To kick start the slow shift towards fully open access academic publishing, Jisc has launched a review.
Commissioned and governed by Jisc’s strategic groups with input from Deltathink, an open access data and analytics company, the aim is to gather evidence, agitate discussion in the higher education sector and make recommendations for action.
Exploring the open access landscape in general and the particular role of transitional agreements (TAs), the review findings will be published early in 2024.
Jisc’s head of research licensing, Anna Vernon, explains why the review is necessary:
“The UK has been a leader in the transition to open access, driven by funder policy and institutional demand for a publishing ecosystem that is affordable, fair and transparent.
“However, two decades on from the first talks on open research, overall progress remains slow.
“We know the UK higher education institutions Jisc represents in sector negotiations with publishers are frustrated with the status quo. We hope this review will kick-start the process by supplying the evidence to drive sector consensus on what future open access publishing models should look like.”
The review aims to answer the following questions:
• What proportion of scholarly literature is OA?
• What impact have Jisc-negotiated TAs had on the open access of UK research publications?
• What effect have TAs had on costs for UK higher education providers?
• How far have TAs facilitated author compliance with funder requirements?
• To what extent have TAs enabled greater transparency around publisher OA processes for the academic sector?
For more information on how Jisc is supporting OA, visit the open access pages.
