JISC

JISC works with organisations at a national and international level to ensure that public policy facilitates scholarly communication.  JISC encourages Government and other agencies to adopt policies that promote the principles of scholarship and ensure that the outputs of publicly funded research are freely and readily available to the community.

The Scholarly Communication Group works with the academic, library, and publishing communities to discuss the current status and future of scholarly communication and explore how change can benefit all stakeholders.  This work informs JISC strategy and the position JISC takes on strategic issues related to scholarly communication.

JISC and its Scholarly Communication Group promote principles, policies, and practices that facilitate scholarly communication and benefit the research and education communities.  Open access, self-archiving, copyright and licensing are all important issues.  JISC works with other organisations to advocate and facilitate change at a national and international level.  Below are some of the initiatives JISC has initiated or supported to improve scholarly communication.

Statement of Principles on Research and the Scholarly Communications Process

In February 2007, the Research Information Network (RIN) published a Statement of Principles on Research and the Scholarly Communications Process: Towards Strategic Goals for Public Policy. The Statement outlines the goals and principles of the scholarly communications process. The aim is to enable Government and other key players to develop a UK public policy framework to underpin research and knowledge transfer. The goals of scholarly communications outlined in the Statement are:

• The pursuit of research aimed at generating new knowledge and understanding
• Assuring the quality of the information outputs generated by researchers
• Ensuring appropriate recognition and reward for all those engaged in the scholarly communications process
• Presenting, publishing and disseminating information outputs digitally, orally, in print and other forms
• Facilitating access to and use of information outputs by researchers and others who have an interest in them
• Assessing and evaluating the usage and impact of information outputs
• Preserving digital, printed and other information outputs, so that those of long-term value are accessible for the indefinite future.  

The Statement was developed in consultation with researches, funders, librarians, and publishers and has been endorsed by JISC, the British Library, the Research Councils, publishers (through the Publishers Association, ALPSP, and the International Association of STM Publishers), and other organisations.

EC Petition on Open Access

In February 2007, JISC and its partners delivered a petition to the European Commission calling for it to adopt policies to guarantee free public access to research results. At the time, the petition had been signed by 20,000 academics, researchers, and librarians, and was supported by 750 education, research and cultural organisations.  Subsequently it has been signed by many others.

The petition was initiated to demonstrate the overwhelming public support for the EC to implement a policy of public access to publicly-funded European research. It calls for the EC to formally endorse recommendations outlined in the EC-commissioned Study on the Economic and Technical Evolution of the Scientific Publication Markets of Europe. Among other recommendations, the study called for “guaranteed public access to publicly-funded research results shortly after publication.”

The petition is sponsored by JISC, the SURF Foundation (Netherlands), SPARC Europe, DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Germany), and DEFF (Danmarks Elektroniske Fag- og Forskningsbibliotek, Denmark).

RCUK Position on Access to Research Outputs

In June 2006, RCUK (Research Councils UK) published a position statement on Access to Research Outputs. This confirmed the principles of access to research outputs, recommended that individual research councils should issue guidance on implementation, and outlined follow-up initiatives.

In a press release, JISC welcomed the position statement, and Malcolm Read commented that it “represents an important step in ensuring that the outputs of UK research are made more visible worldwide, and in enhancing still further the international standing of UK research”.

Previously RCUK had circulated a draft position statement widely for comment. JISC was one of the many organisations which had issued a formal response. Following consultation and discussion, RCUK published the revised position.

JISC Response to the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology Report on Scientific Publications

In October 2004, JISC responded to the conclusions and recommendations of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee’s report, Scientific Publications: Free for All? (HC399-1).  JISC Response to the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology Report on Scientific Publications identifies the activities that JISC is undertaking to support the key recommendations of the report. These are summarised across four themes:

• Common approaches across a range of communities
• A coherent supporting infrastructure
• Processes to join up the ‘lifecycle’ of knowledge
• New publishing models and supporting activities.

The response also draws attention to JISC’s activities on specific issues related to the report’s recommendations in the report – open access and repository issues, and licensing issues.