Public access, open archives: A funder’s perspective Dr Mark Walport Director Wellcome Trust

Wellcome Trust mission “To foster and promote research with the aim of improving human and animal health”

Funded by the Wellcome Trust and MRC Why open access matters to us...

Open access and the human genome

Why is open access publication important to research funders? Funding the research is a job only part done – a fundamental part of funders’ missions is to ensure the widest possible dissemination and unrestricted access to that research Over 90% of research funded in UK universities is public money (government, research councils and charities)  90% of NHS-funded research available online full text  30% immediately available to public  Only 40% immediately available to NHS staff  Submission to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee's Inquiry into Scientific Publications

Opposition to innovation is not new … 1408: Arundelian Constitutions (Oxford) against John Wycliffe and his work to publish the New Testament in English. These enactments forbade “…upon pain of the greater excommunication the unauthorized translation of any text of the Scriptures into English or any other tongue by way of a book, pamphlet, treatise or the reading of such." 1850: The 1850 Public Libraries Act was the first of a series of Acts enabling local councils to provide free public libraries funded by a levy of a ½ d rate. Widely opposed in Parliament, because of the cost implications of the scheme, and the social transformation it might effect.

Opposition to innovation is not new … 2004: “… Speak to people in the medical profession, and they will say the last thing they want are people who may have illnesses reading this information, marching into surgeries and asking things. We need to be careful with this very, very high-level information.” Oral evidence to House of Commons inquiry, March 1st 2004 But……… 58% of patients in the USA consulting their physicians bring along information they accessed on the internet

Then …

… and now …

Why don’t researchers know or care? Free Publishers Libraries Researchers Public funders Free Shareholder s & Societies £ Profit £ £ £ Wellcome Trust mission? The economic cycle of scientific publishing

Developments in web technology Enables creative ways of dissemination Not fully realised whilst access is mediated through subscriptions and bundle deals

Two routes to open access Both need to be supported Publish in an open access format (Peer-reviewed Journal) Publish in a subscription journal but deposit a copy in an open access repository (Institution and/or Subject-based Central Repository)

Publish in an open access journal Immediate global availability Increased usage (citation)  improved efficiency and impact Archived for long term storage and access Few titles but growing Not as well known – but impact growing Resistance to the author pays model from authors (passive), learned societies, commercial sector

Whole systems saving of 30% Estimated costs per article: o Publication fee $550 with o Submission fee $175 Cost to funders: 1 - 2% of research budget Will open access publishing cost more?

Publish in any journal but deposit a copy in an open access repository What do funders require? Immediate access - but can work with 6 months delay to allow market to adapt Long-term digital archive - accurate, future-proof preservation Searchable - ‘under one roof’, subject-based Build on existing research practice e.g. Medline Funders’ attribution, additional features e.g. public engagement Links with other databases e.g. genes, proteins Strategy, evaluation and impact

Developments in open archives Increasing use of self-archival and digitisation eg NIH, support from US Chamber of Commerce, House of Commons S & T Committee More support from funders eg Howard Hughes, Max Planck, CNRS, NIH, RCUK Digitisation projects eg partnership between Wellcome Library, JISC, National Library of Medicine Development of a European PubMed Central

UK PMC – Portable PubMed Central Aim: To develop a PubMed Central portal in the UK that will create a stable, permanent digital archive of peer-reviewed biomedical research publications that is accessible for free via the Internet Department of Health, MRC, BBSRC, JISC, Cancer Research UK, British Heart Foundation, Arthritis Research Campaign, Wellcome Trust, AMRC Mirror the data from USA, Japan, France – collaboration and competition

Source: David Lipman, Director, National Centre for Biotechnology Information, NLM, USA

Link to imaging agent in PubChem through MeSH Source: David Lipman, Director, National Centre for Biotechnology Information, NLM, USA

Links between sequence and related proteins

Funder initiatives Leadership - demonstrate engagement with issues, join with other research funders, raise awareness in research community Fund - cost of publication (marginal to research costs) Copyright - encourage (and eventually enforce) author retention (involve publishers and IPR lawyers) Repository - establish open access repositories and self- archiving (at what point mandatory?) Evaluation - recognise intrinsic value of content of paper rather than title of journal Digitization - of existing titles Greater accessibility = Greater impact of research