Thursday, November 22, 2012

South African open access policy - a comparative overview




  Paper presented by Eve Gray at a Wits University research policy seminar on 9 November 2012. 

At the end of the day, the university signed the Berlin Declaration and announced that it would be adopting open access as a core component of its new research strategy."


Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Heather Joseph: Evaluating Scholarly Impact in Light of Emerging Models of Scholarly Communication

Well worth listening to!

The AU Library hosts Heather Joseph, Executive Director of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), for a presentation on emerging trends in measuring scholarly impact, especially in relation to the open access movement. Developed by the Association of Research Libraries, SPARC is an international alliance of academic and research libraries working to correct imbalances in the scholarly publishing system.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Fighting back against the Big Deals: a success story from the UK

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=17065291&WT.mc_id=journaltocalerts


Purpose – The paper aims to describe the development of an alternative to the Big Deals that was deployed successfully in negotiations with Elsevier and Wiley for the 2012 settlement.



Design/methodology/approach – This is a descriptive account of the alternative plan.



Findings – There is a credible alternative to the Big Deals offered by most commercial academic publishers. Even if not implemented, the model provides a very useful tool to understanding the relationship between cost per use and document supply.



Originality/value – The paper provides an account of the first time that a practical alternative to the Big Deals has been developed, leading to a successful negotiating conclusion.