Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), a global licensing and content solutions organization, recently brought together institutions from the UK and publishers from both the US and UK for an Open Access roundtable discussion to explore the implications of managing Open Access fees on a large scale. During this meeting, held at University College in London, the attendees examined a number of issues related to fragmentation, approach and processes, including ways vendors can play an expanded role in addressing the challenges. CCC published the group’s findings in a report written by Rob Johnson, Founder and Director of Research Consulting.
“We should work towards simplifying and standardizing processes to move to a sustainable and scalable Open Access ecosystem which preserves academic freedom and author choice in publishing and makes the research as valuable as possible for the end user.”
The roundtable was characterized by a shared desire among the attendees to work collaboratively to make Article Processing Charges (APCs) easier to manage, despite the uncertainties in the marketplace. The institutions and publishers issued the following statement at the close of the event: “We should work towards simplifying and standardizing processes to move to a sustainable and scalable Open Access ecosystem which preserves academic freedom and author choice in publishing and makes the research as valuable as possible for the end user.”
In his report, Johnson wrote, “The current approach to APC management is highly fragmented and undermined by differences of approach among nations and academic disciplines, by inefficiencies in process, and by scarcity of resources. . . . Many of these issues could be alleviated through improvements in data sharing and development of common identifiers and vocabularies, but these must be placed in the context of broader trends and continuing uncertainties over the future of academic publishing.”
Roundtable attendees included the American Chemical Society, Aries Systems, British Medical Journal, Institute of Electrical and Electronics (IEEE), Imperial College London, Jisc, Nature Publishing Group, University College London, University of Exeter, University of Glasgow, University of Huddersfield, University of Kent, and University of St. Andrews.
RightsLink® for Open Access is CCC’s next-generation platform that automates the collection and management of APCs. It can be easily integrated with publishers’ manuscript management and production systems to help automate the collection of Open Access charges. The platform thereby allows more time for editorial staff to work with authors and for publication personnel to produce high-value content. RightsLink for Open Access also offers comprehensive billing and collections services to publishers, priority customer service to authors, and detailed reporting to both.
As part of its commitment to keeping the market informed of the latest Open Access news and trends, CCC launched an Open Access Resource Centerin collaboration with the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), linking to the latest Open Access news, reports, industry whitepapers, webinars and websites.
Johnson will discuss his report during the CCC-sponsored webinar, “Making Open Access Work,” on Wednesday, Jan. 28 at 11:00 am EST.
