Scholarly Communication and Publishing

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Letter from Ken Frazier

Dear Faculty and Researchers:

UW–Madison researchers understand the problems of scholarly communication and publishing better than most. Our journal collections have been decimated by forced cuts caused by relentlessly rising prices. Library users are understandably alarmed. The reality is that the current publishing system is no longer financially sustainable for any public university. At a time when digital access should enable researchers to maximize the reach and impact of their research, many publishers have placed unreasonable cost constraints and licensing restrictions on access to research information.

We have no choice but to take actions that will gradually transform scholarly communication. Beginning this year the UW–Madison Libraries have established the Office of Scholarly Communication and Publishing (SCP) to engage the campus community in an effort to regain greater control over the publishing system and the intellectual property created by academic authors. We plan to work closely with them to improve access to research information and to champion sustainable models for digitally publishing scholarly research.

The Faculty Senate encouraged such action in March 2005 by passing the “Resolution in Support of Accessible Scholarly and Scientific Publication.” Implementing the Senate resolution will require faculty, libraries and the campus administration to encourage and create possible solutions. In an effort to support the vision of the resolution, the SCP Web site provides researchers with information and tools “to ensure that [their] works are accessible to advance research and learning.”

The SCP Web site, “Transforming Scholarly Communications and Publishing,” features practical information about:

  • Current issues in scholarly communication that affect researchers
  • The UW–Madison’s participation and response to new publishing
  • Actions that faculty and researchers can take
  • Services to support faculty and researchers

You–the authors, reviewers and editors of research materials–have the power to positively influence the future direction of scholarly communication.

Here are some actions you might consider taking:
  • Limit the transfer of your copyrights by modifying publisher contracts
  • Exert your influence with publishers by commenting on their business practices
  • Archive your published work locally, nationally, or both.
  • Consider alternative forms of publishing, such as open-access journals in your field

The Office of Scholarly Communication and Publishing can help researchers to transform scholarly publishing without sacrificing their time or the opportunities to give their work maximum exposure. We believe that much can be accomplished by providing researchers with assistance and information to make relatively simple changes in the customs of research publishing. UW–Madison has been a leader in calling for change in the scholarly communication system–now we aspire to provide practical leadership in creating more open and affordable models for disseminating new knowledge and discoveries.

For further information, please check the web site or contact us at scp-l@library.wisc.edu.

Thank you,

Ken Frazier,
Director, General Library System

UW–Madison’s Faculty Senate supports reform of scholarly communication

Research universities in the U.S. and abroad are calling for changes in the publishing system that expands access to knowledge without harming traditional publishing. The UW–Madison Faculty Senate has been sensitive to these issues. They have responded by passing two resolutions that encourage faculty, researchers and librarians to take action.

In March 2005, the UW-Madison Faculty Senate passed a resolution to persuade faculty to consider and support alternative forms of publication and explore new models of scholarly publishing ownership.

The Faculty Senate took action again in May 2007, when they passed a resolution encouraging faculty to control their copyright. The resolution also advocated for the use of a CIC-endorsed author addendum, thereby helping to ensure that their works are accessible to advance research and learning.

Resolution in Support of Accessible Scholarly and Scientific Publication Submitted by the University Library Committee [Faculty Document 1839]

Adopted by the University of Wisconsin – Madison Faculty Senate at its meeting on 7 March 2005

Whereas, the commercialization of academic publishing threatens to undermine the research enterprise and the dissemination of knowledge to society, and

Whereas, as journal costs spiral out of reach, many scholars, researchers, students, and Wisconsin citizens are being cut off from vital knowledge resources, and

Whereas, as the university becomes less able to afford access to commercial journals and databases, the University of Wisconsin-Madison must, therefore, become less dependent on commercial information systems as the means of accessing and disseminating research and scholarship, and

Whereas, consequently, faculty and academic staff researchers, particularly those publishing in science, technology, engineering and medicine, must take action to ensure that their works are accessible to advance research and learning, and specifically should consider publishing their research articles in:

  • Affordable not-for-profit journals published by professional societies and associations;
  • Peer-reviewed open access journals and databases; and/or
  • Self-archiving their works in information repositories supported by research institutions and professional societies.

