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TOWARDS A NEW FUTURE FOR SCHOLARLY JOURNALS Frederick Friend JISC Scholarly Communication Consultant Honorary Director Scholarly Communication UCL f.friend@ucl.ac.uk Joint Information Systems Committee

BASIC ASSUMPTION: MORE CHANGES ARE STILL TO COME BUT THERE IS A GOOD FUTURE FOR SCHOLARLY JOURNALS  Most stakeholders now accept that we have begun a process of change in scholarly publishing  The initial drivers for change were technological (business models initially seen as continuing from paper to electronic) but technological changes are now seen as providing opportunities for change throughout the research life-cycle  Some stakeholders see the changes as a threat to scholarly journals  Other stakeholders see the changes as opportunities to provide more efficient and cost-effective dissemination of publicly-funded research  Most stakeholder organisations (institutions, funding agencies and publishers) want change to support rather than weaken journal publishing  They differ in their motives and in their view of desirable outcomes  Whose view of the future will prevail? Joint Information Systems Committee

OBJECTIVES ON WHICH MOST STAKEHOLDERS AGREE – AND WHERE THEY DISAGREE  Maintaining a high level of quality in research dissemination. Most stakeholders agree on the importance of peer review but some put emphasis upon the quality of a journal while others emphasise the quality of the article.  Matching the volume of publication to the volume of research. Most stakeholders wish to see publication opportunities for all serious research but differ on how much can be paid for traditional publication and therefore whether alternative publishing models should be supported.  Enabling future research to be published. Most stakeholders want to see viable business models but differ on how to achieve future viability.  Enabling high and effective use of published research. Most stakeholders look for usage and impact statistics but differ on their reasons for promoting particular metrics. Joint Information Systems Committee

INFORMING CHOICE: THE WORK OF JISC, THE UK JOINT INFORMATION SYSTEMS COMMITTEE (1)  The JISC is a sub-committee of the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the higher and further education funding councils in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland  JISC's activities support education and research by promoting innovation in new technologies and by the central support of ICT services  JISC’s programmes and projects assist UK universities and colleges in the choices they make by trialling innovative approaches  For the past seven years JISC has been supporting both “green” and “gold” open access developments alongside support for licensing deals (NESLi2), enabling UK authors to disseminate their research either through repositories or through open access journals or through subscription journals  In undertaking this work, JISC frequently collaborates with other stakeholders within the UK and across the world  Universities, funding agencies and authors need information about costs, benefits, and impacts to make an informed choice between publishing models Joint Information Systems Committee

INFORMING CHOICE: THE WORK OF JISC, THE UK JOINT INFORMATION SYSTEMS COMMITTEE (2)  The JISC commissioned a report on the “Economic Implications of Alternative Scholarly Publishing Models” by John Houghton et al. www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/documents/economicpublishingmodelssummary.aspx  This report illustrated the substantial economic benefits possible through the use of either repositories or open access journals  The UK report was followed by similar reports with similar conclusions in the Netherlands and Denmark  The JISC is following up the Houghton work with studies on the institutional costs and benefits of a transition to OA  Parallel work is anticipated on the academic impact of OA, i.e. improvements in research, teaching and learning  The JISC is also working with publishers on offering authors a choice between copyright assignment and a licence to publish Joint Information Systems Committee

POLICY CHANGES IN EUROPE  Policy statements from European organisations have also supported changes in the publication of research results  Many national organisations now recommend or require the research they fund to be made available on open access, generally with an emphasis upon repository deposit with no more than a 6-month delay  Collectively the 27 Member States of the European Union have agreed an open access policy for research funded through FP7  The European Commission is supporting this political initiative through funding of 4 million euros for a Scientific Information Repository  Some European organisations also support “gold” open access, e.g. the Wellcome Trust provides researchers with funding for this purpose  Local institutions are considering how to manage the funding of OA publication charges Joint Information Systems Committee

