This document summarizes a presentation about open access policies on the national level. It discusses how organizations like EIFL advocate for open access policies from research funders, universities, and governments. It provides examples of funder mandates from organizations like Wellcome Trust and NIH. The document also discusses whether policies should mandate or just encourage open access, whether they should require deposit in repositories, journals, or both, and what materials should be deposited. It highlights open access progress in Africa through organizations and repositories.

1. Open Access policies on
national level
Iryna Kuchma
EIFL Open Access programme manager
Presented at the Regional Workshop “Benefits of Open Access for Research
Dissemination, Usage, Visibility and Impact” – 22 to 23 November 2010,
Pretoria (South Africa)
Attribution 3.0 Unported

4. EIFL partners in Africa
Botswana, Cameroon, Egypt,
Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya,
Lesotho, Malawi, Mali,
Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal,
South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland,
Tanzania, Zambia & Zimbabwe
In progress: Algeria, Burkina Faso,
Burundi, Ivory Cost, Morocco, Tunisia

5. EIFL Open Access Programme
We advocate for the adoption of open access
policies and mandates by research funding
agencies, universities and research organizations
nationally and internationally
We build capacities to launch open access
repositories, and to ensure their long-term
sustainability

6. EIFL Open Access Programme (2)
We empower library professionals, scholars,
educators and students to become open access
advocates
We offer training, support knowledge sharing,
and provide expertise on open access
policies and practices (journals and
repositories)

7. EIFL Open Access Programme (3)
Report on Open Repository Development in
Developing and Transition countries
(EIFL, the University of Kansas Libraries, the DRIVER
project and Key Perspectives Ltd)
http://www.eifl.net/cps/sections/services/eifl-oa/oa-news/2010_07_05_report-on-open
Report on the implementation of open content
licenses in developing and transition countries
http://www.eifl.net/cps/sections/services/eifl-oa/oa-news/2010_07_09_report-on-implementation

10. Context
Current research dissemination practices do not
adequately meet the needs of all
stakeholders
Millions of educators and researchers, small
businesses, students, physicians and clinicians,
patients and their families, and others are
without affordable access to the quality
research information.

11. Context (2)
How existing scientific research into malnutrition,
hunger, agriculture, tropical and neglected diseases
can be used to shape more effective government
policies achieving the health and other outcomes
stipulated by the UN MDGs?
Research outputs needs to be more accessible and
more visible locally and globally to contribute to
solving local and global problems.
Indigenous content and knowledge needs to be
preserved to enrich the new generations.

12. Open Access policies
Drivers:
Knowledge economy
E-science, E-research,
Virtual Learning Environment
Accountability and Assessment
Freedom of information
Fifth freedom: free movement of knowledge

13. A Digital Agenda for Europe
2.5.2. Driving ICT innovation by exploiting the
single market
Knowledge transfer activities should be
managed effectively... and publicly funded
research should be widely disseminated
through Open Access publication of scientific
data and papers
To this end the Commission will appropriately extend current Open Access
publication requirements as stipulated in Commission Decision C(2008)
4408 (more information on this pilot is available at
http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/index.cfm?
fuseaction=public.topic&id=1680).

14. Europe 2020
Europe 2020 Flagship Initiative
Innovation Union
The Commission will promote open access to
the results of publicly funded research. It will
aim to make open access to publications the
general principle for projects funded by the EU
research Framework Programmes.

15. EC Open access pilot
The European Commission wants to ensure that the
results of the research it funds under the EU's 7th
Research Framework Programme (FP7) with more than
€ 50 billion from 2007 – 2013, are disseminated as
widely and effectively as possible to guarantee
maximum exploitation and impact in the world of
researchers and beyond.
Open access to research articles helps to increase the
impact of the EU's investment in research and
development and to avoid wasting time and valuable
resources on duplicative research.

16. EC Open access pilot (2)
With access to a wider selection of literature,
researchers can build upon this knowledge to
further their own work.
Small and medium sized businesses and
entrepreneurs can also benefit from improved
access to the latest research developments to
speed up commercialisation and innovation.

27. Funder mandates
The Wellcome Trust in the UK was the first
funder to mandate Open Access
The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH),
implemented a policy requiring that its grant
recipients make articles resulting from NIH
funding publicly available within twelve
months of publication in a peer-reviewed
journal

28. University associations
European University Association:
“Universities should develop institutional policies and
strategies that foster the availability of their quality-
controlled research results for the broadest possible
range of users, maximising their visibility, accessibility
and scientific impact.
The basic approach …should be the creation of
an institutional repository or participation in
a shared repository…
http://www.eua.be/fileadmin/user_upload/files/Policy_Positions/Recommendations_Open_Access_adopted_by_the_EUA_Council_on_26th_of_March_2008_final.pdf

29. OA policy options
for funding agencies and universities
Request or require?
If you're serious
about achieving open access
for the research you fund,
you must require it.
(Based on The SPARC Open Access Newsletter, issue #130 and The SPARC
Open Access Newsletter, issue #127, by Peter Suber:
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/newsletter/02-02-09.htm and
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/newsletter/11-02-08.htm)

30. Green or Gold?
Recommendation:
If you decide
to request and encourage open access,
rather than a mandate it,
then you can encourage submission
to an open access journal
and encourage deposit in an open access repository as
well,
especially when researchers publish in a toll access
journal.

