JISC

Overview

It provides:

• a national facility for the deposition of post-prints* under terms of Open Access for those academic authors in the UK higher education without an institutional facility. This will bridge the gap between those institutions that already have a repository and those institutions that have yet to develop one.
• UK Repository Junction, as part of a user-friendly 'reception' for the Depot, that will provide redirect options when there is a more appropriate repository already in existence.

In 2006 JISC funded the EDINA national data centre and SHERPA (University of Nottingham) - to work together to scope provision for a short to medium term repository service to take deposit of peer-reviewed research outputs from any UK academic author without access to an IR at their own university. In 2007 the partners were asked by JISC to provide the proposed facility for deposit of post-prints and to work with the Repositories Support Project on promotion and advocacy to would-be depositors and to institutions considering setting up their own IRs.

*Post-prints are eprints of papers that have been accepted for publication through a peer-review process.

Aims and objectives

The overall aim of the project is to support the policy objectives that JISC has for Open Access scholarly communication. As a national facility, The Depot will allow all UK academics to benefit from Open Access exposure of their research outputs.By complementing existing repository infrastructure, it should contribute to a 'level playing field' for Open Access deposit and use. It will support policies of funding agencies towards Open Access, aiding national, institutional and funding policy development in advance of a comprehensive repository network.

Aims

• to accept post-prints from authors whose institutions have no extant IR thereby assisting the emergence of IRs in such institutions and acting as a keep-safe, with an agreed exit strategy
• to enable deposit by researchers-as-authors thereby exposing content under Open Access and by providing a transfer facility helping to populate extant and emerging IRs
• to operate 'UK Repository Junction' which will re-direct potential depositors whose content is unsuitable for the Depot such as preprints or learning objects; or whose institution already has an extant repository.

Objectives

• to provide a facility that enables UK researchers, as authors, to expose material by Open Access
• to provide facilities and operational liaison in support of Institutional Repositories
• to inter-work effectively with the Repository Support Project, the Intute Search facility, stakeholders and other parties such as SHERPA Plus - to facilitate advocacy, liaison and policy development in support of open access.

Project Methodology

To deliver a supporting service based on the scoping project - Prospero - that preceded this phase, so as to add value within the JISC Repositories and Preservation Programme, recognising the need to develop interdependence with other parties and to deliver service, both to authors (and other depositors) and institutions. See the Depot project plan for further information. (forthcoming)

Implications

• Contribution to engendering significant UK-wide support for Open Access and repositories
• Evidence for JISC policy makers on what is best done 'at the network level' to support Open Access and institutional responsibilities
• Support for researchers and their institutions .through provision of a 'keep safe' for their research outputs and the benefits of Open Access

Deliverables

• Project website
• Service-quality repository with the performance and capacity to meet the requirements of stakeholders
• Service website providing a full range of supporting documentation
• Functionality that acts as a UK Repository Junction

Stakeholders

• JISC
• Institutions without an Open Access repository.
• Institutions with an IR (as target of redirects via the Repository Junction).
• Researchers who have neither access to an IR or an obvious subject-based repository.
• Researchers who are unaware that their institution has an IR.
• Other JISC Projects.
• Research Funding Councils and other grant funders.
• Publishers.