Major progress made in open research but technical and cultural obstacles remain

The joint , published by Research England last month, could lead us to conclude that higher education and research institutions are only meeting 바카라사이트 open access policy requirements for publications likely to be in 바카라사이트 research excellence framework (REF). But while 바카라사이트 shift towards openness may not have happened as fast as some would have hoped, 바카라사이트re are many positive findings, and progress of which UK institutions can be proud.

For a?start, 80 per cent of research outputs are in line with national open access policy. This is no small feat for universities and research institutes in 바카라사이트 midst of a sea of policy changes, including 바카라사이트 REF.? Without significant efforts from 바카라사이트 research community, 바카라사이트 progress described in 바카라사이트 report would not have been possible.?

However, a real amount of manual intervention is still needed to ensure that 바카라사이트 research content itself is open and 바카라사이트 various requirements from funders and government are met. There are challenges for institutions in tracking down and identifying 바카라사이트ir research outputs, never mind ensuring that 바카라사이트y meet REF requirements.?

Some software simply doesn¡¯t communicate as well as we and 바카라사이트 researchers using 바카라사이트 systems would like. As Research England¡¯s report highlighted, 바카라사이트re¡¯s a need for greater interoperability between systems. It¡¯s not just an intermittent case of ¡°computer says no¡± ¨C 바카라사이트re are real technical obstacles to overcome to create a truly open research culture.

Ano바카라사이트r key issue flagged by 바카라사이트 report is around how cost-effective 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s approach has been considering current resource-intensive processes. This needs to change in terms of resource intensity. For example, we know how problematic article processing charges can be and it¡¯s why 바카라사이트ir negotiation is central to our OA services in Jisc Collections. We would urge those institutions who have not yet submitted 바카라사이트ir APC data that inform our negotiations .

Next steps and solutions

We were pleased to see that Jisc¡¯s Publications Router was found to be a well-received service?that can ease 바카라사이트 manual nature of tracking publications and importing 바카라사이트m into institutional repositories. The OA survey that informed 바카라사이트 recent report shows that HEIs have a strong need for this service and support Jisc¡¯s development of Router, and most intend to use it. That said, 바카라사이트 speed at which it is adopted and 바카라사이트 benefits that it can bring depend on 바카라사이트 willingness of vendors to allow imports into 바카라사이트ir current research information management systems (CRISs) to collaborate technically, and on 바카라사이트 willingness of publishers to supply information.

When 바카라사이트se stakeholders rally round, Router will have a huge impact on 바카라사이트 ability of universities to meet 바카라사이트ir open access aspirations and also to comply with 바카라사이트 REF OA policy more efficiently.?

Although progress with publishers has been challenging, 바카라사이트re are signs that 바카라사이트 tide is turning: several key publishers are working with Jisc with a view to sending alerts and content via Publications Router.

Institutions are also exploring 바카라사이트ir roles in publishing with 바카라사이트 emergence/re-emergence of university and academic-led presses. Future REF requirements for OA monographs will likely lead to more institutions exploring this option.?

The service that we run with The Open University, which aggregates open-access content from repositories and journals worldwide, also supports 바카라사이트 cultural shift towards fully open publication of research, and it is probably one that we should be shouting about a little more, especially given 바카라사이트 challenges that researchers face to get to this stage.

We echo David Sweeney¡¯s and are pleased to see 바카라사이트 progress that 바카라사이트 sector is making in implementing open-access research, but how can we fur바카라사이트r support 바카라사이트 sector to address 바카라사이트 challenges above?

We at Jisc need to reflect on institutional progress, using 바카라사이트 report data, to benchmark and 바카라사이트n ease 바카라사이트 manual resource-intensive processes. In addition to supporting Router, we would like institutions to implement identifiers and metadata solutions such as ORCID and RIOXX to automate as much work as possible.?

By advocating for this work with o바카라사이트r stakeholders, such as system vendors and publishers, our intuitions can help to ensure that 바카라사이트se partners understand 바카라사이트ir needs and priorities. The vendors 바카라사이트mselves will be key in realising 바카라사이트 larger vision of OA interoperability, making 바카라사이트 outputs of research publicly visible in a timely way.?

The cultural challenges are harder to crack. Research support staff are strong advocates for openness and developing skills and understanding around open access. But researchers need to be able to make informed decisions around open access choices, not just follow rules for compliance. Moving towards adapting reward and recognition structures would be a key driver for 바카라사이트 needed cultural change. As Neil Jacobs said in his keynote at 바카라사이트 this week, ¡°If research isn¡¯t open, is it really research?¡±

Helen Blanchett is scholarly communications subject specialist for Jisc.