The value of alternative forms of publishing for policy research

T he value of alter native
for ms of publishing for policy
r esear ch

John Houghton
Centre for Strategic Economic Studies
Victoria University, Australia
John.Houghton@pobox.com

Use and value of information
 Ideally, policy debate is like science – people put forward
evidence and interpretation, and others examine and
challenge it.
 The quality of the analysis and the ability to examine are
crucial to policy development.
 There is focus on the transparency and accountability of
government, and the benefits it brings (e.g. improved policy,
democratic inclusion, efficiency, etc.).
 Despite the fashion for interaction and collaboration, the
literature on knowledge transfer reveals the importance of
formal and informal publication.
 Access to, and preservation of, the information informing
policy debate and underlying policy decisions is crucial.
 But what do we know about access to, and use of, grey
literature, or about its value?

The value of access to information
(UK, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, US and Australia)
 UK JISC study of the Economic Implications of Alternative Scholarly
Publishing Models, with Loughborough University;
 SURF Foundation and DEFF studies exploring the costs and benefits of
alternative publishing models in the Netherlands and Denmark;
 DFG study, with Goethe Universität, bringing the German National
Licensing Program into the mix of alternative publishing and dissemination
models;
 SPARC study of the potential impacts of the US Federal Research Public
Access Act (FRPAA);
 FI-DEFF study of access to academic research by Danish SMEs, its impact
on innovation and value to them;
 ANDS study of access to Australian public sector information, and ANZSOG
paper on transparency and productivity;
 UK ESRC study of the value of the Economic and Social Data Service, with
Neil Beagrie;
 UK JISC study of the value of the Archaeological Data Service; and
 UK NERC & STFC study of the value of the British Atmospheric Data
Centre, also with Neil Beagrie.
http://www.cfses.com/projects/knowledge-access.htm Centre for Strategic Economic Studies

Transparency and productivity
(Effects of open and transparency PSI management)
Econom y & Societ y
( Benef it s)
I nnovative products & services
Better informed policies & programs
Reduced cost of government

I nf or m at ion User s Governm ent s
( Benef it s)
( Benef it s)
Transaction cost savings
Accession cost savings
PRODUCTI VI TY Increased return
on investment
Staff time savings
Greater engagement
Opportunities for innovation
and participation

Public Sect or Agencies
( Benef it s)
Transaction cost savings
Staff time savings
( Cost s)
One-off set-up & transition costs
Recurring loss of revenue from cost recovery


Access to Public Sector Information
(Case studies of the costs and benefits of open PSI)

 ANDS study on the cost and benefits of OA to PSI, using case
studies of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, GeoScience
Australia, and the National Water Commission.
 Looked at agency and user activity and transaction costs, and
wider economic impacts.
 It is clear from these case studies that even the subset of
benefits that can be measured outweigh the costs of making
PSI more freely and openly available.
 It is also clear that it is not simply about access prices, but also
about the transaction costs involved.
 So standardised and unrestrictive licensing, such as Creative
Commons, ready discoverability and data standards are
crucial in realising the benefits of OA to PSI.

Availability of UK grey literature
(SME access to academic grey literature in the UK)

 Alma Swan explored access to, and use of, UK academic
grey literature among a small sample of SMEs.
 She found that SMEs do require access to grey literature of
various types and would welcome the chance to use reports,
survey results, theses and datasets that universities could
provide.
 The problem is discoverability: SMEs turn to trade or
professional bodies or search the Web, and do not think of
Higher Education as a possible source.
 The visibility of university-produced grey literature is very
poor. Universities must make clear what they have and better
manage its dissemination, if it is to be useful to the SME
community.

UK SME access to information
(Per cent wanting improved access by information type)


Danish SME access to information
(Per cent wanting improved access by information type)

Market survey research 51%

Research articles 47%

Market reports on sector or
43%
products

Scientific and technical standards 27%

Patent information 24%

Product or process technical
23%
information
Conference papers and
20%
proceedings
Technical reports from government
16%
agencies

Doctoral or Masters theses 15%

Legislative / Regulatory information 11%

Professional / Trade publications 10%

Reference works 3%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%


Danish SME access to information
(Cost of barriers and value of access to academic research)

 Research respondents spent an average of 63 minutes trying
to access the last article they had difficulty accessing, and an
average of 17 articles presented difficulties during the last
year.
 So, access difficulties could be costing DKK 540 million a year
among specialist researchers in Denmark alone.
 An average of 27% of new products and 19% of new
processes developed or introduced during the last three years
would have been delayed or abandoned without access to
academic research.
 So, pro rata, the value of academic research was equivalent to
around 12% of sales revenue.


