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Why self-archive?

Elizabeth Harbord Head of Collection Management

Context
White Rose
SHERPA Experience so far librarians and academics LEADIRS http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/leadirs/index.htm

Publication and self-archiving


Author writes paper
Submits to journal Paper refereed Revised by author Author submits final version Published in journal Deposits in e-print repository

Who has an interest in selfarchiving?


Authors/researchers
Editors

Publishers University management

Libraries

What are their objectives?


Authors disseminate their research and further their career Publishers make money (if commercial), cover costs (not-for-profit). Learned societies in-between? University management maximise intellectual capital for competitive advantage (high RAE ratings generate income). Reduce library costs Libraries provide as wide a range of material as possible for users within their budget

Self-archiving universities
Pros:
Organises, manages and shares research output (especially for RAE) and protects its intellectual property Raises profile of university and badges research with university identity May ultimately reduce costs of journal subscriptions

Cons:
Cost of running repository and ensuring all research publications are deposited Impact on research ratings if research not published in prestigious journals while current model is in place

Self-archiving libraries
Pros:
Opportunity to be more involved in scholarly communication process by running institutional repositories Advocacy process will strengthen links with academic departments Librarians have appropriate skills (metadata) May be solution to journals financial crisis?

Cons:
Additional cost of advocacy and running the repository (e.g. copyright clearance, metadata creation) unless project or centrally funded

Self-archiving authors
Pros:
Dissemination of research more quickly Impact of research more citations Access to research easier and repositories cross-searchable

Cons:
Extra work Need publication in reputable journals for RAE, promotion Unpopular if seen as driven by managerial considerations

Academics concerns about selfarchiving


Whats in it for me? Extra work Copyright Quality control Plagiarism Preservation

How can we encourage selfarchiving?


Advocacy
With academics and university managers Departmental meetings, university committees Champions Cultural issues

Make the self-archiving process as easy as possible, and/or provide staff to deposit e-prints and add metadata Address copyright concerns ROMEO/Sherpa list http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo.php

How can we encourage selfarchiving?


Quality control peer reviewed material only or keep pre-prints separate
Plagiarism allay worries; software Preservation university repositories more stable than individual or subject repositories

Conclusions
Cultural and organisational issues are more important than technical ones
Self-archiving is being promoted alongside the current scholarly publishing model but financial savings for libraries (and universities) will only happen if that model changes

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