The strategy is based in the general research community's demands for quality assurance, academic freedom, and research integrity. UiO's main strategic goal is to secure these values in the further development of open publishing and open access to research results.
The four ambitions of UiO’s open access strategy are as follows:
1. UiO must contribute to the open access (OA) of scientific works in high-quality publications
- UiO must support publications that maintain high quality, are visible and relate to the research community's standards of peer review
- UiO must contribute to breadth and diversity in publishing channels
- UiO must actively utilize, explore, and support relevant national and international OA initiatives
- UiO must contribute to making monographs and anthology articles openly available
- UiO will strengthen the opportunity for researchers and other relevant readers to find high-quality results in an ever-growing volume of publications
In many subject areas, leadership in publication is at an international level. As a research-intensive university, UiO is in a strong and central position to function as a driving force to further international efforts of ensuring that established channels of publication are made open and that novel OA models and initiatives originating in research communities be supported.
It is imperative that the transition to open access be linked to general publishing policy. UiO must help take responsibility for ensuring that both the establishment and development of publication channels be clearly anchored in the scholarly community's quality assurance mechanisms, and the given community’s research activities. With a clear policy, UiO must influence through dialogue and active participation in forums such as scholarly associations, as well as both national (UHR, SIKT) and international (The Guild, Circle U) collaborating organizations.
Visibility, clear metadata, and search functionality are central for high-quality publications to reach researchers, students, and other relevant readers. Simultaneously, proper and efficient use of such systems requires a certain level of competence, including an understanding of sources and search skills, and insight into processes based on algorithms and artificial intelligence. UiO must therefore ensure that researchers and students have access to adequate training and support.
The traditions of different disciplines must be safeguarded. This means that monographs and anthology articles must also be made openly available. UiO must work to ensure that good arrangements for this are established, supported, and followed up.
The merit system must reflect the open publication requirements in such a way that quality is maintained.
2. UiO must ensure that researchers can easily publish openly in visible publication channels
- UiO will ensure the most efficient workflow for researchers in the publication process
- UiO will contribute to predictability in available publishing channels that meet the requirements
- UiO will be prepared to ensure that the requirements for open publishing can easily be met through self-archiving (the green track and an institutional rights strategy)
- UiO will ensure uniform and well-defined information guidelines, and accessible support and guidance
It is necessary that information on the current requirements and possibilities in the publishing process, and what consequences and adoptions this entails be easily accessible to researchers. Finding the most suitable publication channels is an important part of scientific communication. It must be easy for researchers to identify approved publication channels that are compatible with the current requirements for open publishing, and which offer the greatest degree of predictability in relation to funding. Therefore, UiO will work to further develop, implement, and communicate clear internal guidelines and relevant information to researchers. Requirements and opportunities in the publishing process should also be central in PhD training and supervision.
Based on participation in relevant academic forums, UiO will contribute to the appropriate development of channel registration and to integration in both national and international science archives and other systems. In dialogue with publishers and financiers, UiO will contribute to establishing efficient, systematic, and intuitive workflows for open publishing.
The green track, through self-archiving with a CC license and without embargo, meets the requirements of Plan S. cOAlition S facilitates that researchers who publish their research results from Plan S-funded projects retain the right to immediately make available a peer-reviewed version (Author's Accepted Manuscript, AAM) of their scientific articles through the so-called Rights Retention Strategy (RRS). UiO must inform and encourage its researchers to actively use the Research Council's and cOAlition S's RRS and be prepared to handle any challenges the researchers may encounter in the process. UiO will also implement an institutional rights strategy. This will strengthen self-archiving as a realistic alternative.
3. UiO will be a driving force in sustainable funding and in communicating sound open publishing framework conditions
- UiO will take part in further developing reliable and financially sound publishing models that both take care of the various disciplines’ publishing traditions and utilize the diversity within publication channels
- UiO will, through national and international cooperation, be a driving force for a transition to sustainable agreements and funding models
- UiO will contribute to developing effective consortium collaboration, nationally and internationally
- UiO must limit double payment for both publication and reading access
- UiO must be a driving force in ensuring equal publication opportunities for researchers in developing countries
The publishing landscape is changing rapidly, it is thus imperative for UiO to ensure that researchers have access to relevant publication channels through a few paths. The first being gold open access. Gold open access refers to journals that are open and financed through author payment, otherwise known as APC (author processing charge). Secondly, there is diamond open access. Diamond open access journals or platforms do not require a subscription or author payment. Instead, they are often financed through a consortium of financiers. A Norwegian example of this is the scheme for open journals in the social sciences and humanities (NÅHST). This is financed by the Ministry of Education and the Research Council of Norway. There are also similar international initiatives. Another example is UiO's own publishing service FRITT, which includes 21 journals at level 1. The third path to open access is the green one. The green option involves self-archiving of articles in a science archive - either the final published version or the Author's Accepted Manuscript (AAM).
