MOA 2013, Open Access and the evolution of library licensing

1. Open Access and the
Evolution of Library Licensing
Dr. Ralf Schimmer
Max Planck Digital Library
Munich, Germany
Meeting Place Open Access
Göteborg, 17th April 2013
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The Development of Open Access Publishing so Far
Source: Laakso M, Welling P, Bukvova H, Nyman L, Björk B-C, et al. (2011) The Development of Open Access Journal
Publishing from 1993 to 2009. PLoS ONE 6(6): e20961. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0020961

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The Development of Open Access Publishing: Extrapolations
Source: Lewis, David W., The Inevitability of Open Access (2012)

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The Development of Open Access Publishing: UK Distribution
Source: Van Noorden, Richard, Britain Aims for Broad Open Access (2012), Nature Vol. 408

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MPS WoS publication data analysis:
Global – MPS total – OA Gold global – MPS OA Gold
In the presentation some graphs with preliminary data analysis were shown here.
They indicated:
 The global share of OA Gold has increased from 2.8% in 2001 to 10.2% in 2011
 The OA growth rate is significantly steeper than the overall article output rate
 The publication pattern of MPS correlates with the overall trends
Focussing on the annual 10,000 journal article publications of the Max Planck Society:
 More than 75% of all MPS article publications go to only 12 publishers.
 Among those are already 3 pure Open Access publishers (PLoS, Copernicus, BMC)
 Moreover, there are clear tendencies of a shift from the big commercial publishers to
societies and OA

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Distribution of OA Gold Publications with MPS Author Affiliation

7. A view on the impact and dynamics of OA publishing: PLoS One rocks & rolls.
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Trend Mega Journals: The New Paradigm of PLoS One
PLoS One: the original
Publication development:
 1,231 articles (2007)
 2,723 articles (2008)
 4,404 articles (2009)
 6,749 articles (2010)
 13,797 articles (2011)
 20,924 articles (2012)
Share 2011:
• 1% of global article output
OA output comparison 2011:
• PLoS total roughly the same as BMC total
• ca. 16,000 published articles (~12%)
• Together PLoS & BMC cover 25% of all OA Gold
Mega journals: the epigones
NPG Scientific Reports
AIP AIP Advances
RSC RSC Advances
APS Phys Rev X
GSA G3
Sage Sage Open
BMJ BMJ Open
COB Biology Open
Elsevier FEBS Open Biology
Elsevier Cell Reports
Royal Soc Open Biology
Springer Springer Plus
ASM mBio
Wiley Chemistry Open
TSW TSW
F1000 F1000 Research
PeerJ PeerJ Biological & Medical Science
For the ecology of OA Journals and their article output see results of EU project SOAP (2009-2011)

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The Real Existence and Inevitability of Two Realities
At the moment two distinct spheres of activity and funding but with a clear perspective of convergence
 transformation
 re-organization
 re-design of financial flows
OA Gold
Business model with
dynamic growth
Journal Subscriptions
Business model under
growing pressure in terms
of legitimacy and
transformation
Transformation
Providing new context –
also, and in particular,
for the libraries
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9. The new reality is providing a new context for the libraries,. We are already confronted with the beginnings of a fundamental
paradigm shift in scholarly communication, which will not leave the libraries unaffected.
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Providing a New Context for the Libraries
While many libraries still debate whether they should
have a role in Open Access,
we at the Max Planck Digital Libraries see Open Access
already at the very core of our strategic and operational
set-up.
Derived from our general mission: We want to be there
with our services where our researchers are with their
activities and expectations – and they are already going
increasingly into Open Access.
Drawing by Dan Perjovschi/Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University
Source: http://nasher.duke.edu/galleries/main_gallery/rwx_gallery/Free.jpg

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“Change is inevitable – need to recognize this, embrace it and manage it”
(Dame Janet Finch, Presentation at APE Conference, Berlin 29 Jan 2013)

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Four Reflections on the Consequences of this Paradigm
Change for the Libraries and their Licensing Practices

