This document summarizes an open access presentation given by Iryna Kuchma at ICTP in Trieste, Italy in 2011. It defines open access as free online access to research results coupled with the right to use those results. It discusses how open access repositories can increase visibility and usage of research by making outputs openly accessible. It also notes that surveys show most researchers believe open access is beneficial and publicly funded research should be openly available. The presentation encourages researchers to publish in open access journals or self-archive in repositories and work to advance open access policies.

1. Open access
repositories
Iryna Kuchma
Open Access Programme manager
Presented at “New Trends for Science Dissemination”,
ICTP – Trieste, Italy, 26 September 2011
www.eifl.net Attribution 3.0 Unported

4. EIFL Programmes
EIFL-Licensing: Expanding access to commercial e-
resources
EIFL Open Access: Removing barriers to
knowledge sharing
EIFL-IP: Copyright & Libraries: Promoting fair &
balanced copyright laws
EIFL-FOSS: Improving ICT infrastructure in libraries
EIFL-PLIP: Public Library Innovation Programme

5. Open access (OA) is free,
immediate, online
access to the results of
research, coupled with
the right to use those
results in new and
innovative ways

6. OA to publications
open data
open education
open science
FOSS
open innovations

7. “Restrictive access policies
drastically reduces readership
of electronic research journal
articles.”
Professor Frank Youngman, DVC, University of
Botswana

8. “OA provides an environment
within which literature and
scholarly research articles are
made freely accessible online
without license restrictions
and without charging users
subscription or access fees.”

9. “OA is a vital means of
dissemination of information
which is crucial for national
development and in achieving
MDGs, given the crucial role that
information plays in achieving
social, economic, cultural and
political development.”

10. OA for researchers
increased visibility
usage
& impact for their work

11. OA for research
institutions
publicises institutes’ research strengths
providing maximum return on investment
complete record of the research output in
easily accessible form
new tools to manage institution's impact

12. OA for publishers
increased readership & citations
visibility & impact
the best possible dissemination
service for research

13. OA for libraries
partnerships with scientists & research
managers to set up OA repositories, to curate
research data & to develop OA policies
partnerships with scholarly publishers to publish
OA journals & books
partnerships with educators to produce OERs

14. OA repositories
Contain research outputs
Institutional or thematic
Interoperable (OAI-PMH)
Common metadata protocol allows web
applications (text & data mining)

18. Snapshot of publication
outputs by discipline

22. OA repositories (2)
The need to evaluate researchers and
departments
As a response to requests from faculty
(“Open Repository Development in Developing and
Transition countries” conducted by EIFL and the
University of Kansas Libraries)

23. OA repositories (3)
Publicize an institute’s research
strengths, providing maximum return on
research investment
Provide an administrative tool for
institutions

24. OA repositories (4)
Increase impact & usage of institute's
research, providing new contacts &
research partnerships for authors
Provide usage statistics showing global
interest & value of institutional research

25. OA repositories (5)
FOSS to set up, free technical support
Low installation & maintenance costs,
quick to set up & gain benefits
Institutions can mandate OA, speeding
development

46. to enhance
greater visibility
& application of
research
outputs through
global networks
of OA digital
repositories http://coar-repositories.org/

47. “Access to relevant and timely information is
critical to support the University’s mission of
teaching, learning, research and the managerial
functions of the University. Access to
information is also an essential condition for the
economic and social development of the
country. Open access will enhance access to
local content and this goal can only be achieved
through collaborative efforts.”
Professor Kamau Ngamau, Dean Faculty of
Agriculture, JKUAT

48. One of the key pillars of the University of
Botswana new strategic plan “Strategy for
excellence” is “Research Intensification”. OA will
help the University of Botswana, Government, and
research institutions to achieve this pillar by
ensuring online accessibility to public funded
research output that can be freely shared by
everyone, enhance research quality, and improve
visibility of the institution and the nation globally.
Prof. Frank Youngman, DVC, U of Botswana

50. The SOAP survey
11 EIFL partner countries: Bulgaria, China,
Egypt, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, Serbia,
Slovenia, South Africa, Thailand and Ukraine
About 86% of researchers are convinced that
OA publishing is beneficial to their research
field directly improving the way scientific
community work and providing the benefits
outside the scientific community – public
good benefits

51. The SOAP survey
(2)
Publicly funded
research should
be made available S tr o n g ly a g r e e
A g re e
to be read and
N e ith e r a g r e e n o r d is a g r e e
D is a g r e e
S tr o n g ly d is a g r e e
used without
access barriers
(n=3875)

52. The SOAP survey
(3)
OA articles are
likely to be read
and cited more S t ro n g ly a g re e
A g re e
N e i t h e r a g r e e n o r d is a g r e e
often than those
D is a g re e
S t r o n g l y d is a g r e e
not OA (n=3882)

53. The SOAP survey
(4)
OA publishing is
more cost-
effective than
subscription-
S t r o n g ly a g r e e
A g re e
N e it h e r a g r e e n o r d is a g r e e
based publishing
D is a g r e e
S t r o n g ly d is a g r e e
and so will benefit
public investment
in research
(n=3871)

54. The SOAP survey
(5)
Researchers
should retain the
rights to their S t ro n g ly a g re e
A g re e
published work
N e it h e r a g r e e n o r d is a g re e
D is a g re e
S t ro n g ly d is a g re e
and allow it to be
used by others
(n=3872)

55. How OA benefits your
work and career
Distribution and usage
Immediate access to your research output for
everyone upon official publication
More visibility & usage
Immediate impact of your work
Intensification of research through fast
dissemination and use of research;
Possibly a citation advantage as well

56. How OA benefits your
work and career
Plus:
Monitoring of your research output
Preservation of your research output by your
library
Keep your rights instead of signing them
away

57. What can you do?
Submit your research articles to OA journals,
when there are appropriate OA journals in
your field
Deposit your preprints/postprints in an OA
repository
Deposit your data files in an OA repository
along with the publications built on them.

58. What can you do? (2)
Volunteer to serve on your university’s
committee to evaluate faculty for promotion
and tenure. Make sure the committee is
using criteria that, at the very least, do not
penalize faculty for publishing in peer-
reviewed OA journals. At best, adjust the
criteria to give faculty an incentive to provide
OA to their peer-reviewed research articles
either through OA journals or OA repositories

59. What can you do? (3)
Work with your professional societies to
make sure they understand OA.
Write opinion pieces (articles, journal
editorials, newspapers op-eds, letters to the
editor, discussion forum postings) advancing
the cause of OA.
Educate the next generation of scientists and
scholars about OA.

60. “Michael Faraday’s advice to his junior colleague to:
“Work. Finish. Publish.” needs to be revised. It
shouldn’t be enough to publish a paper anymore. If
we want open science to flourish, we should raise our
expectations to: “Work. Finish. Publish. Release.”
That is, your research shouldn’t be considered
complete until the data and meta-data is put up on the
web for other people to use, until the code is
documented and released, and until the comments
start coming in to your blog post announcing the
paper. If our general expectations of what it means to
complete a project are raised to this level, the
scientific community will start doing these activities as
a matter of course.”
(What, exactly, is Open Science? by Dan Gezelter:
http://www.openscience.org/blog/?p=269)

61. Thank you! Questions?