Economic and Social Research Data
(Value of the UK Economic and Social Data Service)
I nvest m ent Cont ingent Value Ef ficiency I m pact Ret ur n on Wider
& Use Value ( St at ed) ( Est im at es) I nvest m ent I m pact s
( Dir ect ) ( Scenar ios) ( Not Measur ed)

Wider Research Society
Community
Wider User
Survey User Community Community
(active registered users
excluding school and
under-graduate students)

Survey User
Com m unit y
Willingness t o Pay
Ef f iciency Gain I ncr eased
£25m
£68m - £112m Ret urn on
per annum
I nvest m ent per annum I nvest m ent in
Value Dat a Cr eat ion

?
Consum er Surplus Willingness
£23m t o Accept over 30 year s
£21m £58m - £233m
per annum per annum £81m – £111m
per annum (NPV)
(2.5-fold to 10-fold
Use Value Net Econom ic Wider User RoI)
£24m Value Com m unit y
per annum £18m per annum Eff iciency Gain
(More than 5 times ESDS £100m plus
operational budget) per annum


Archaeological Research Data
(Cumulative deposits to the UK Archeological Data Service)
Aggregate (excl. Grey Literature) Grey Liturature (deposition events)
2,500

2,000

1,500

1,000

500

0
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012


Archaeological Research Data
(Per cent of users by last data type used)

Grey Literature (unpublished
29%
reports)

Journals and Series (CBA
25%
Research Reports, PSAS etc.)

Local/National Historic
20%
Environment Records

Project Archives 15%

Reference Resources (Guides to
Good Practice, Roman Amphorae 5%
etc.)

Teaching and Learning Specific
Resources (DataTrain, Image 4%
Bank etc)

Bibliographies (Vernacular
2%
Architecture Group etc.)

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%


Summary and conclusions
(Benefits of access to information)

 Studies of the costs and benefits of more open access to
research publications and data suggest that there are benefits
to more open access, and the benefits outweigh the costs.
 Transparent government and access to PSI also appear to
bring benefits, although it varies by type of information.
 There are also many benefits that we cannot measure (e.g.
raising the quality of policy debate and policy outcomes,
accountability of government and research, democratic
inclusion and participation, etc.).
 We may not know much, but I think we know enough to know
it is important.
 With the ever increasing variety of information, combined with
the technical means to curate, share and preserve information,
now is the time to do more about Grey Literature.

knowledge access studies
http://www.cfses.com/projects/knowledge-access.htm

Victoria University, Australia
John.Houghton@pobox.com

References
http://www.cfses.com/projects/knowledge-access.htm

 Houghton, J.W. and Gruen, N. (2012) Transparency and productivity:
The effects of open and transparent Public Sector Information management
practices on costs and productivity, Occasional Paper No2, ANZSOG, Melbourne.
 Houghton, J.W. (2011) The costs and benefits of data provision, Australian National
Data Service (ANDS), Canberra.
 Swan, A. (2008) Study on the availability of UK academic grey literature to UK SMEs,
Key Perspectives Report to JISC, Bristol.
 Ware, M. (2009) Access by UK small and medium-sized enterprises to professional
and academic literature, Publishing Research Consortium, Bristol.
 Houghton, J.W., Swan, A. and Brown, S. (2011) Access to Research and Technical
Information in Denmark, Report to The Danish Agency for Science, Technology and
Innovation and The Danish Agency for Libraries and Media, Copenhagen.
 Beagrie, N., Houghton, J.W., Palaiologk, A. and Williams, P. (2012) Economic
Evaluation of Research Data Service Infrastructure: A Study for The ESRC , UK
Economic and Social Research Council.
 Beagrie, N. and Houghton, J.W. (forthcoming) Impact of the Archaeological Data
Service, Report to the Joint Information Systems Committee, London & Bristol.


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