Therefore be it resolved that the University of Wisconsin-Madison Faculty Senate supports and encourages the efforts of the campus libraries to control the cost of journals while maintaining high-quality research collections, and urges both the library and faculty to support alternatives to commercial ownership and management of scholarly and scientific publication.

Resolution in Support of Assisting University Authors in Managing Their Publishing Rights and Agreements [Faculty Document 1994]

Adopted by the University of Wisconsin – Madison Faculty Senate at its meeting on 7 May 2007

Whereas current publishing methods encourage authors to assign publishers all of the rights to their works which may limit the ability of authors to incorporate their work into future articles, books, web sites, teaching materials, or repositories; and

Whereas it is incumbent upon faculty, campus administrators and librarians to ensure the free flow of scholarly information in fulfillment of the campus missions to advance the public good through research and education; and

Whereas the university administration supports a sustainable publication process and a healthy publishing industry, and suitable publishing partners that encourage the widest possible dissemination of the academy’s work; and

Whereas the management of copyright should be directed to encourage scholarly output rather than unnecessarily fettering its access and use; and

Whereas the goal of publication should be to encourage widespread dissemination and impact of the authors’ works; and

Whereas we encourage authors to consider publishing strategies that will optimize short and long-term access to their work taking into account such factors as affordability, efficient means for distribution, a secure third-party archiving strategy, and flexible management of rights; and

Whereas we encourage widespread access to the creative output of our campus and want to protect the intellectual property rights of our authors;

Therefore, be it resolved that the University of Wisconsin-Madison Faculty Senate supports the CIC Provosts’ Statement on Publishing Agreements and encourages the use of the Addendum to Publication Agreements for CIC Authors to ensure that academic authors retain certain intellectual property rights that facilitate archiving, instructional use, and sharing with colleagues to advance discourse and discovery.

Faculty senates at other universities have also gone on record in favor of transforming scholarly communication, including:

For a more information about what your colleagues across the country are doing see Peter Suber’s website: Open Access News

UW–Madison Libraries Take Action

Scholarly Communication & Publishing committee to collaborate with faculty and researchers

Acting towards the realization of the Faculty Senate’s resolution, in Summer 2005 the UW–Madison Libraries established the Scholarly Communication and Publishing committee to collaborate with faculty and researchers to improve access to scholarly communication and research and to champion sustainable, open access models for digitally publishing scholarly research.

  • Publishing Program
    The Scholarly Communication and Publishing committee seeks partners who see the advantage of making works openly accessible via the Internet. Offering technical infrastructure and production support for new and ongoing publishing projects, the SCP is prepared to help any UW author, organization or society interested in disseminating their works. The SCP strives to provide guidance and oversight to parties who would otherwise be unable to publish and share their work.
  • MINDS@UW: a digital repository for the UW System
    MINDS@UW is designed to store, index, and preserve the digital materials of the University, which are then openly accessible to researchers via the Web. It offers a promising alternative to the self-archiving of pre-prints and post-prints and can also help to increase visibility for research and teaching activities in departments and research centers. Find out more…
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Seed Money for Open Access Publishing

The UW-Madison Libraries provide seed money to support open-access publication fees and digital publishing by faculty and academic staff.

The Libraries have been supporting alternative publishing models in partnership with UW faculty, staff, and students for the past several years. With the establishment of the Office of Scholarly Communication and Publishing (SCP), UW-Madison librarians will begin publicizing the availability of funding support for open-access publishing as a part of their outreach and liaison activities.

    The seed money will:

  • Enable the library to pay publication fees for articles that have been accepted for publication by an established open-access journal. There are now more than 2000 open-access journals serving the international academic community (http://www.doaj.org). Many open-access publishers do not require a publication fee, but some of the best known, e. g., Public Library of Science and BioMed Central, have substantial fees that may discourage authors from submitting their articles for publication.
  • Provide seed money and/or matching funds for the publication of open-access books, conference proceedings, and new electronic journals. Large collaborative projects (such as the development of a new journal) will require a contribution from publishing partners as well as the approval of the General Library System Director.

