Every year, [Queensland University of Technology] academics are required to report their publications to the Office of Research for the HERDC (Higher Education Research data Collection). The University’s research funding is partly based on the number of publications we report – so we lose money if publications go unreported. Academics are also required to deposit copies of their published journal articles and conference papers in QUT ePrints. Naturally, busy academics will object to doing anything twice so the Office of Research and the Library have been working towards merging these two processes into one.
When a paper is deposited in QUT ePrints, the depositor can tick a box to say that the publication should be considered for inclusion in the next HERDC. When the record appears in the repository, it will have a link at the bottom of the screen to a HERDC collection form.
When it comes time for the next HERDC, the School admin staff can search for all publications affiliated with their School, print the forms (which will be pre-populated with publication details from the eprint record), print a copy of each paper (which is attached to the record) and pass to the ADR for a consideration and possible sign-off. From now on, the Government has indicated that there will be no need to keep photocopies as evidence provided the full-text paper is in the institution’s repository. For the academics, this means no more double-handling. They can comply with both obligations in one go. ...
See also some of our past posts on repositories for research reporting (e.g. 1, 2, 3).
Posted by
Gavin Baker at 5/22/2009 11:16:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
