This analysis of options was undertaken initially with BIS to inform the Government response to the recommendations of the Finch Group.
Anyone who has been tracking the rapid transition from the recommendations of the Finch Group to the emergence of RCUK’s policy must admit that the horse-trading around OA embargoes caused considerable confusion. The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee report into the policy published on 22 February 2013 produced this graphic to highlight how it should work.
Urgent feedback from colleagues working in the Higher Education sector is sought on the implications of the Finch Report. Please submit your evidence before 5pm on 31st January 2013 topolicy@cilip.org.uk or by submitting a comment on the CILIP Information & Advice Blog where further information is also available.
The Royal Statistical Society, London, discusses the adaptability of the Finch Report. November 29th & November 30th 2012.
A two-day Conference organised by the Academy of Social Sciences and kindly sponsored by the THE, Routledge, Wiley Blackwell and SAGE to look at the implementation of the recommendations of the Finch Review for Open Access publishing in the UK.
See also the discussion by the British Academy for the humanties and social sciences “Understanding the implication of open access publication in humanities and social sciences disciplines”.
Not a peep from Finch as scholarly journal firms fly off to tax havens and grow ever more profitable. Simon Lilley, head of the University of Leicester School of Management, does the sorry sums.
See also the article below by Debby Shorley “It’s time for universities to reclaim publishing rights”.
Unless universities are bolder, open-access policies will leave control of publicly funded research in commercial publishers’ hands, says Debby Shorley, director of library services at Imperial College London:
Maybe the real benefit of the Finch report is not that it gives us a solution—it doesn’t—but that it has sparked discussion in high places. It may make those involved in publicly funded research bold enough to turn the current scholarly communications model on its head and allow our universities to regain control of their intellectual capital by disseminating the research they produce. (…) Publishing skills are publishing skills. What stops us from bringing them in-house, and using the prestige of our universities as brands?
The money for scientists to publish their research in open access journals will come out of the existing science budget
The Guardian
This is a well researched summary on the open access movement.
Letter to Dame Janet Finch on the Government Response to the Finch Group Report: “Accessibility, sustainability, excellence: how to expand access to research publications”.
See also comment by Stephen Curry.
Research Councils UK (RCUK) has today, 16th July 2012, unveiled its new Open Access policy. Informed by the work of the National Working Group on Expanding Access to Published Research Findings, chaired by Professor Dame Janet Finch, the policy at once harmonises and makes significant changes to existing Research Councils’ Open Access policies.
See also blogpost on nature.com.
Sparc Europe comments on the Finch Report. and says that the Finch Report might have not focused on open but rather extended access and queries the use of (insufficient) data on which the report’s findings are based on.
Email Q&A with Graham Taylor, Director of Educational, Academic and Professional Publishing at the UK-based Publishers Association on the Finch Report.
The scientific journal Nature argues that open access costs by analyzing the Royal Society Report and the Finch Report, both published recently (see posts June 19th and June 21st).
Two reports highlight key aspects of the global trend towards open access to research results: who will pay, and how much, to supply what to whom?
BBC on Finch Report (see Finch Report post on June 19th 2012).
Follow discussion here.
Up to £1billion of income and thousands of jobs could be placed at risk as a result of a move by Downing Street to allow Google and other digital search engines ‘open access’ to the nation’s best academic and scientific research. A report commissioned by 10 Downing Street sociologist Dame Janet Finch will say that open access to public-funded research ‘offers significant social and economic benefits’.
Daily Mail.
Paul Jump thinks, moving to gold model could cost sector an extra £60m a year like Finch group says.
The group’s long-awaited report, released earlier this week, estimated that the transition to open access would cost UK higher education an extra £50-£60 million a year.
See also comment by Professor Adam Tickell, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, University of Birmingham.
UK: Further steps towards full open access environment.
The report of the Working Group chaired by Dame Janet Finch published on 18 June recommends a programme of action to enable more people to read and use the publications arising from research. Better, faster communication of research results will bring benefits for public services and for economic growth.
See also articles by The Guardian and Reuters and comments by Cameron Neylon and Stephen Curry.