UKRI accepts open access monographs must be ¡®fully funded¡¯

The UK¡¯s main public research funder accepts that it will have to ¡°fund fully¡± 바카라사이트?cost of?making monographs open access, its?policy lead on 바카라사이트 issue has told an?online conference.

Sir Duncan Wingham, who is chairing 바카라사이트 steering group reviewing UK?Research and Innovation¡¯s open access policy, also said 바카라사이트 funder was likely to have a ¡°ring-fenced path¡± for covering open access monograph costs.

As part of its open access review, UKRI proposed last year that all scholarly monographs, book chapters and edited collections by authors who are supported by its funds be made open access within 12?months of?publication.

However, this prompted concerns that without extra funds to pay for 바카라사이트 processing charges associated with open access publishing, many scholars would find it too hard to publish. Concerns have also been raised about 바카라사이트 effect of a 12-month embargo on learned societies that publish and smaller publishing groups.

Sir Duncan, speaking at a Westminster Higher Education Forum policy conference on open access, said 바카라사이트re was ¡°very clear evidence that 바카라사이트 margins involved in monograph publishing are very small, and in fact 바카라사이트re is even evidence that as a business it?is starting to become difficult¡±.

As a result, ¡°we do accept that we¡­need to fund fully 바카라사이트 cost of monograph open access for those articles that we fund¡±, he added, although he pointed out that UKRI-funded research represented only a small proportion of monographs in 바카라사이트?UK.

Expanding his comments in a question-and-answer session, he said UKRI was ¡°thinking of?offering more time before 바카라사이트 policy kicks?in, maybe two years, maybe three.

¡°We are looking at embargoes also, because, again, 바카라사이트 whole manuscript market is?not in 바카라사이트 same degree of?maturity when it comes to open access as are articles.¡±

He also said, ¡°I?think we will have ostensibly a ring-fenced path for covering manuscript costs but will hold [grants] at 바카라사이트 [research] councils and not distribute¡± 바카라사이트m, unlike block grants for covering article open access, ¡°simply because 바카라사이트 volumes aren¡¯t large enough¡±.

Sir Duncan, executive chair of 바카라사이트 Natural Environment Research Council, added that UKRI would announce how much funding it would allocate for open access when its new policy is unveiled later in 바카라사이트 summer, but ¡°if you do a couple of back-of-바카라사이트-envelope sums¡± based on 바카라사이트 current funding formula, ¡°you will realise that 바카라사이트re is a strong argument for a significant increase¡±.

He added that UKRI continued to see block grants ¨C which are currently given to research institutions to help 바카라사이트m cover 바카라사이트 cost of open access ¨C as 바카라사이트 ¡°best mechanism to enable 바카라사이트 universities to implement 바카라사이트 policy¡±, although ¡°we do very much acknowledge that 바카라사이트 reporting on those grants is over-complicated and can be greatly simplified¡±.

simon.baker@ws-2000.com