The Open Access subset of UKPMC articles – which as of October 7th 2010 contains around 195,000 full-text articles – can be downloaded via: http://ukpmc.ac.uk/ftp/oa The content are available as 20 zipped files, named according to the PMCID range that each zipped file contains. The files are updated weekly.
An analysis of publication data for 2009 identifies a total 5263 Wellcome–attribured articles in PubMed, of which 2313 are freely available in UKPMC. This indicates an overall open access compliance figure of around 44%. Looking at the data more granularly, we can also see which journals are most used by Wellcome-funded authors.
Karger Publishers have introduced an open access option, known as “Author’s Choice”. In return for a fee of CHF 3,000, Karger will make an article freely available (at the time of publication) through http://www.karger.com/ , as well as depositing the final version directly into PubMed Central. Articles routed through this mechanism are licenced under the Creative Commons, Attribution, Non-commercial licence.
The American Society for Microbiology have launched a full online only, open access journal, known as mBio. In an attempt to “break away from the current publication model”, mBio editors will “ either accept or reject manuscripts and will request only minor revisions; editors generally will not require authors to make extensive modifications or perform additional experiments.
The Royal Society has announced plans to develop a transparent pricing policy in which the subscription cost of its journals are linked to the uptake of author-pays, open access articles. “ From 2012 we shall implement a new and more transparent pricing policy in which the price of each journal is tied to the number of non-open access articles published in that journal and each journal will publish the relevant article counts annually.
Open Access can offer universities real cost saving benefits, claims Alma Swan in a report – ‘Modelling Scholarly Communication Options: Costs and Benefits for Univeresities’, published in February 2010 (download here: http://ie-repository.jisc.ac.uk/442/). Swan claims that the move to Open Access can ‘disrupt systems and processes that have been in place for a very long time’ (page i, Executive Summary) but the report makes it clear that it
The Wellcome Trust, on behalf of the UKPMC Funders’ Group, held a workshop in September 2009, for HEI repository managers and research/open access administrators, to discuss the issues involved in ensuring that funder open access mandates are met. Prior to the workshop, a questionnaire was distributed to delegates, to identify the different barriers (and the most important of these) which prevent adherence to the mandates.
The Endocrine Society – who publish titles such as the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism and Endocrinology – have developed an open access option for Wellcome Trust funded authors. “The Endocrine Society will offer authors supported by the Wellcome Trust the option of meeting the publication requirements of the Trust by paying for an open access option. The cost to authors would be $3,000.
As Open Access Week 2009 gets underway, the Wellcome Trust has called for greater transparency among publishers to counter the argument that access fees are being paid twice – once through subscriptions and again through publication fees. The call comes as the Trust announces a further £2 million to fund open access publication fees for its researchers over the next 12 months.
The Wellcome Trust, on behalf of the UKPMC Funders’ Group, held a workshop on the 24th Spetember, for HEI repository managers and research/open access administrators, to discuss the issues involved in ensuring that funder open access mandates are met. The workshop was split into two sessions.