LOOKING AT CHANGES WORLD-WIDE  Many developments in research dissemination similar to those in Europe are happening world-wide, because the drivers for change are experienced in every country  Some differences in approach are due to differences in political structure, such as a tradition or lack of a tradition of governmental action  Other differences are not explained easily, such as a stronger interest in “gold” OA in Europe than in the USA  Countries with newer growth economies and less-established publishers do not appear to be more advanced in OA developments than countries with long-established economies and old publishing houses  Where similar developments are happening, it is vital that we share experience, e.g. a comparison between the CDL/Springer model and the MPS/Springer models, one deal with a university consortium and the other with a research funding organization – with differing priorities? Joint Information Systems Committee

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS (1)  Most funding agencies, universities and many authors now accept the case for open access but deposit in repositories and publication in OA journals is still at a low level  The passage of time will increase OA use, as new policies are applied, but a major barrier to change remains in the form of research evaluation and academic rewards, which are still managed very traditionally  Many stakeholders are also concerned about future viability of new dissemination models and this issue has to be addressed  More radical changes in scholarly communication could take the form of individual article publication, or new forms of research branding by research institution rather than by journal title  New quality-assurance structures would be necessary before such changes would receive widespread support  Rather than radical change, more immediate developments may be variations upon existing journal models Joint Information Systems Committee

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS (2)  A possible variation upon the repository open access model may be regular overlay services on top of self-archived content. These overlay services would provide quality-assurance, make repository content acceptable in research evaluation and academic rewards, and provide a role for publishers in a repository environment.  A possible variation upon the “gold” open access model may be deals which combine subscription content with OA content in one package and also allow repository deposit and re-use such as text-mining. These multi-function deals would allow easier switching between subscriptions and OA publication charges, reduce administrative costs, and provide authors with a variety of choices for research dissemination under one roof.  Models which link the provision of data to the provision of text may lead to a new type of journal more compatible with modern research needs.  These and other possible models could provide all stakeholders with their basic objectives of maintaining quality, matching publication to research output, providing future viability, and enabling high and effective use of research outputs. Joint Information Systems Committee

HOW WILL ACADEMIC JOURNALS EMERGE FROM THIS PERIOD OF CHANGE?  Certainly changed as the e-environment develops, but initially with their essential features intact, more fundamental changes possibly/probably occurring over time  Most academic journals are too important to the research community to be allowed to collapse  However, their survival will only be ensured by a positive approach to change (including changes in business models) by stakeholders  Unpredictable events may create threats, e.g. the financial collapse of a major journal publisher (no longer considered to be impossible), or further worsening of the global economic situation  Dealing with such threats may accelerate the process of change in journal publishing models but the fundamental need of the academic community to disseminate research outputs will remain  The academic community will take more control over the research dissemination process – publishers’ role being as service providers – but this will be good for journals Joint Information Systems Committee

CONCLUSIONS  Change in the world-wide dissemination of research outputs has begun and will accelerate  Changes should result in: better value for money for the taxpayer; more effective research; improvements in teaching and learning; and a beneficial impact on SMEs and other private and public bodies  Various dissemination models are developing and it seems likely that no one model will dominate the landscape in the same way as the subscription model has done  Continuing the development and evaluation of new scholarly communication models is vital as the e-world changes  External events will have some influence upon the future for journals but essentially while the academic community needs journals they will survive Joint Information Systems Committee

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!  Information on all of the developments funded by the JISC are available at www.jisc.ac.uk  JISC’s scholarly communications work is described at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/aboutus/committees/workinggroups/scholarlycomms.aspx  The European Commission’s open access policy is described at http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/document_library/pdf_06/open-access-p  The Wellcome Trust open access policy is described at http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/About-us/Policy/Spotlight-issues/Openaccess/index.htm  Recommendations on paying gold OA publication charges in the UK are included in a working party report at http://www.rin.ac.uk/files/Paying_open_access_charges_guide_March_2009.pdf I would welcome your views on the issues described in this presentation: please e- mail me at f.friend@ucl.ac.uk Joint Information Systems Committee

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