JISC

September 2008

Report summary

A report to investigate the payment of charges to publishers for Open Access articles, based on two surveys: one sent to 160 UK Higher Education Institutions and one to 4055 biomedical authors.

The payment of these charges allows toll free access to journals, but for the model to work there need to be funds in place to allow authors to claim Open Access funds.

The report notes a comparatively high response rate among the biomedical authors (18%), which demonstrates how interesting they find the issue of Open Access.

The responses show that many of the respondents in the biomedical field (72%) had used Open Access. There was some confusion about funding, however since only 43% of those claimed to have paid for it. (It’s suggested that this discrepancy was perhaps because their employers paid without their knowledge, perhaps because they have used journals that make no charge.) Of those that knew how their Open Access authorship was funded, most said their funder had given them a publication grant. There was also widespread confusion and ignorance about the availability of funds for Open Access, but plenty of interest in the scheme, reflected in a wide range of comments about it (that were both positive and negative).

There was even more confusion and uncertainty among the responses from higher education institutions (HEIs). A large percentage (36%) didn’t know whether their institution had an Open Access policy, for instance. There was a wide variety of methods in place for paying publication charges, but few seem to have funds in place or plans to set them up prompting the report’s authors to write that the situation “looks bleak”. Most HEI respondents at least acknowledged the need “to develop procedures”, however.

In the conclusion, the interest in Open Access is again noted, along with a summation of where problems arise, particularly relating to which part of the university should be responsible for Open Access funding and where those funds can be found. Further OA advocacy is also recommended to counter the negative perceptions shown by some of the respondents.

Key points

Publication of an article in any journal over the past five years was claimed by 701 respondents, with 512 (72%) claiming publication in a fully-open access journal and 454 (64%) publication in a hybrid open access/subscription journal. Demonstrating the popularity of Open Access in this subject discipline, at least.

Researchers

“Of all authors who have published an article in a journal in the last five years 43% have on at least one occasion paid an OA publication charge, and 47% have had to pay colour charges or other charges to a publisher of a subscription journal.”

“Of all authors who have published an article in a journal in the last five years 43% have on at least one occasion paid an OA publication charge, and 47% have had to pay colour charges or other charges to a publisher of a subscription journal.”

“Of all authors who have published an article in a journal in the last five years 43% have on at least one occasion paid an OA publication charge, and 47% have had to pay colour charges or other charges to a publisher of a subscription journal.”

Institutions

‘25% of responding authors feel that their employing institution assists in accessing a research funder’s OA grant, 38% feel that the assistance is not there, and 37% “do not know”.’

“5 institutions mandate OA, 13 encourage it, 10 allow it, and 1 discourages it.”

“All 10 Russell Group institutions responding claim to be dealing with the payment of OA publishing fees.”

“17 of the 61 responding institutions believe that no member of their research staff has used a research grant for the payment of OA publication charges over the past 12 months but 16 institutions estimate up to 99 instances and 4 institutions estimate over 500.”

“Of concern in the responses to this question are the 36% of HEI respondents who do not know whether their employer has an open access publication policy or not.”

“Overall… the situation on funds for the payment of OA publication charges looks bleak, the bulk of institutions neither having such funds in place at any level nor having any plans to set up such funds.”

Funders

“…regular mechanisms need to be in place for authors to claim from open access funds provided by their employing institution or their research funder.”

“45% replied that their research funder had provided a special publication grant, 31% that they had used part of a research grant, 15% that they had obtained a special publication grant from their employer, and 4% that they had paid the charge from their own pocket.”

Publishers

“Publishers did not escape some criticism, particularly on the perceived high level of publication charges (e.g. “the fees seem to be exorbitant”). This criticism may reflect a new awareness of costs from which authors were shielded under the subscription model, in which the cost of journals is met by libraries.”

Read the full report (Word)