The Director’s View: LERU and Open Access

European Open Access developments

On 12 October, I attended a Workshop in Brussels run by DG CONNECT and presented on the UCL Press Open Access (OA) model. 120 people attended the session, which lasted from 09.00-18.00. Attenders were impressed by the range of material the Press is publishing: research monographs, textbooks and journals. Especially interesting were the usage figures I was able to present, which show that since the launch of the Press in May the 3 books in print have been downloaded 5172 times from UCL Discovery, with 2970 downloads of the Enhanced versions – all Open Access! During the course of the day, a number of universities approached me and asked how they too could start library-based University Press publishing using UCL Press as a model.

At the end of the day, I was a member of a Panel which looked at current developments in OA publishing. Here I presented a Statement from LERU, the League of European Research Universities on current issues in Open Access.

Yesterday, LERU issued a Statement indicating that it wished to work with Commissioner Carlos Moedas, EU Commissioner for Research Science and Innovation, and the incoming (January 2016) Dutch Presidency of the EU to make Open Access one of the principal issues of the Dutch Presidency.

The LERU Statement outlines a number of issues in Green and Gold Open Access, which LERU feels need to be tackled immediately. For the UK, ‘double dipping’ (the payment of subscriptions AND APCs [Article Processing Charges] for the same content) is a major issue – hence the title of the Statement Christmas is Over.

In this area, LERU wants to see offsetting deals between purchasing consortia, libraries and publishers to offset APC payments against subscriptions. In other words, LERU is advocating a model whereby subscriptions and APC payments are combined into one payment, as low as possible. This transition would represent an important step in the transition of the academy to full Open Access.

LERU is inviting all universities in Europe to sign the Statement. Over 100 people signed in the first 24 hours! LERU will then present the Statement and the List of Signatories to the Dutch Presidency of the EU and work with relevant Commission officials to convene a Summit in 2016 where the issues can be addressed and solutions identified by all stakeholders.

 

Paul Ayris

Director of UCL Library Services