Alma Swan

Authors and open access publishing

Surveys were carried out to learn more about authors and open access publishing. Awareness of open access journals among those who had not published in them was quite high; awareness of ‘self‐archiving’ was less. For open access journal authors the most important reason for publishing in that way was the principle of free access; their main concerns were grants and impact. Authors who had not published in an open access journal attributed that to unfamiliarity with such journals. Forty per cent of authors have self‐archived their traditional journal articles and almost twice as many say they would do so if required to.

‘What authors want’: Report of the ALPSP research study on the motivations and concerns of contributors to learned journals

The author survey was carried out on behalf of ALPSP by Key Perspectives Ltd, a specialist information industry consultancy company. Many of the publisher members of ALPSP were involved, as well as other publishers in the UK and elsewhere, distributing a total of 11,500 questionnaires to authors who had contributed to selected journals from their lists. This paper is based on the 2,500 responses to hand at the time of writing, though the final report will draw on a database of over 3,000 returned sets of answers from respondent authors. The primary aim of the survey was fourfold and sought to examine:

The culture of Open Access: researchers’ views and responses

In this chapter Alma Swan draws from the surveys undertaken by Key Perspectives Ltd into researchers attitudes toward open access. She describes the context in which researchers work, and how this leads to them valuing (or not) the potential of open access. Based on this evidence, she outlines a range of practical moves that can be made to configure open access as a solution to researchers’ very real needs and concerns.

Developing a model for e-prints and open access journal content in UK further and higher education

A study carried out for the UK Joint Information Systems Committee examined models for the provision of access to material in institutional and subject‐based archives and in open access journals. Their relative merits were considered, addressing not only technical concerns but also how e‐print provision (by authors) can be achieved – an essential factor for an effective e‐print delivery service (for users). A ‘harvesting’ model is recommended, where the metadata of articles deposited in distributed archives are harvested, stored and enhanced by a national service. This model has major advantages over the alternatives of a national centralized service or a completely decentralized one. Options for the implementation of a service based on the harvesting model are presented.

Overview of scholarly communication

In this chapter, Alma Swan describes Open Access as emerging from a long history of scholarly communication, which has always been closely tied to changes in technology and economics. She describes how journal articles, books and monographs, and data have all been implicated in recent changes, but it is perhaps the recent developments in the dissemination of journal articles that have most exercised the minds of researchers, librarians, publishers and funders.

Cohesive properties of axenically grown cells of the slime mould Dictyostelium discoideum

Abstract It has been found that Dictyostelium discoideum cells from the exponential growth phase of axenically grown cultures are cohesive, whereas those from stationary phase are not. These differences in cohesiveness are seen in phosphate buffer and in axenic medium. Stationary phase medium inhibits the aggregation of log phase cells; stationary phase cells inoculated into freshly prepared medium regain their cohesiveness. Stationary phase medium may contain an inhibitor of cell cohesion. pH differences between the two types of medium are not entirely responsible for loss of cohesiveness.

Linking repositories: Scoping the development of cross‐institutional user‐oriented services

The purpose of the Linking Repositories study was to conduct research to identify appropriate sustainable technical and organisational models to support the development of end-user oriented services across repositories. The work covered four overlapping strands: user and community requirements, roles and responsibilities, technical architecture and infrastructure, and business and management models.

Institutional policy implementation at University of Minho, Portugal

This PASTEUR4OA case study describes the implementation process of the Open Access institutional policy at the University of Minho (UMinho), Portugal. It provides information on related supporting actions initiated and facts and figures pertaining to the monitoring processes of the organization to ensure policy compliance.

Regional Challenges in Achieving Open Access and Proposed Recommendations

PASTEUR4OA aims to increase national policymakers’ understanding and awareness about Open Access (OA) as well as to help develop and/or reinforce Open Access strategies and policies at the national level. In addition, it aims to facilitate coordination among all EU Member States and Aligned Countries by establishing a coordinated network of expert organisations across Europe (which the project is calling the Knowledge Net) and by developing a coordinated and collaborative programme of activities that support policymaking at the national level.

Açık Erişim politika etkinliği: Fon sağlayıcılar için kısa bilgilendirme

Dünyada halen 700 civarında Açık Erişim politikası bulunmaktadır. Bunların yaklaşık dörtte biri fon sağlayıcılara aittir. Bu politikalar arasında yazarlar için konan şartlar ve politikaların etkinliği bakımından önemli farklılıklar bulunmaktadır. Zorunlu 120 politikanın değerlendirilmesine dayanan bu doküman, bir açık erişim politikasının araştırma çıktılarına yüksek düzeyde Açık Erişim sağlama konusundaki etkinliği ile ilgili temel sorunları ele almaktadır.