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Open Access Publishing. Calum Land BioMed Central Ltd CODIST-II 2 nd May 2011. Agenda. What is Open Access? Open Access Repositories Digital Bridge or Digital Divide? BioMed Central and Africa How can Open Access benefit Africa? Open Access advocacy
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Open Access Publishing Calum Land BioMed Central Ltd CODIST-II 2nd May 2011
Agenda • What is Open Access? • Open Access Repositories • Digital Bridge or Digital Divide? • BioMed Central and Africa • How can Open Access benefit Africa? • Open Access advocacy • An Open Access journal case study
About BioMed Central Largest publisher of peer-reviewed open access journals Launched first open access journal in 2000 Became part of Springer in 2008 Now publishes 207 open access journals >90,000 peer-reviewed OA articles published All research articles published under Creative Commons license Costs covered by article processing charge (APC)
Open Access Publishing Traditional journals take ownership of the research provide access to subscribers only Open access journals have no subscription barriers take advantage of the economics of the internet to allow universal access research is openly licensed to allow reuse
Characteristics of Open Access • The publisher charges directly for the service of publication/ dissemination • Research permanently available via the Internet • No barriers to access such as subscription costs • Licensed so as to allow redistribution and reuse (Creative Commons) • Archived in an internationally recognized repository (e.g. PubMed Central)
Who Pays? Open access journals do have costs Publication fee is a very small fraction of the cost of doing research Most open access publishers, including BioMed Central, give waivers to developing countries In other cases, open access journals have central support, so no charges for authors or readers
Business Model • Article-processing charge (APC) covers: • Editorial: handling of manuscripts • Technical: development, maintenance and operation of online journal system • Production: Formatting and mark up of articles, inclusion in indexing services • Marketing: Making sure readers and authors know about the journal • Customer service: Responding to authors/readers • Web technology is used to keep costs low • BioMed Central’s charges (~$1680) are at the lower end
Routes Towards Open Access Gold Open AccessPublishing in an open access journal • Full and Optional Open Access journals Green Open AccessDepositing articles in an Open Access repository Subject repositories • PubMedCentral • ArXiV Institutional repositories • E.g. UNECA Instutional Repository
Open Access repositories • Supports the Green Route • Allow archiving of articles published both in traditional journals and open access journals • Traditional publishers typically only allow author version to be archived • Many require a 6 or 12 month embargo period • Open access articles can be deposited and made immediately available
Open Access Publishing,then and now… 2011 And many more… 2000
The internet has the potential to radically expand access to knowledge
Growth of mobile phones in Africa International Telecommunications Union report (2009) “The increase in the number of mobile cellular subscriptions over the last five years has defied all predictions and Africa remains the region with the highest mobile growth rate” Source: African Mobile Factbook 2008
Mobile phone networks are already aiding scientific data gathering
“Many African postgraduates lack access to, and the skills for working on, computers.” Association of Commonwealth Universities 2010
ICT Levels International Telecommunications Union report (2009) Although the number of Internet users has grown faster than in other regions: “Africa’s ICT penetration levels in 2009 are still far behind the rest of the world and very few African countries reach ICT levels comparable to global averages”
“The University Access Programis an initiative designed to catalyze Internet usage in Sub Saharan Africa Universities through the provision of affordable laptops, wireless access and bandwidth.”
“Computer Aid has provided over 180,000 PCs to where they are most needed in more than 100 countries across Africa and Latin America.”
As connectivity improves, other access barriers become significant
All African countries receive automatic fee waiver, except: • Libya • Namibia • South Africa Algeria Botswana Equatorial Guinea Gabon
Growth in manuscript submissions from Africa to BioMed Central
Top 10 journals for publications from Africa in last 12 months
UN Millennium Development Goals • Reduce child mortality, improve maternal health • Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases • Ensure environmental sustainability • Develop a global partnership for development
Who needs access to the results of research? Public Professionals Researchers
Research on global health issues has expanded greatly • Developing world health issues are finally attracting substantial research spending • Private philanthropic initiatives have played an important role
Why do research if it is not accessible where it is most relevant?
Wellcome Trust Medical Research Council US National Institute of Health Howard Hughes Medical Institute European Research Council EC Seventh Framework Program Many research funders are now requiring Open Access
Many universities are now requiring open access • Harvard University (and other members of Compact for Open Access Publishing Equity) • More than 100 mandatory institution-wide open access policies world-widehttp://www.eprints.org/openaccess/policysignup/ • But still very few in Africa…
Institutional Membership • Supporter membershipInstitution pays a flat fee, authors pay a discounted Article Processing Charge • Prepay membershipInstitution covers cost of publication centrally, at a discounted rate • Shared Support membership Institution and researchers share the cost at a discounted rate
BMC Foundation Membership • A new type of membership created for developing nations • Designed to support Open Access advocacy • Same benefits as other institutional memberships • No cost
Benefits of Foundation Membership • A BMC Webpage • A Member welcome pack • Membership usage reports • Member logo/badge for use on institution website • PR of Membership
Criteria for Foundation Membership • Institution should have a Open Access policy in place • Institution should have published at least 5 articles in BioMed Central journals in the last year