacity for research. They say that researchers, article processing charge (APC). A few publishers such especially in smaller UK universities, do not have access to as the Public Library of Science, BioMed Central and the publications they need. Some have also argued that the Hindawi provide OA to all of their journals. Many subscription model does not deliver adequate access to subscription publishers such as Elsevier and Nature researchers in countries with lower income levels, or to the Publishing Group have recently launched a few OA wider public, such as individuals with medical conditions. journals. Many subscription publishers offer “hybrid” However, many subscription publishers argue that the models for some of their journals, under which authors subscription model is highly competitive and efficient and can choose to make their articles OA by paying an APC. that UK research libraries could make efficiency savings Although OA can simply mean making articles free to read elsewhere, to accommodate subscription costs. They also online, it usually also means removing some of the copyright say there are already several initiatives to expand access, restrictions on the reuse of that information, so that others such as provision of free or low cost access online access to can build on the published work. The 2011 Hargreaves developing countries. Review on Intellectual Property (IP) 4 reported that some aspects of current IP law relating to publications were In September 2011, the government set up an independent obstructing innovation and economic growth. One example working group to look into how expanded access might best is the placing of restrictions on ‘text-’ and ‘data-mining’ be achieved. This group aims to produce recommendations where articles can be automatically searched and analysed. in spring 2012. Many researchers, funding bodies and HEIs This can help to identify potential avenues for further argue that OA could offer a key way to expand access and research. With OA, such restrictions are removed. increase the impact of research. Box 1. ‘Green’ Open Access Repositories. Why Open Access to Publications? Around 56% of publishers worldwide formally allow authors to self- OA proponents argue that, as a matter of principle, the archive the "post-print" version (the final draft after peer review, not knowledge emerging from publicly funded research should including copy editing carried out by the journal).5 Repositories can be made freely available to society. They also argue that also hold "pre-prints" (pre- peer review), research data, and other materials used outside the formal channels of publication. There are free online access to publications would lead to social and two main types of repository. economic benefits, resulting from increased communication Institutional Repositories (IRs): maintained locally by research and translation of knowledge. A recent study suggests that a institutes. These are seen as a good way to showcase and shift to OA could increase the return on R&D by between manage research. There are over 80 well established UK IRs £184 and £386m over a 20 year period, depending on how including UCL, Cambridge and Southampton universities.6 OA is provided.2 This reflects the increase in access Thematic Repositories (TRs): usually organised by discipline; often provided to government, the NHS, corporations and small to holding a high proportion of international research. Examples are ArXiv for physics and computer science, UK PubMed Central for medium enterprises, as well as universities. life sciences, and the ESRC Research Catalogue for social science. There is a growing trend towards OA in the UK and worldwide. Around 20% of all articles were made available The costs and benefits of building and maintaining repositories vary through some form of OA in 2009.3 An increasing number of greatly. TRs tend to have formal business models with explicit costs UK research funding agencies including the Wellcome Trust met from funding agencies or HEIs. However the funding and benefits of IRs are generally not specifically quantified, with costs largely and Research Councils UK (RCUK) and many HEIs have hidden within the public funding of HEIs. There is some debate as to now adopted OA mandates. These require researchers to how well some IRs are being used.7 IRs and TRs can be used in make their published articles freely available online. Most conjunction with each other, with IRs collecting all the content subscription publishers have incorporated OA models in produced by the HEI, and TRs adding further index or search their business to allow authors to meet funder and HEI functionality at a discipline level. requirements in ways that the publishers perceive are Sustainability of “Green” and “Gold” Models sustainable for the journal. The main challenge of OA is With green OA the costs of publication continue to be paid seen to be how to meet the costs of publication, particularly for through journal subscription fees, but anyone can access the administration of peer review, on a sustainable basis. the publication via a repository, regardless of whether they subscribe to the journal. The cost to HEIs could rise slightly Models of Open Access to Publications because of the need to fund repositories alongside paying There are two main models of OA, and it is widely believed for journal subscriptions. However, proponents say that this that there will be