theses alive! and sherpa are funded by the uk joint information systems committee (jisc) era: the...

Theses Alive! and SHERPA are funded by the UK Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)

ERA: The Edinburgh Research Archive

Theo Andrew

University of Edinburgh


at present…

• large volume of research material on staff and departmental web pages

• grassroots movement• poorly organised, no central involvement• not easily searchable, therefore less

accessible• web pages ephemeral, longer term

preservation in doubt


Science & Engineering

from Andrew, 2003. ‘Trends in Self-Posting of Research Material Online by Academic Staff’, Ariadne, 37 (www.ariadne.ac.uk)


Humanities & Social Science



Medicine & Veterinary Medicine



so what (can we offer)?

• SHERPA - e-prints

• Theses Alive! project - electronic theses and dissertations (etd’s)

• content combined to form ERA


SHERPA

• Securing a Hybrid Environment for Research Preservation and Access

• development partners– Nottingham (lead), Edinburgh, Glasgow, Oxford,

Sheffield, Leeds, York, British Library and AHDS

• funding: JISC (FAIR programme) and CURL • duration: 3 years, November 2002 –

November 2005


Theses Alive!

• lead site Edinburgh• pilot partners

– Cambridge, Cranfield, Leeds, Manchester Metropolitan

• funding: JISC (FAIR programme) and UoE

• duration: 2 years, November 2002 – October 2004


broad project aims

• to develop an infrastructure which enables e-theses to be ‘published’ on the web

• to produce a ‘checklist approach’ for universities to use as they develop e-theses capability


Theses management at EUL

• EUL opted out of the British Theses Service in 1992

• ~ 600 PhD theses submitted a year

• Access to theses via:

- special collections reading room

- ILL request


reading room statistics


ILL requests

• 2002- 155 estimates, 58 copies sent

• 2003 (to date) - 110 estimates, 47 copies sent

• High cost

- 300 pages £60 +VAT/P&P

- 300-600 pages £100 +VAT/P&P


….so why etd’s?

• current demand for access inhibited by physical restrictions and cost

• most theses are ‘born digital’• better presentation of research not available in paper

format (multimedia files, dynamic data presentation, programmes and code, hyperlinks)

• and in the longer term, less expense to authors and libraries? (less printing/binding/paper/cataloguing/ storage costs)


The Edinburgh

Research Archive

www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk

for e-prints and etd’s

http://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/

http://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/


Existing institutional archives (most in a pilot stage) include:

• University of Cambridge, http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/dspace/

• University of Nottingham, http://www-db.library.nottingham.ac.uk/eprints/

• University of Glasgow, http://eprints.lib.gla.ac.uk/

• University of California Digital Repositories, http://repositories.cdlib.org/

• MIT, http://libraries.mit.edu/dspace/ • Australian National University, http://eprints.anu.edu

.au/

http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/dspace/

http://www-db.library.nottingham.ac.uk/eprints/







http://eprints.lib.gla.ac.uk/







http://repositories.cdlib.org/



http://libraries.mit.edu/dspace/







http://eprints.anu.edu.au/








The Self-Archiving process• Academic writes a paper• Academic self-archives preprint• Academic sends to publisher• Publisher referees and accepts• Academic self-archives postprint• Repository (DP) creates metadata• Service (SP) harvests metadata• End-user access paper


The most common problems

1. my research is already online- why should I participate in ERA?

2. but what about the copyright?

3. and prior publication?

4. as long as I don’t have to do anything….


1. I am already online!

• being online does not necessarily mean you are visible

• Google is a powerful search engine BUT….


2. What about the copyright?

• © is the main area of concern

• No map to steer researchers through the legal minefield

• Project RoMEO

• www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ls/

disresearch/romeo/


Project RoMEO

• The RoMEO Project investigated rights issues surrounding the 'self-archiving' of research in the UK academic community

• It performed a series of stakeholder surveys to ascertain how research literature (and metadata) is used, and how it should be protected

Project RoMEO


Biggest hindrance to self-archiving

• Academics must publish in

refereed journals

• Journals require authors

to sign © Transfer Agreements

• © Transfer Agreements inhibit

self-archivingProject RoMEO


Copyright assignment

• 90% asked for copyright

assignment

• 6% required exclusive licences

• 4% required non-exclusive

licences Project RoMEO


Why is © assignment required?

• 45% gave an explanation– Protection against infringement– Effective third-party permissions– Wide dissemination– Legal reasons

Project RoMEO


What happens when © cannot be assigned?

• Work-for-hire

• Government-owned work,

e.g. NSF funded work in

America

Project RoMEO


Prohibiting prior publication

• 75% of CTA’s asked authors to

warrant the work had not been previously published

• 2 explicitly stated that SA was

prior publication Project RoMEO


Time of © assignment

• 69% required © assignment pre-refereeing

• 15% of cases don’t revert © to

author if paper rejected

Project RoMEO


Lack of exceptions

• 42.5% of publishers allow

self-archiving– 54.6% of journals

• No standard conditions

• (Incidentally, 28.5% gave

authors no rights at all)Project RoMEO


The call to retain ©

• Publishers do not require © in

order to publish• Authors require © to SA• Authors require © to allow

third-party uses• Most publishers do not encourage

authors to assert moral rights

Project RoMEO


Alternatives

• Choose journals with

non-exclusive licences

• Choose journals with SA-

friendly licences

• Negotiate with your publisher

• Amend the existing licence

• Use an alternative licence

Project RoMEO

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ls/disresearch/romeo/Romeo%20Publisher%20Policies.htm

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ls/disresearch/romeo/Romeo%20Publisher%20Policies.htm


The RoMEO Project

Project web pages

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/

departments/ls/disresearch/romeo/

Project RoMEO

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/


3. Prior publication

• Main concern for theses- “Ingelfinger rule”

• University of Cincinnati host the Academic Journal Policy Database

http://www.etd.uc.edu/journal/









4. As long as I don’t have to do anything…….

• Actually the hardest problem to overcome

• SA is easy! All you need is a computer with internet access and a couple of minutes of your time

• Meanwhile, EUL is offering a mediated submission service


In summary

• Try to retain as much rights as possible!

• Choose journals with non-exclusive licences

• Choose journals with SA-friendly licences

• Amend the existing licence

• Use an alternative licence


Maximise your research impact!

"Self-archive unto others as ye would have them self-archive unto you.“

www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk


Thank You!

[email protected]

Tel: 651 1612

mailto:[email protected]

theses alive! and sherpa are funded by the uk joint information systems committee (jisc) era: the...

Documents

phd theses

e theses capability

sherpa e

etds slide

british theses service

era slide

vatpp slide

project electronic theses