Enhancing Open Access publishing @University of Groningen and @University Medical Center Groningen

Abstract

The University of Groningen (UG) and the University Medical Centre Groningen (UMCG) have committed themselves to the Dutch National Open Science Plan. In addition, external research funders are increasingly demanding that research articles are published open access (e.g. through Plan S).

In 2018, 50% of UG/UMCG-scientific articles were published open access. However, have we used all options for publishing open access in venues chosen by researchers, thereby maintaining the researchers’ quality standards, and reducing the costs as much as possible? The answer is "no." To maximize the open access uptake, while making the workflow as smooth as possible for researchers, the University Library and Central Medical Library have started an Open Access Services (OAS) project with the following objectives:

1. Implementation of services for the provision of practical information and advice for researchers
   • Establish communication channels to increase the overall visibility of open access services and to issue regular updates on changes and innovations in scholarly communication and open science;
   • Provide information on available options, costs, copyright, licences, re-use rights and funders’ requirements, pre-funded open access deals and submission workflows;
2. Establishment of expert networks for the provision of strategic information and advice:
   • open access ambassadors (academic staff and/or research policy officers) within faculties to multiply  and disseminate between the OAS project team and individual researchers, research committees and faculty boards;
   • support staff (research policy officers, funding officers, financial controllers), e.g. to include open access budgeting in grant applications;
   • open access experts to identify obstacles to publish open access, and advise to eliminate them and advocate for policy changes with regard to research evaluation practices.
3. Establishment of an open access training programme for young researchers
   • Create and implement a programme of regular presentations and tutorials for young researchers about publication strategies and open access;
4. Development of optimal workflows for monitoring and registering open access uptake and expenditures
   • Registration of open access expenditures, including cost of pre-funded deals, support for diamond OA initiatives, unnecessary paid APCs and reimbursed by funders (grant budgets).
   • Identification of missed opportunities to publish open access using pre-funded read and publish deals and repair them retroactively whenever possible.
   • Improvement of standards for the registration of open access publications in the university’s CRIS system.
5. Organization of UG’s participation in the Taverne Amendment pilot project
   • i.e. the implementation of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act.
6. Provision of extra support for open access publishing services offered by the UG Press
   • Professionalize and improve the publishing services offered, to support diamond open access initiatives, with special emphasis on the humanities and social sciences.

We will present on the main outcomes of this project.