Additionally, there is the hybrid option, which is the free purchase of individual articles in traditional subscription magazines. Much of this publishing is done through Publish and Read agreements or other transitional arrangements.
There are challenges with several of the models. Publish and Read agreements have led to an ever-increasing number of articles being openly available at the time of publication, but they do not sufficiently demonstrate a lasting transformation towards open research. As they are now designed, the agreements do not meet the requirements of Plan S after 2024. Moreover, the model has proven to be a cost driver at establishment and because of additional costs for publishing beyond set quotas under some of the agreements. The APC model also contributes to increased costs for the institutions. One reason for this is that publishers are increasing the price level of the APCs and that the current demands from, among others, cOAlition S for transparent pricing at a reasonable level are not strong enough. We also see that increased publication volume is a trend.
In this landscape, UiO must still secure several channels of access for its researchers, but considering the aforementioned challenges, it is imperative that UiO work towards sustainable models. Therefore, UiO should focus its future efforts on strengthening the green path to open access and diamond publishing. UiO must work both nationally and internationally, not least through The Guild and Circle U as well as through memberships in "learned societies". Furthermore, UiO should contribute to strong institutional cooperation on negotiation goals and strategies that will meet the goals of open access. UiO must also explore and support other funding models, services, and initiatives that enable high-quality open access and publishing in a financially sustainable way for UiO and for the sector, nationally and internationally.
When researchers choose to publish openly, they align themselves with political goals. UiO will create predictability for researchers to cover the costs of open publication that meet the requirements of quality and visibility. Political objectives on open publishing should be followed by a systematic review of models for research funding as well as consequences for funding the sector and the individual institution. UiO must have an active dialogue with research funders and authorities about the connection between overall political goals, instruments, and funding.
4. UiO must be the driving force behind a suitable infrastructure for open publishing, accessibility and retention
- UiO must highlight and contribute to the development of good national and subject-specific archives
- UiO must highlight and contribute to the development of relevant national and international OA platforms where there is a need for it
- UiO must ensure quality in the institutional publishing service (FRITT)
- UiO must provide systems that safeguard searchability and retrieval through comprehensive metadata and consistent search functionality.
Open publishing, accessibility and retention exist in a diverse landscape of institutional, national, and subject-specific systems. Open access through open archives will be an important path in which journals can still be subscription-based. Changes to the contract terms must make it possible to make the author's version available in open archives. UiO must ensure that the National Science Archive takes care of institutional needs.
Open publishing platforms are emerging and can be a good supplement to ordinary publishing channels. International solutions are particularly relevant, but there is also potential linked to the use of, for example, UiO's publishing service FRITT and other similar services. The services do not replace traditional publishers but can be a place where editors can gain more control of journals or be a starting point for researcher-initiated journals that professional communities wish to establish. When investing in open publishing platforms, UiO will work to ensure that platforms are assessed according to institutional resources and holistic publishing policies built on requirements for quality assurance, academic freedom, and research integrity.
About the strategy
UiO is a research-intensive university that produces scientific knowledge of high quality and of high global and local value. Such quality is dependent on research publication in channels that value and maintain robust systems of peer review. It is of equal importance that such knowledge be visible to the given research communities as well as to the public. UiO will function as a driving force in ensuring open publishing’s affiliation to high-quality publications.
Though academic freedom is a prerequisite for universities to produce research that both challenges and contributes to perspectives and answers, society's trust in research and scientific knowledge can only be strengthened through openness and transparency. UiO will work to ensure quality and diversity in an open publishing landscape, in which differing perspectives, language diversity and academic breadth contribute to safeguard good conditions.
The requirements for publicly funded research to be open access are robust. UiO will certify the requirements be fulfilled in such a way that quality, accessibility and visibility are preserved, and that open access does not act as a cost driver for research institutions. UiO wants to emphasize work on sustainable open access models in a global perspective.
Any questions?
Send an email to: openaccess@ub.uio.no