Access to Research initiative begins two year pilot
Students, independent researchers and small businesses can now access
many of the world’s best academic papers across science, technology,
medicine and other disciplines through their local libraries. This is
the result of a unique collaboration between librarians and publishers,
who have made their journal content available for free to UK libraries
under a new initiative, Access to Research.
Access to Research will provide licensed online access to over 1.5
million journal articles and conference proceedings through library
terminals. With 8,400 journals included in the initiative at the moment,
this will make content in the fields of Health and Biological Sciences
(20%), Social Sciences (18%) and Engineering (14%) available to the
public for the first time. Users will also be able to read a wide
variety of articles in the fields of Art & Architecture, Business,
Environmental Science, History, Journalism, Languages, Politics, Film,
Philosophy and Religion, Mathematics and Physics.
Access to Research has been launched under the leadership of the
Publishers Licensing Society in response to one of the main recommendations of
the Finch Group, a committee convened by the UK government, to explore
how access to publicly funded research could be expanded.
Publishers are making their journal content available free of charge and
those participating so far are: ALPSP, Bloomsbury
Publishing, Cambridge
University Press, Dove Press, Elsevier, Emerald, IOP Publishing, Nature Publishing
Group, Oxford University Press, Portland
Press, SAGE
Publications, Science
Reviews 2000 Ltd., Springer, Taylor
& Francis, Versita,
Wiley,Wolters
Kluwer Health.
Public libraries stand to benefit from this enhancement to their
services and it is hoped that Access to Research will encourage more
customers to visit their local library.
ProQuest, a global provider of digital content and technologies, has
generously provided, pro bono, their widely-used Summon®
service to improve discoverability of this online journal content.
The pilot is open to all UK local authorities to participate, with over
half of all local authorities already in the process of signing up their
libraries to the initiative.
The technology to support the service has been road tested in 2013 by
250 public libraries within 10 local authorities (Buckinghamshire,
Calderdale, East Sussex, Kent, Lewisham, Newcastle, Oxfordshire, Surrey,
West Sussex, Windsor & Maidenhead).
The service will now be rolled out as a two-year pilot, commencing
February 2014. During the pilot interest and uptake will be closely
monitored to see how the service could be developed in the future.
Universities and Science Minister David Willetts said: "This
country's excellent science and research base is world-renowned and one
of our greatest assets. With less than one per cent of the global
population we produce over six per cent of global articles. But this
still means the vast majority of global research is not subject to the
UK's open access policy.
"The Publishers Licensing Society's excellent 'Access to Research'
programme will now give the public free access to research around the
world through our public libraries. This will connect people, including
students and small businesses, to a wealth of global knowledge -
maximising its impact and value."
Richard Mollet, CEO, The Publishers Association, said: “The
Access to Research initiative demonstrates publishers’ strong commitment
to developing open access in the UK, and in taking forward the
recommendations of the Finch review. This will be a hugely valuable
pilot for publishers, libraries and their patrons. We look forward to
monitoring the progress and update of this pilot and to seeing the
collected data at the end of the two year period.”
Sarah Faulder, CEO, Publishers Licensing Society, said: “We have
been impressed by the tremendous support of both publishers and
librarians for this project. We are delighted to have been able to put
in place a framework which enables ever wider access for the general
public to a wealth of academic research.”
Janene Cox, Society of Chief Librarians, added: "This important
initiative further cements the library as a local space for learning for
the entire community. We are thrilled that we have reached this
milestone with publishers and we look forward to rolling this out across
all of our libraries."
Audrey McCulloch, of the Association of Learned & Professional
Society Publishers, said: “Many ALPSP members are excited about this
initiative which will bring research from 8,400 academic journals to an
even wider audience. This initiative should support innovation and
allow many more interested readers to keep up to date with the latest
research.”
Phill Hall, ProQuest Technologies said:“We are delighted to
be involved in the Access to Research project. Our Summon service
provides the perfect platform for reinforcing the pivotal role of
libraries; facilitating meaningful research by helping users discover
the most relevant content, and improving information literacy.”
Notes to Editors
For more information on the Access to Research initiative, or to find a
participating public library, visit:www.AccesstoResearch.org.uk Tweet
about us: #AccesstoResearch
The Publishers Association
The Publishers Association is the
leading trade organisation serving book, journal, audio and electronic
publishers in the UK. Membership comprises 113 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. www.publishers.org.uk
The Publishers Licensing Society
The Publishers Licensing
Society (PLS) offers rights management services to the publishing
industry. We are not-for-profit, set up by the industry, for the
industry; with our primary remit being to oversee collective licensing
in the UK for book, journal, magazine and website copying. www.pls.org.uk
Society of Chief Librarians
The Society of Chief
Librarians (SCL) leads and manages public libraries in England, Wales
and Northern Ireland. SCL is made up of the head of service of every
library authority, and advocates for continuous improvement of the
public library service on behalf of local people. www.goscl.com
ALPSP
ALPSP is the international membership body for
not-for-profit organizations that publish scholarly and professional
content and those who work with them. ALPSP connects, informs, develops
and represents its members and has a membership of 330 companies in 40
countries. Over 10,000 journals are published by ALPSP members as well
as numerous books, databases and other products and services. www.alpsp.org
ProQuest
ProQuest connects people with vetted, reliable
information. Key to serious research, the company’s products are a
gateway to the world’s knowledge including dissertations, governmental
and cultural archives, news, historical collections and ebooks. ProQuest
technologies serve users across the critical points in research, helping
them discover, access, share, create and manage information. www.proquest.co.uk