    Guidelines for publishing or open-access support:

  • Proposed projects must be initiated by UW-Madison faculty/academic staff.
  • Publications must allow free access via the Internet for a substantial portion of the published content within six months of the first publication.
  • Projects with cost sharing and/or high degree of cost-effectiveness will be preferred.
  • Relevance of the publication to UW’s research, teaching, and outreach missions.
  • Publications that require one-time financial support will be preferred over publishing projects that are likely to require ongoing support.
  • The seed money will not be used to support staffing or capital equipment.
For more information, contact the SCP.

Institutional Open Access Memberships

Institutional memberships support new open access publishing models

Through institutional memberships in Biomed Central, Public Library of Science (PLoS) and other select open access titles, UW-Madison authors are eligible to publish at reduced or no page charge.

Biomed Central (BMC)

  • UW-Madison authors are eligible for a discount on the BMC article processing charge as a benefit of the UW-Madison Libraries' membership in BMC. Please contact the SCP for more information regarding this discount. Find out more about publishing in BMC…

Nucleic Acids Research

PNAS: Proceedings of the National Academy of Science

  • Authors may opt to pay an additional open access fee to make their articles immediately available online upon publication
  • 25% discount off the PNAS open access fee

Public Library of Science (PLoS)

  • UW authors may publish at a reduced charge in PLoS journals
  • For general information about publication charges check the institutional memberships page, More detailed information can be found on the submission form for individual PLoS journals
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Rapid Article Delivery

Library Express offers two new ways for faculty, researchers and graduate students to get rapid access to articles not owned by the UW–Madison Libraries

The Libraries have expanded Library Express to provide fast access to articles not in the UW-Madison Libraries collection. When researchers need fast access to articles not in our collection, Library Express will purchase them directly from publishers’ Web sites or through rapid document delivery services, rather than using traditional interlibrary loan service. This expansion in service will enable the campus libraries to continue to provide access to the breadth of research materials needed for you and other researchers while managing our limited budget.

  • Rapid access is now provided to articles in 700+ low-use/high-cost Elsevier, Springer-Verlag, and Wiley journals (cancelled over many years,) where purchase by article from the publisher is more cost-effective than a subscription (cost/article is $25-$30, no charge to the requestor.) If the libraries still had these subscriptions, they would cost over $1.5 million in 2005.
    • average turn-around of one-half day, compared to approx. 5 days for traditional interlibrary loan
    • article format quality is equivalent to the original digital
  • Users are also now offered a rush request *option* for any journal articles not on campus.

The escalating costs of journal subscriptions from publishers such as Elsevier, Wiley and Springer have been well-documented over the years, with annual price increases for all publishers averaging from 8-10%. While the campus administration has provided regular additions to the acquisitions budget in recent years, these increases haven’t kept pace with this rate of inflation.

This continual pressure on the collections budget has diminished the Libraries’ ability to subscribe to journals and other research materials vital to researchers in conducting their work. In response to this, the Libraries have introduced a new rapid article delivery service, as described above, that we hope will allow researchers to continue to access the breadth of research materials needed to remain both productive and competitive in their work.

User response to this new service has been very positive due to the quick response and and the article format quality, which is equivalent to the original digital. In addition to getting user feedback, the libraries will continue to assess this new model of service.

If you have any questions, concerns or comments please contact Library Express.

Following are a selection of responses Library Express has received in response to our new rapid document delivery service:

“While I think the increased speed is fabulous, it is secondary to the fact that this is a searchable/selectable document making it far more powerful than the scanned alternatives. This capability will have a significant positive impact on my research productivity.”

— Asst Prof., Engineering

“The online purchase of the articles is fantastic! I requested the article less than an hour ago and certainly didn’t expect to see it so soon. It definitely helps to expedite the process of preparing my own manuscript for publication. I certainly hope the program continues.”

— Research Associate, Engineering

“I think this is a great idea. I got a good quality copy of this article in a timely fashion. This is critical for grant writing.”

— Asst. Professor, Medical School

“Thanks very much for purchasing the article and delivering it to me so quickly. I was sorry that the UW library no longer subscribes to the electronic version of the journal, but your service on this was outstanding!”

