... [I]n March 2009 [Universities UK/Research Information Network] published guidance to research institutions, with recommendations on how to manage publishers’ open access fees at the local level. It was suggested (for example) that the process be managed by a pro or deputy vice chancellor, and that central budgets be established to which researchers could apply for funds to meet the costs of publication fees.
And since then, the JISC has circulated another survey which explores the possibility of taking this vision of arrangements for author pays open access one step further, with the JISC itself taking a national management role (One question asked: “If JISC Collections were to create a centrally administered open access publication fee service for UK Higher Education Institutions, would this be of benefit to your institution and what might be the potential advantages/problems?”). ...
[I]t is not at all clear that the economics of ‘author pays’ open access are well enough understood to guarantee that the original aim of open access will be achieved by a large scale move towards a national APOA system in the UK. ...
This does not mean that an attempt by a national coordinating body such as the UK’s JISC or UUK/RIN or any other group to push APOA arrangements forward as a matter of UK information strategy is a bad thing. ...
[S]uch a development should not be misinterpreted as a definitive seal of approval for a proven open access model. Rather, a nationally coordinated move towards putting APOA on a proper footing would be a bold experiment, which, like all experiments, is capable of success or failure. ...
[T]he final suggestion to be drawn from this discussion concerns the future of repository-based open access in the United Kingdom. Open access materials in UK repositories are in an under-developed and uncoordinated state, resembling the less than ideal situation in which APOA arrangements currently languish. If a nationally coordinated push to create a coherent APOA system is worth considering, would it not also be worth considering what a similar, enhanced, UK-wide programme for the development of repository-based open access materials would look like? ...
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.