12. .
Reflection 1:
The establishment of publication funds is needed right now and will
enable entry into the essential new processes and structures
• Shift in OA debate from green to gold in recent years
• More and more institutions establish publication funds to cover APCs
• Important decisions have to be made when launching such a program:
• What (quality) criteria should be applied to journals and up to what amount should costs be met?
• Should minimum standards be defined for granting rights of use?
• Should the costs be capped per individual author or per discipline?
• Is decentralized cost sharing part of the plan?
• Should external funds be used before internal ones wherever possible?
• Should invoices be sent to a central office, or passed on by the authors to a defined office?
• How should further invoice processing be organized?
• What measures should be taken to publicize and promote the program within its home institution?
• What evaluation mechanisms and schedules will be put in place?
• And who will be responsible for the program?
• Focus on processes & workflows, organization & accountability, scalability
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Distribution of OA Gold Publications with MPS Author Affiliation
The share of articles where MPS is bearing the costs is consistently in the range of 50-60% of articles across publishers.
In the years 2009-2011, the average APC costs were in the range of 1,100 EUR per article.
These are very important parameters for future cost development scenarios.

14. .
Reflection 2:
A publication fund is not just a new cost center, but a central tool for
reorganizing economic relationships with publishers. Libraries are ideal
for this role, but have to develop further in order to perform the task.
• Changing needs and expectations of researchers
• Current licensing practices are too narrow
• In the emerging eResearch scenarios organizing access to content and reading privileges
is not sufficient; other concerns need to be transported and manifested as well
• e.g. re-use issues; cross-institute collaboration; technical aspects; data delivery
• Moving from practical requirements to a strategic issues: embedded in wider operational
and strategic context of research institutions:
• The licensing process is the moment where the organized interests of publishers and of
the research community meet, where services are defined and where money transactions
are organized
• This moment must be seized better and more strategically!
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15. .
Reflection 3:
The payment of publication costs cannot be expanded to its furthest
extent without a transformation of subscription costs. The libraries’
acquisition budget will be a constitutive part of the OA transformation.
• The library acquisition budget and the APC budget are but two sides of the same coin
• Financial flows have to be organized from broader strategic perspective
• The acquisition budget is too significant and powerful at present to be used solely for the
purpose of enabling users to read
• Taking the publication fund approach to its logical conclusion, it is about a general
transformation of existing journals from the current subscription model to the new method.
The more the approach is extended, the more the same journals will have to be supplied
with costs from one side or the other. From that point of view, a publication cost approach
always has to take the acquisition budget into account as well. The payment of publication
costs cannot be expanded to its furthest extent unless subscription costs are
simultaneously eliminated – or, of course, systematically transformed. The libraries’ existing
acquisition budget will therefore be the crucial fiscal reservoir of transformation
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16. .
Reflection 4:
Leaving the current acquisition silo behind: The evolution of licensing
will help to retain the role and responsibility of the library
Developments have been set in train on the gold road to open access that to all appearances
will be accompanied by huge transformations. They are a response to changing needs in
academic communication and encompass the strategic reorganization of economic
relationships between academic institutions and publishing houses. This will also establish a
new context for the libraries, which will have to further develop both their vision of their role
and their practices if they wish to retain their responsibility and their existing budgets for
information provision. True to the saying that change is essential to survival, the libraries will
have to alter part of their role in order to retain that role. The establishment of publication
funds in conjunction with a new context for library acquisition budgets constitutes an important
contribution to the design of information infrastructures for an increasingly web-based
academic community.
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Summary
 The changes in scholarly communication are manifest; the future is already happening
 Innovation comes in many variations at the same time
 The focal point seems to be a growing pressure towards transforming journals to Open Access
 This transformation will lead to a re-allocation of the funding streams – much more massively than we see today
 This re-allocation will ultimately effect the libraries’ acquisition budgets
 But it does not necessarily effect the libraries’ responsibility as such – if they are perceptive and responsive to the
changes and new requirements
 In particular, the further broadening and expanding of their licensing practices will help the libraries to retain their role
as the key provider of information within their institution
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18. Dr Ralf Schimmer
mailto: schimmer@mpdl.mpg.de
Thank you for your attention!
Questions?
17.04.2013