Institutional Repositories:

their contribution to sustainable development

Development needs ScienceScience needs Access to Research

Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, said: "It is science alone that can solve the problems of hunger

and poverty, of insanitation and illiteracy …

A1982 UNESCO report states that "assimilation of scientific and technological information is an essential

precondition for progress in developing countries".

The InterAcademy Council says: "In a world moving rapidly toward the knowledge-based economies of the

21st century, capacity building in science and technology is necessary everywhere. But the need is

greatest for the developing countries".

A reminder of the scale of the problem

ACCESS STUDY

WHO study in 2003 showed:

Of 75 countries with GNP/per capita/yr < $1000, 56% of medical institutions had NO subscriptions to journals over the last 5 years

Of countries with GNP/capita/yr of $1-3000, 34% had NO subscriptions and a further 34% had an average of 2 subscriptions/yr

Situation unlikely to have changed much since 2003

Some confusionsBOAI recommendations:

1. Self-archiving (OA Archives, Institutional Repositories) of published articles

2. Alternative journals (OA Journals)

Repositories:• Institutional Repositories (IRs, OAAs) primarily for

archiving already published research articles• Institutional Digital Archives (IDAs) for archiving an

institutes total digital record (theses, reports, assessment records, teaching products, pre-prints….)

Institutional Repositories

A global network of interoperable archives

providing free access to already published research findings (author’s final version)

Subsidiary, bottom-up access strategy

working in parallel with OA or TA journals

Technical Benefits from Institutional Repositories

– Free software, therefore appropriate for low-income countries

– Easy to establish, technical help available– All IRs are interoperable, conforming to OAI-MPH

international standards (www.oaister.org/about.html)– Distributed network, shared costs– Searchable by Google, Yahoo and specialised

search programs (eg OAIster, SHERPA searches)– Usage (impact) statistics available– If embargo, immediate deposit gives email options

Strategic Benefits from Institutional Repositories

• Content free to all with access to Internet (Good for readers)

• Increases impact of articles (raises visibility of developing country science); increases usage, forges partnerships (Good for authors)

• Maximises return on investments (already being mandated by institutes and funding bodies) (Good for funders)

• Shows institutional achievement (Good for institutes)

• Administrative tool (eg RAE) (Good for institutes)

• Already ~900 established

• Little change to existing publishing practice – no new models required

Any problems?

Yes! Researchers are merely humans and don’t bother to archive their publications (in spite of the fact that their work makes a far higher impact)! So IRs are proving slow to fill.

Studies show (A.Swan; A.Sale) researchers willingly archive if told [or mandated] to do so.

Like most of us, researchers respond to sticks and carrots!

Author readiness to comply with a mandate

0 20 40 60 80 100

% respondents

Would complywillingly

Would complyreluctantly

Would notcomply

81%

14%

5%

Key Perspectives Ltd

Recommended and agreed Mandates

Mandates to deposit authors’ copies in his/her IR at time of acceptance:

at April 17th 2007:

11 Institutional Mandates 3 Departmental Mandates12 Funders’ Mandates

6 further mandates proposed

Where are they?

Registry of OA Repositories (http://roar.eprints.org/) shows between 8-900 established world-wide

Examples:

– Latin America – 83 (50 in Brazil)– EU countries – 350 (93 in UK)– India – 23– China – 9– South Africa – 7– Canada – 39– Australia - 33– USA - 211

And the cost is?

In India, for example:

• NCCR ‘Not very much’• ‘Depends if you have to buy a PC and if you

can use existing staff’• IISc (India) says new PC costs ~$555 IISc deposits papers and formats

abstracts/references for authors; two people’s salary costs $5500 per annum. Total $6055

• NIC (India) says they ‘used existing resources, so not very expensive’

Driver Repository Infrastructure Vision for European Research

The long-term vision: Pan-European Digital Repository Infrastructure

http://www.driver-repository.eu/

The Depot deposit serviceWelcome to the DEPOT.

The DEPOT is a supporting service of the JISC Repositories and Preservation programme. Researchers based at UK institutions of higher and further education are welcome to use this national facility to deposit their peer-reviewed papers, articles, and book chapters (e-prints). The Depot contains full-text post-print research papers, with associated metadata and subject classification. The Depot is an OAI-compliant repository allowing your e-prints to be discovered and accessed throughharvesting services and search engines anywhere in the world.

The Depot conforms to W3C standards for conformity and validation, andSection 508 for accessibility.

http://depot.edina.ac.uk/

Part of the JISC IR Roadmap programme

►And in the USA

InterAgency Working Group on Digital DataData, not articles as yet

22 agencies to develop infrastructure

►And in AUSTRALIAPartnership for Sustainable Repositories

Online Research Collections Australia:

ORCA Network

ORCA Registry

►And globally >25,000 research individuals (including >1000 research organisations)

signed petition in support of recommendation

A1 of EU study:

“GUARANTEE PUBLIC ACCESS TO PUBLICLY-FUNDED RESEARCH RESULTS SHORTLY AFTER PUBLICATION“

Sponsors: DeFF JISC SPARC Europe SURF

IRs for sustainable development?

A light at the end of the tunnel…..

NEED ACCESS NOW!

(think malaria, HIV AIDS, climate change, avian ‘flu, tsunamis, conservation, taxonomy…..)

IRs should not be delayed while mega$ programmes are agreed and implemented. There is an urgent need

to support:

• Establishment of Institutional Repositories• Mandating author-deposit (and providing incentives)• Consider networking programmes for IRs (cf DRIVER

and DEPOT programmes, JISC Roadmap)

‘Let 1000 OA flowers bloom’But don’t let planting the slow-growing mighty

oak trees delay the spread of easily established Indigenous Roses

Thank you

Barbara Kirsopbarbara@biostrat.demon.co.uk

Electronic Publishing Trust for Development

http://www.epublishingtrust.org