— Asst. Professor, Education

“It was very helpful to my research and learning to receive this article so quickly. The time elapsed from my request to my opening the pdf couldn’t have been more than an hour or two. My thought processes were still centered on this topic–usually when it takes a few days to receive an article, I have to put aside that project and work on something else, then pick the project back up again when I receive the article. Thanks very much!”

— Instructor, Nursing

“I greatly appreciate your help. With the grant deadlines on the 1st of June 2005, access to the recent publications translates into inclusion / non-inclusion of the most recent views > funding vs. non-funding. With $2mln at stake and 1/3 for UW system, investing in libraries and prompt access to publications is one of the best investments we can make.”

— Senior Scientist, CALS

“This service seems to me effective and very useful! (I support cancellation of the outrageously priced journals, but sometimes I do need the articles from them too.)”

— Professor, Engineering

“You asked for feedback on this pilot project – this service has been a boon to my work as a researcher. I have a grant deadline looming so the timely delivery of these documents expedites my work and hopefully results in a strong grant application and more research dollars for the university.”

— Asst. Professor, Medical School

“I think the project seems like a good idea. The quick access to the article is a definite plus as it allows me to continue my work in lab without any extended delay due to the inability to access needed articles. It is a great way to improve productivity.”

— Research Assistant, CALS

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Journal Value Project

The Journal Value Project provides cost and valuation data for journals in all areas of the sciences and social sciences. We hope this data will raise awareness among faculty and researchers about the economic challenges present in the current scholarly communication system, as well as provide librarians with data that will inform their decisions about whether to cancel or retain journals. Find out more..

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MINDS@UW

Worried that your floppy disks won’t stand the test of time, and looking to make your work available to a wider audience?

MINDS@UW might be the solution for you. Research institutions worldwide have begun to collect, preserve, and make accessible their digital research and teaching materials through an institutional repository, and the MINDS@UW project represents the University of Wisconsin’s effort to join this movement.

MINDS@UW is…

  • a digital repository where you can find articles, working papers, preprints, technical reports, conference papers, images, and data sets in various digital formats
  • designed to distribute and preserve the digital materials produced by University of Wisconsin faculty and staff
  • a home for published and unpublished electronic content from any discipline
  • accessible via the World Wide Web
  • based on Dspace software

Why use MINDS@UW?

  • Offers a fast and efficient publishing alternative.
  • Provides a mechanism for sharing research results.
  • Increases visibility for research and teaching activities in your department and research center.
  • Supplies a permanent URL for all content that can be used for citation purposes.
  • Reaches a worldwide audience via the World Wide Web.
  • Permits departments and research centers to have their own identity within the repository.
  • Supplies communities the ability to administer policies and submit content into their own MINDS@UW collections.
  • Provides access to the electronic intellectual property of the institution through a single Web interface.
  • Offers long-term storage for digital materials managed by librarians and IT staff.
  • Accommodates the multidisciplinary and organizational needs of a large institution.

How is MINDS@UW organized and who can use it?

  • Content is submitted by faculty and staff, reviewed and cataloged by their designees, and made available on the World Wide Web.
  • The MINDS@UW content is organized around Communities which correspond to UW administrative entities such as schools, departments, lab s and research centers. Within each community there can be an unlimited number of collections and within each collection there can be an unlimited number of items.
  • Access to content can be limited at the campus or UW system level or made accessible to the world.

Project Overview

In July 2003, the Division of Information Technology (DoIT) and the UW-Madison Libraries in conjunction with participants drawn from the campus community began a project to evaluate the need for a digital institutional repository service. The resulting repository, MINDS@UW is intended to provide a “safe haven” for published and unpublished electronic content of any discipline. It is designed to capture, store, index, distribute, and preserve the intellectual output of the university. Content, which is deposited directly by faculty and staff, may include research papers, pre-prints, datasets, photographs, videos, learning objects, or other intellectual property in digital form. The content is then distributed through a searchable Web interface.

Contact MINDS@UW

For more information about the MINDS@UW project and/or to find out how you can participate see the MINDS@UW home page or please email us at minds@library.wisc.edu.