Press Release Embargoed until Tuesday, 19 June 2012 at 00:01 BST


STM WELCOMES REPORT OF THE FINCH GROUP INTO EXPANDING ACCESS TO RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS IN THE UK

STM welcomes the package of measures recommended by the Finch Group on expanding access to research publications in the UK which are set out in the Finch Report released today.

STM CEO Michael Mabe said: “Finch demonstrates how the combination of pragmatic approaches and evidence-based policy development can yield acceptable outcomes for the UK public, for UK researchers and for the publishing community. STM hopes that other international discussions on open access can be informed by this process.”

STM believes that the principal recommendations of the Finch Report will be widely supported by its members. We particularly welcome the recognition (page 4) of the journal’s “key role in the complex ecology of research” and the acknowledgement by the report: that a transition to open access will happen over a number of years and incur extra costs in the interim; that there will be an on-going need for a mixed economy of licensing, self-archiving and open access publication; and that this will require close collaboration between government, funders, universities and publishers.

The Report’s recommendations include: setting up workflows for the APCs (article publishing or processing charges) that will fund open access models (whereby publishing is paid for by the author or funding body); extending existing licences for the universities, research institutes and the health sector; enabling free walk-in access via the public libraries network; avoiding undue risk to valuable journals not funded by APCs.

STM warmly applauds the following recommendations: that sufficient funds are available via the research councils, the funding councils and the universities to fund APCs for UK researchers, and that the budgetary workflows are in place to deliver these to their publishers; a commitment from the research funders not to require manuscript-posting embargo periods of less than 12 months when dedicated funding to support APCs is not provided; and good faith in negotiating licence extensions in those sectors (primarily the universities and health sectors) that already enjoy good access.

The UK is a leading nation for both its research outputs (6% of world articles, 11% of citations driven by R&D investment of 3% of GDP) and for its intellectual property industries, where the academic and professional sector is a leading investor in electronic products and services that provide £1.2 billion of export revenue and employ over 10,000 people in the UK.

The Finch Group arose out of discussions between the UK PA and UK Science minister David Willets. Working alongside representatives from the funding agencies, the research councils, universities, libraries, the learned societies and the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, terms of reference were agreed, a balanced delegate list invited, a secretariat appointed, and Dame Janet Finch asked to chair. The publishing community was represented by three senior executives from STM member companies, who have kept the publishing community informed about the work of the group throughout.

ENDS

STM is an international association of over 120 scientific, technical, medical and scholarly publishers, collectively responsible for more than 60% of the global annual output of research articles, 55% of the active research journals and the publication of tens of thousands of print and electronic books, reference works and databases. We are the only international trade association equally representing all types of STM publishers – large and small companies, not for profit organizations, learned societies, traditional, primary, secondary publishers and new entrants to global publishing.

http://www.stm-assoc.org

Contact Kim Beadle for more information – [log in to unmask]

The PA is the leading trade organisation serving book, journal, audio and electronic publishers in the UK. Membership is comprised of 117 companies from across the trade, academic and education sectors. Its core service is representation and lobbying, around copyright, rights and other matters relevant to members, who represent roughly 80% of the industry by turnover. http://www.publishers.org.uk For further information on accessibility initiatives visit http://www.publishersassociation.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=472&Itemid=1516

LINK TO FINCH REPORT
http://www.researchinfonet.org/publish/wg-expand-access/

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