31. Green or Gold? (2)
Recommendation:
But if you decide
to mandate open access,
then you should require deposit
in an open access repository,
and not require submission
to an open access journal,
even if you also
encourage submission to an open access journal.

32. Deposit what?
Recommendation:
Require the deposit of the final version of the author's
peer-reviewed manuscript, not the published
version.
Require the deposit of data generated by the funded
research project.
In medicine and the social sciences, where privacy is an
issue, open access data should be anonymised.
A peer-reviewed manuscript in an open access
repository should include a citation and link to the
published edition.

33. Deposit what? (2)
Recommendation:
Allow the deposit
of unrefereed preprints, previous journal articles,
conference presentations (slides, text, audio, video),
book manuscripts, book metadata (especially when
the author cannot or will not deposit the full-text),
and the contents of journals edited or published on
campus.
The university itself could consider other categories as
well, such as open courseware, administrative
records, and digitization projects from the library,
theses and dissertations

34. Scope of policy?
Recommendation:
For simplicity and enforceability,
follow the example of most funding agencies:
apply your open access policy
to research you fund
"in whole or in part"

35. What embargo?
Recommendation:
No more than six months.
Any embargo is a compromise
with the public interest;
even when they are justified compromises,
the shorter they are, the better.

36. What exceptions?
Recommendation:
Exempt private notes and records not intended for
publication.
Exempt classified research.
Either exempt patentable discoveries or allow an
embargo long enough for the researcher to apply for
a patent. (This could be a special embargo not
allowed to other research.)
And unless you fund research, which often results in
royalty-producing books, exempt royalty-producing
books.

37. Open repositories
Publicise an institute’s research strengths,
providing maximum return on research
investment;
Can be mandated by institutions, speeding
development;
Provide an administrative tool for institutions;

38. Open repositories (2)
Increase impact and usage of institute's
research, providing new contacts and
research partnerships for authors;
Use free software and benefit from free
technical support for installation and use; low
installation and maintenance costs; quick to
set up & gain benefits;
Provide usage statistics showing global interest
and value of institutional research.

42. Open access
Provides access to the world’s research output,
free of financial and other restrictions – a
level playing field;
Incorporates local research into interoperable
network of global knowledge;
Increases impact of local research, providing
new contacts and research partnerships for
authors; removes professional isolation
Strengthens economies through developing a
strong and independent national science base.

44. Open Access in Africa
Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in
Ghana (CARLIGH): Open access repository
KNUSTSpace http://dspace.knust.edu.gh/;
Installation and troubleshooting of Dspace
repositories: University of Cape Coast, University for
Development Studies, University for Education
Winneba, Pentecost University and Ashesi University
4 open access journals: Etude de la Population Africaine/African
Population Studies http://www.bioline.org.br/ep; the West African
Journal of Applied Ecology http://ajol.info/index.php/wajae; The
Ghana Medical Journal http://ajol.info/index.php/gmj; Studies in
Gender and Development in Africa http://ajol.info/index.php/sigada

45. Open Access in Africa (2)
Lesotho Library Consortium (LELICO):
Is Open Access to information through libraries on the
agenda at the African Union when it comes to
assessing countries’ development under the African
Peer Review Mechanisms? – asks Matseliso M.
(Tseli) Moshoeshoe-Chadzingwa, National University
of Lesotho, EIFL country coordinator in Lesotho and
EIFL Advisory Board member, in her paper presented
at the IFLA conference, 10-15 August 2010:
http://www.ifla.org/files/hq/papers/ifla76/146-
chadzingwa-en.pdf

46. Open Access in Africa (3)
Nigerian University Libraries Consortium
DSpace at University of JOS: http://dspace.unijos.edu.ng/
10 open access journals in Biloine International:
http://www.bioline.org.br/journals
107 open access journals published by Academic Journals:
http://www.academicjournals.org/journals.htm
12 open access Journals in African Journals Online: African
Journal of Clinical and Experimental Microbiology, The African Journal of Oral
Health, The Annals of Ibadan Postgraduate Medicine, The African Journal of
Applied Zoology and Environmental Biology, the Journal of Agricultural Extension,
International Journal of Health Research, African Journal of Physiotherapy and
Rehabilitation Sciences, OGIRISI: a New Journal of African Studies, Edo Journal of
Counseling, Jos Journal of Medicine, Journal of Surgical Technique and Case
Report, Journal of the Nigerian Optometric Association

47. National governments and international organizations
1. Require open access to publicly funded
scientific research (funders mandates).
2. Commit to public domain status for publicly
funded data.
3. Consider a patent policy that does not hinder
the process of open innovations.
4. Start tracking and rewarding sharing via
citations to open articles, data sets, materials,
tools.

48. Thank you!
Questions?
iryna.kuchma[@]eifl.net
http://www.eifl.net
Attribution 3.0 Unported