Open Access Publishing Workshop

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It was good to meet people at the Open Access Publishing workshop and talk I gave, lots of questions and so little time!! However the slides are now available on slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/andrewtgray/oaworkshop

I also gave asked a few True of False questions around Open Access, which are listed below.

1. OA means that you lose your copyright
2. OA increases your citations
3. The reader of an OA article pays to read
4. If you are funded by the Wellcome Trust you can choose to make your research OA
5. ESRC Economic and Social Research Council require that you make your data OA
6. Once you leave LSHTM you can still access all the e-journals
7. You can make your article OA by putting it up on your staff page
8. Publishers own the copyright to your articles

answers at the bottom of the post.

There was also 2 scenarios for people to consider

Scenario 1:
You have received funding for your research from Wellcome Trust and decided you want to publish in a journal owned by the publisher Wiley Fox. Your article has been accepted and as required by your funder you ask for the article to be made OA. The publisher informs you that they do not have an OA option. What do you do?

Scenario 2:
You have produced some groundbreaking research and you are eager to share your findings via an article. You want to have the maximum reach and impact and believe that OA is essential. However your research has not been funded and therefore you do not have funds to pay for OA. How would you approach making your article OA?

While there are no true definitive answers, possible solutions could be...

Scenario 1:
• Contact the publisher and let them know that your funder requires that you make your research publicly available and would they consider allowing this if the funder paid for this. If not you could find out if the publisher/journal allows the deposit of your article in UKPMC, a repository or on your staff website after 6 months. To do this check Sherpa Romeo, enter in the name of journal or publisher and then look at the information. If publisher still will not allow this you need to find another journal. Look at Directory of Open Access Journals and/or Sherpa Romeo to discover which journal will allow OA. Insist on retaining your copyright, use the SPARC addendum. If you need any assistance, advice or help contact your Library or Institutional Repository.

Scenario 2:
• Make a selection of journals that you would like to publish in. Check on Sherpa Romeo and DOAJ for their position on OA and whether they need payment. If a journal is not Open Access check to see if they will allow you to deposit your own author manuscript (after peer review) into a repository or your personal website after 6 months. Ideally any embargo should not be for more than 6 months. If a journal charges a fee, contact them and explain that you do not have the funds and whether they would be happy to waive the fee. Insist on retaining your copyright, use the SPARC addendum.If you need any assistance or help contact your Library or Institutional Repository

True of False Answers:

1.False 2. True 3. False 4. False you must make your research OA 5. True 6. False 7. True if you keep your copyright/False if you give away your copyright 8. False unless you sign away your copyright!