JISC

JISC has been at the forefront of the open access debate from the very beginning and continues to commission research, develop strategies for the implementation of open access, coordinate activities and provide accurate information and resources.

Some very specific ways in which JISC currently supports the take-up of open access include:

The Open Access Implementation Group

The UK Open Access Implementation Group (OAIG) has been set up as a strategic and practical body to increase the rate at which the outputs from UK research are available on open access terms. Members of the group  include senior representatives from bodies that support open access, including universities, funders, libraries and publishers.

The OAIG is developing a compelling and realistic strategy for the implementation of open access in the UK, in the context of the wider ‘open’ environment, and ensuring that this strategy reflects the priorities of universities and others. It is also sharing information about the plans and activities of member organisations, and coordinating these so far as possible to support the take-up of open access; acting as a steering group for such coordinated interventions, where they are undertaken; and providing accurate information about open access and the relevant work of its members to the sector and more widely.

Working with publishers

JISC Collections is a shared service that licences content for UK higher education and is working closely with publishers to explore business models that help to address the problem of sustainability. Most recently, JISC Collections has investigated the hybrid model of open access publishing and the extent to which it is a transitional model away from subscription-based to fully Gold open access. A workshop of all stakeholders informed this work and the outputs will help in the implementation of existing guidelines on paying open access publication charges by enabling universities, publishers, and funders to share good practice.

JISC Collections is also working with publishers, research funders, authors and institutions to explore open access scholarly monograph publishing in the humanities and social sciences through a new project, OAPEN-UK.

Commissioning research

JISC has recently commissioned studies to look at the benefits of open access for the private, public and third sectors, along with practical resource packs for institutions. All JISC's publications are available on the reports page.

Building repositories

The focus of the JISC Repositories programmes and wider initiatives has led to the development of a repository infrastructure with approximately 200 repositories in the UK. Open access has been one of the drivers for this growth, allowing universities the opportunity to capture and curate their research outputs. JISC has a number of projects in this area such as SHERPA RoMEO which provides transparency around deposit licences and the Open Access Repository Junction Project which supports the deposit of content, for example, from publisher systems into multiple institutional repositories as required. Other projects include OpenDOAR – a registry of open access repositories, which has documented this growth, but also provides statistical data to support institutions around open access policies. Work is currently underway to scope the shared service requirements of repositories and deliver sustainable national services that underpin the open access agenda.