Moving from a scientific publication model in which the subscriber pays to access content to a model in which the author pays an article processing charge has the potential to affect publication quality. In subscriber-based models, journals have incentives to publish high-quality work because better articles should lead to more subscribers. In open access models based on author publication fees, the publishers make more money by publishing more articles. Quantity incentives increase while the relative importance of the quality declines. The publishing industry must work to counteract this potentially harmful incentive structure.

Launched in 2021 by cOAlition S, the Rights Retention Strategy (RRS) aims to help authors use their own intellectual creation as they choose, and be compliant with their cOAlition S funder’s OA policy where this is required. Reflecting on the implementation of the strategy a year after its launch, cOAlition S Ambassador Sally Rumsey, Jisc’s OA Expert, outlines the aims of the RRS, its success to date and the potential for the wider application of the RRS across other institutions. RRS Resources for librarians may be useful to you.

OASPA is organizing a webinar on the subject, Rights Retention for Books and Book Chapters, to be held on Wednesday 23 November 2022, from 4 – 5 pm UK/UTC. The webinar will be chaired by Sally Rumsey and speakers include Lucy Barnes (Open Book Publishers), Per Pippin Aspaas (University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway) and Peter Suber (Harvard University).

Please register for free.

Increasing evidence emerges that APCs (article processing charges) impede researchers with fewer resources in publishing their research OA. This potential new barrier, called “APC-Effect”, has been examined on the level of individual authors, institutions, countries, and fields. In the study presented by both Austrian researchers, effects are largest in countries with low GDP, suggesting decreasing marginal effects of institutional resources when general levels of funding are high. Findings provide further evidence on how APCs stratify OA publishing and highlight the need for alternative publishing models.

Aix-Marseille Université, cOAlition S, and Science Europe are participating in a Horizon Europe project called ‘Developing Institutional Open Access Publishing Models to Advance Scholarly Communication’ (DIAMAS). The 3-year project, launched on the 1st of September 2022, receives funding in the context of the Horizon Europe call on Capacity-building for institutional open access publishing across Europe. 23 European organisations will map out the landscape of Diamond Open Access publishing in the European Research Area and develop common standards, guidelines and practices for the Diamond publishing sector. The DIAMAS project will interact closely with the global community of the ‘Action Plan for Diamond Open Access’ signatories.

The authors are analysing how for-profit publishers benefit from gold and hybrid article processing charges. This study estimates fees paid for gold and hybrid open access articles in journals published by the oligopoly of academic publishers, which acknowledge funding from the Canadian Tri-Agency. It employs bibliometric methods using data from Web of Science, Unpaywall, open datasets of article processing charges list prices as well as historical fees retrieved via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, for open access articles published mainstream between 2015 and 2018.

On the 20th anniversary of the first international declaration on open access (Budapest Open Access Initiative-BOAI, 2002), when the concept of “open access” was coined, the Open Access Initiative announces new international recommendations that aim to dismantle inequalities and achieve greater equity and inclusiveness in creating, contributing to, accessing, and benefiting from knowledge.

Access to the full text of the #BOAI20 Recommendations (in English/in Spanish).

While the concept of Open Access may appear simple, its execution is complicated due to the numerous operational and commercial models that must be considered. Not every OA model is suitable for every publication, and models therefore need to be assessed within the context of each business. Straive’s Whitepaper, ‘Key Aspects of Open Access,’ provides a brief overview of the essential aspects of Open Access.

Download the report.

The aim of the Framework is to provide a global, multidimensional framework for good practices in repositories that can be applied to different types of repositories (publication, institutional, data, etc.) and across geographical and thematic contexts.

This version contains Essential and Desired Criteria in eight sections: (1) Discovery, (2) Access, (3) Reuse, (4) Integrity and Authenticity, (5) Quality Assurance, (6) Preservation, (7) Sustainability and Governance, and (8) Other Areas. It includes some new criteria and clarifies the wording of others.

Direct to Full Text: COAR Community Framework for Good Practices in Repositories, Version 2

Aix-Marseille Université, cOAlition S, and Science Europe are pleased to announce that they are participating in a Horizon Europe project called ‘Developing Institutional Open Access Publishing Models to Advance Scholarly Communication’ (DIAMAS). The 3-year project, launched on the 1st of September 2022, receives funding in the context of the Horizon Europe call on Capacity-building for institutional open access publishing across Europe.