Dimensions of openness in education/Open scholarship/Releasing academic publications

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Mention the value of libraries in education. A HE institution cannot be accredited if it does not offer library services, either online or in a building.

Why does openness matter in the world of journal publications? The amount of research that is read is low to begin with. Open access would allow for wider dissemination of research findings.

"Kansa and Ashley (2005; cited in Downes, 2007) point to statistics showing that only 27 percent of research papers are published and only five per cent of research is shared. The value of research data, they arguew, increases ten times with openness. Furthermore, the Open Citation Project claims that articles from open publicaitons are cited more frequently" (Butcher & Hoosen, 2012, p. 6). [1]


The BBB definition of open access

To begin, let's examine the definitions of open access as indicated in three major sources: the Budapest Open Access Initiative [2], the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing [3] and the Berlin declaration on Open Access to Scientific Knowledge [4]

The definitions of open access from these three references is referred to as the Budapest-Bethesda-Berlin definition or the BBB definition.

Peter Suber analyzed the definitions this way:

The best-known part of the BBB definition is that OA content must be free of charge for all users with an internet connection. However, the BBB definition doesn't stop at free online access. It adds an extra dimension that isn't as easy to describe, and consequently is often dropped or obscured. This extra dimension gives users permission for all legitimate scholarly uses. It removes what I've called permission barriers, as opposed to price barriers. The Budapest statement puts the extra dimension this way:

By "open access" to this literature, we mean its free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself. The only constraint on reproduction and distribution, and the only role for copyright in this domain, should be to give authors control over the integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited. The Bethesda and Berlin statements put it this way: For a work to be OA, the copyright holder must consent in advance to let users "copy, use, distribute, transmit and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works, in any digital medium for any responsible purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship".

All three tributaries of the mainstream BBB definition agree that OA removes both price and permission barriers. Free online access isn't enough. "Fair use" ("fair dealing" in the UK) isn't enough.

Note that the three component statements of the BBB definition do not agree on exactly which permission barriers must be removed. There's room for variety here. BBB requires removing barriers to copying and redistribution. It doesn't require removing barriers to commercial re-use; authors can go either way on this. Two of the three BBB component definitions require removing barriers to derivative works.

Acknowledgement

To reinforce the definition, the open access touches on two major points:

More definitions

{{IDevice |theme = Line |type=Definition |body=Gold access is granted by open access journals; readers have access to the articles without legal, technical, or financial barriers. The author may have to pay a publication fee, or the publication costs may be covered by an academic institution, government informaiton center, or other organization.

(paraphrased) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_access_journal

{{IDevice |theme = Line |type=Definition |body=Green access means that an article is archived by its author in a repository. The publisher may impose an embargo period of several months to a year during which time the author is prohibited from archiving the article.

(paraphrased) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-archiving

{{IDevice |theme = Line |type=Definition |body=Hybrid access involves giving open access to some articles or sections thereof, usually upon payment of a publication fee by the author.

(paraphrased) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_open_access_journal

Gratis OA refers to free online access, and libre OA refers to free online access plus some additional re-use rights. Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_access#Gratis_and_libre_OA

How open access works

Open access logo

There are four primary mechanisms that can be used to enable Open Access:

Open Access Publishing: Authors can choose to publish their research articles in a growing number of journals that meet the full definition of Open Access. Articles are free to all interested readers, and the publishers place no financial or copyright barriers between the readers and the article. Open Access publishing is the fastest rowing segment of the scholarly publishing market, and journal options are now available for nearly every area of research. A comprehensive list of Open Access journals is provided by the of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

Digital Repositories: Authors can choose to deposit their research articles in digital archives (often called Digital Repositories or Institutional Repositories) which conform to the standards of the Open Archives Initiative (OAI), and enable readers to freely access and fully reuse the article text. This allows any author to make their work available under Open Access conditions regardless of the journal out the article is published in. There are more than 2,000 open Digital Repositories available for authors to use around the world, and a comprehensive listing of is available through the of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR).

Effectively Managed Author Rights: As the authors of a research paper, you have ability to ensure that your article can be accessed and used by the widest possible audience. Tools such as Addenda to traditional Copyright Transfer Forms are readily available, proven resources that can help you understand open licenses, and to publish your articles under full Open Access conditions. Visit the Author Rights page to learn more.

Local, National and International Open Access Policies: Institutions that support research, from public and private research funders to higher education institutions, can implement effective policies that that support making Open Access to scholarly research articles the default mode for their researchers. Learn more about these policies on the Advocacy page.

Acknowledgement

  • The original version of these materials was developed by SPARC Open Access open course under a CC-BY license.


Who benefits from open access?

Researchers

  • Increases your ability to find use relevant literature
  • Increases the visibility, readership and impact of your work
  • Creates new avenues for discovery in digital environment
  • Enhances interdisciplinary research
  • Accelerates the pace of research, discovery and innovation

Educational Institutions

  • Contributes to core mission of advancing knowledge
  • Democratizes access across all institutions – regardless of size or budget
  • Provides previously unattainable access to community colleges, two-year colleges, K-12 and other schools
  • Provides access to crucial STEM materials
  • Increases competitiveness of academic institutions

Students

  • Enriches the quality of their education
  • Ensures access to all that students need to know, rather what they (or their school) can afford
  • Contributes to a better-educated workforce

Businesses

  • Access to cutting-edge research encourages innovation
  • Stimulates new ideas, new services, new products
  • Creates new opportunities for job creation

Public

  • Provides access to previously unavailable materials relating to health, energy, environment, and other areas of broad interest
  • Creates better educated populace
  • Encourages support of scientific enterprise and engagement in citizen science

Research Funders

  • Leverages return on research investment
  • Creates tool to manage research portfolio
  • Avoids funding duplicative research
  • Creates transparency
  • Encourages greater interaction with results of funded research

Acknowledgement

- See more at: http://www.sparc.arl.org/issues/open-access#sthash.TeNMUf18.dpuf


References

  1. Butcher, N., & Hoosen, S. (2012). Exploring the business case for Open Educational Resources.
  2. Budapest Open Access Initiative Declaration. 2002. Retrieved from: http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/openaccess/read
  3. Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing. 2003. Retrieved from: http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/bethesda.htm
  4. Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities. 2003. Retrieved from: http://oa.mpg.de/lang/en-uk/berlin-prozess/berliner-erklarung/