Following the morning review of HHuLOA project activity to date, the afternoon session was given over to looking at the link between Open Access and research development. Open Access is a means by which research can be disseminated; to that end, where does the dissemination of research fit into institutional research practice and development in terms of achieving impact and meeting the University’s aims? How can we embed Open Access within such institutional processes, thinking, and strategy to make it an established part of research practice and not an optional sideline?
To investigate this, the afternoon used two exercises to unpick ideas:
- Looking at key Open Access themes and how they might relate to research development
- Looking at institutional/research strategy and how Open Access might be embedded within this
This blog post summarises the discussions that took place, which were also noted from the day in the attached file.
HHuLOA project event 150625 notes
HHuLOA project event slides 150625
Open Access themes
The following themes were considered:
- Functional – How is research dissemination put into practice within an institution (other than individually)?
- Financial – How can we assess funding of Open Access as an investment?
- Legal – How can we use licensing to control/manage open dissemination (and avoid the challenge that Open Access gives our outputs away)?
- Technical – What is the repository’s role within the institution as a whole?
- Staffing – What staff resource is needed to make Open Access effective for the institutional investment in Open Access?
- Community – How does the institution wish to be seen in the HE community re: Open Access?
The subtext of each of these is, how do we get Open Access better embedded? The notes from the session are available here. It was clear that some were felt to be simpler to address than others, and it depended on the relative operational/strategic perspective you were able to take from your role. In brief:
- Functional – Discussion focused around whether maintaining a list of proposed journals would help and identifying where to join conversations about dissemination plans. There are clear disciplinary differences as well that need specific attention. Making use of social media to help promote Open Access wherever it does occur could also be a useful practical intervention.
- Financial – The need to highlight the financial outcomes from Open Access was flagged to raise awareness of the benefits: the collaborations established and economic gains/savings from these, as well as potential journal subscription savings (a long term goal!). Working towards a good REF environment score and building institutional reputation for Open Access as a way of attracting staff and investment were other areas considered.
- Legal – The need to either identify institutional licensing practice or prompt the establishment of such practice was highlighted as the main initial steps for this, so that application of open licences can take place in an acknowledged framework of practice.
- Technical – Given the mixed audience, it was interesting to note that most discussion here focused on the specific roles of the repository and a CRIS. Clarifying this and communicating it seem to be clear areas of ongoing need.
- Staffing – This discussion focused on who is involved, or needs to be involved, in Open Access to get it embedded. The need to reach across different parts of a University was highlighted, and this mirrors the development of different views of the Open Access life cycle to support this.
- Community – Attendees were unsure how their institutions wished to be viewed re: Open Access, but generated a useful list of reasons why institutions should consider positive endorsement of Open Access going forward, including knowledge transfer, value for money, public good, and, of course, research impact.
The outputs from this event were complemented by the findings at an earlier project stakeholder day in April, for which notes were also compiled.
HHuLOA stakeholder workshop 150427
Strategy and Open Access
The second part of the afternoon focused on strategy. This poses an immediate challenge. If Open Access is a means of research dissemination, does it merit strategic inclusion (which would more likely focus on dissemination more generally, not the means by which this is enabled)? And yet, if we believe that Open Access is a substantial shift in research dissemination practice, is this not a strategic change in how we carry out this activity? Discuss!
Discussion did indeed take place. Initially, attendees considered potential approaches to having Open Access as part of institutional strategy, and where different institutions might position themselves:
Scenario 1
The University has decided that it would like to lead the world in the open dissemination of its research outputs, making use of a range of open access routes as appropriate to different output types. Open access management will be embedded as a core part of institutional research support.
Scenario 2
The University recognises the value of open access, both as a means of supporting openness to research generally and as a means of raising the reputation of the institution through marketing of available outputs. Appropriate support will be put in place to underpin this, acknowledging the compliance with external policies that will go hand in hand with this.
Scenario 3
The University notes the drivers and advocated value of open access, and will support compliance as required with external policies. The focus of the University, though, is on maximising its research income, and dissemination options are left to individual and/or departmental decisions.
Most considered that they worked at an institution exhibiting Scenario 3. Scenarios 1 and 2 were considered different levels of Open Access acceptance institutionally. Moving from one to another was considered to need culture change, reconciliation with academic freedom, a greater focus on research outcomes, and ways of measuring performance against Open Access use to assess activity. Many of the tools and steps needed were known and recognised, but they need to be drawn together to effect strategic change.
A sample, anonymous, institutional research strategy was also shared and attendees sent away with the challenge of identifying how Open Access might support the elements contained within this (and how this might be reflected in the strategy itself). This file is shared for your own take on this…