Apologies for cross-posting. We hope that the below will be of interest to
this list. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Kind regards

Grace Baynes
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Press Release
20 September 2004
JISC renews BioMed Central membership for UK Universities


BioMed Central, the Open Access Publisher, and JISC (Joint Information
Systems Committee) are pleased to announce that they have renewed their
agreement that gives all UK universities membership of BioMed Central until
September 2005. Under the renewed membership agreement all UK higher
education staff can continue to publish their work in BioMed Central's
growing number of Open Access journals without incurring a direct
article-processing charge.

News of the JISC renewal comes at a key time for Open Access in the UK. The
UK government is due to respond shortly to 'Scientific Publications: Free
for all' - the House of Commons Science & Technology Select Committee
report1. In the report, the Committee concludes that changes in scientific
publishing are "necessary as a matter of urgency" and everyone should have
free, open access to UK research findings. They urge the UK Government to
"act as a proponent for change" and "lead by example". JISC's decision, to
fund Open Access publication in BioMed Central's journals for all UK
universities for a further year, provides critical support for the growth of
Open Access in the UK while policy is debated at government level.

JISC first signed up for BioMed Central membership in July 2003, and since
then there has been a huge increase in support and usage from researchers in
the UK. Submissions to BioMed Central's journals by UK academics have
increased by 180%, and publications have increased by 210%. Downloads of
BioMed Central journal articles by the UK community have more than doubled
since July 2003. These results demonstrate that the JISC membership has had
a huge impact on the awareness of Open Access publishing in just one year.

Natasha Robshaw, Head of Marketing & Sales at BioMed Central, is delighted
at JISC's decision to renew:
"In signing up for UK-wide membership last year, JISC really took a
leadership role in the Open Access movement. Their renewal of the agreement
this year shows that they are happy with the service provided by BioMed
Central, and that their decision has been justified by the uptake in the
academic community. The resulting increase in submissions and usage of our
journals demonstrates how successful the JISC membership has been to date
and we look forward to this trend continuing. As our journals continue to
become more and more respected in the community, we expect to welcome many
new authors and readers."

Lorraine Estelle, Collections Team Manager at JISC, also welcomed the
renewal of the agreement: "As feedback has shown and as the figures
demonstrate, the first year of the agreement has been a highly successful
one. JISC is committed to exploring alternative models of publishing and to
promoting wider access to the products of research for the benefit of the
academic community. The renewal of this agreement means continued wider
access to research outputs for our entire community."

The UK is a major contributor to the global advance of knowledge. With just
1% of the world's population, Britain funds 4.5% of all scientific research,
and produces 8.5% of the research articles that are published worldwide.2 As
the momentum for Open Access publishing increases, and funding agencies and
government organisations respond to the recommendations of the S&T
committee, BioMed Central and the JISC look forward to seeing an increasing
proportion of these articles published with Open Access, for the benefit of
science and society at large.

###
Interviews and Further Information:

Press Office Contacts:
Philip Pothen for JISC Telephone: +44 (0)20 7848 2935 E-mail:
[log in to unmask]
Grace Baynes for BioMed Central Telephone: +44 (0)20 7631 9988 E-mail:
[log in to unmask]

###

About BioMed Central
 BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com) is an independent online
publishing house committed to providing immediate access without charge to
the peer-reviewed biological and medical research it publishes. This
commitment is based on the view that open access to research is essential to
the rapid and efficient communication of science. In addition to open-access
original research, BioMed Central also publishes reviews and other
subscription-based content.


BioMed Central's business model is based on charging authors to publish, and
then making the content free to readers. Under membership agreements,
authors from member institutions will not be asked to pay an article
processing charge when publishing research. The charge is instead covered by
the institution's BioMed Central membership. This applies to all of BioMed
Central's journals 110+ peer-reviewed journals. Upon acceptance, the article
becomes available online without charge to readers worldwide.

BioMed Central's Institutional Membership Program was launched in January
2002 and now has over 450 members, including some of the world's most
prestigious academic institutions.

About JISC
The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) is a joint committee of the
UK further and higher education funding bodies, and is responsible for
supporting the innovative use of information and communication technology
(ICT) to support learning, teaching, and research. It is best known for
providing the SuperJANET network, a range of advice and support services,
and a portfolio of high-quality resources.

Information about the JISC, its services and programmes can be found at
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/. Contact Philip Pothen on +44 (0)20 7848 2935, e-mail
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1The report, entitled "Scientific Publications: Free for all?" is a result
of the UK House of Commons Science & Technology Committee's inquiry into
scientific publications that has investigated pricing, access and
availability issues. This can be read online at:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmsctech/399/3990
2.htm
Further information about the inquiry is available on our inquiry web page.
2 Quoted in Tony Blair's speech on scientific research to the Royal Society.
The Guardian, Thursday May 23, 2002,
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4420151,00.html

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