The Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge

The Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities: are we there yet? Denise R. Nicholson Scholarly Communications Librarian, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg Wider Gauteng IR Forum Workshop – 4 September 2014

Wits OA Strategy • • • FOER Strategic Plan 2010 – encourages staff to deposit in IR Berlin Declaration signed – November 2012 Author’s Addendum launched November 2012 Wits Information Sheet on OA – October 2013 OA Brochures - 2012, 2013 and 2014 OA Week events on campus each year All these can be found under OA@Wits at: http: //libguides. wits. ac. za/openaccess_a 2 k_scholarly_communication No OA Policy as yet.

Library Initiatives • Regular talks & notices about OA to staff and PG students • Initiated talks with Research Office re: integration of Info-Ed RIMS with WIREDSPACE in 2011 - still liaising with Info-Ed – very expensive! • Appointed Data Services Librarian - 2012 • Library OA and Digitisation Workgroups merged – Jan 2014 • Copyright Services Librarian upgraded to Scholarly Communications Librarian - to promote OA, OA publishing & IR • Libguides published (see: http: //libguides. wits. ac. za/profile/copyright ) Ø Ø Open Access, A 2 K & Scholarly Communication – Oct 2010 Open Educational Resources (OERs) – Sept 2011 WIREDSPACE – Jan 2012 Open Educational Resources for Humanities & Social Sciences – Feb 2014

Moving Forward • Sent various OA documents to Research Office and are liaising with Research Office, DVC: Knowledge Management and ICT, DVC: Research and VC’s office regarding OA Policy • Drafted document for URC Committee meeting in October 2014 recommending an automatic integration process between Research Office/Info-Ed RIMS system and WIREDSPACE, and Immediate Deposit/Optional Access Policy (QUT, Australia and many others, have this policy in place). • Will attend the URC meeting in October 2014 and hope a decision on an OA Policy will be taken then. Will still need to go to Senate before any policy is adopted. • Recommend a National OA Policy – to avoid each institution re-inventing the wheel and to save millions in public-funded money in the process.

Useful Resources • Scholarly Communication/Publishing http: //libguides. wits. ac. za/Scholarly. Communication • Accredited DHET Journals (& ones without apcs) http: //libguides. wits. ac. za/content. php? pid=308241&sid=3817596 • The Immediate-Deposit/Optional-Access (ID/OA) Mandate: Rationale and Model http: //openaccess. eprints. org/index. php? /archives/71 -guid. html • ROARMAP: Registry of Open Access Repositories Mandatory Archiving Policies - http: //roarmap. eprints. org/ • Directory of Open Access Journals (no apcs) - http: //doaj. org (click on Search then Publication Charges, then No Charges, on left of screen)

Useful Documents • Policy Design and Implementation Monitoring for Open Access - http: //blogs. plos. org/opens/2014/09/03/policy-design-andimplementation-monitoring-for-open-access/ • Opening Access to Southern African Research: Recommendations for University Managers http: //openuct. ac. za/sites/default/files/media/SCAP_Brief_4 _Swan_et_al_Opening_Access. pdf

Thank You Denise R. Nicholson Denise. Nicholson@wits. ac. za Free online information service – subscribe @: http: //www. africanlii. org/blogs/denise