University of Rhode Island Joins COPE

[Provided by the University of Rhode Island]

Funds available for faculty to publish in Open Access journals

The Offices of the Provost and the Vice President for Research and Economic Development have established a new fund to support faculty who want to publish in Open Access journals and who do not have other sources of funding available to cover publication fees.

This year $15,000 has been made available. Funding for articles that comply with eligibility criteria will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Details on eligible journals, fund rules, and information on how to apply are available at http://uri.libguides.com/oafund/.

The URI Open Access Fund is available to full-time faculty of the University of Rhode Island and is managed by the University Libraries.

Emory University Joins COPE

[Reprinted from the Emory University announcement]

Fund helps Emory authors get published

By Lisa Macklin and Maureen McGavin | Emory Libraries | July 10, 2013

The Emory University Open Access (OA) Publishing Fund helped Emory University researchers publish four articles in scholarly open access journals this year, and the plan is to assist even more authors in the coming months.

The fund for the first year was $25,000. The same amount will be funded next year, so requests are encouraged.  

The publishing fund is part of OpenEmory, an open access repository of scholarly articles by Emory faculty members, and is a service of Emory Libraries. The OA Publishing Fund guidelines were approved by the University Senate's Library Policy Committee. The Emory Libraries Scholarly Communication Office, directed by Lisa Macklin, administers the fund.  

"The purpose of the OA Publishing Fund is to foster the exploration of open access publishing across research communities, and we intentionally made the fund available to students as well as faculty," Macklin says. "We're very pleased that three of the four articles funded included a student co-author. We have three more articles approved for funds, but these articles have not yet been published."  

Macklin says the OA fund covers article processing fees when no other funds are available, making it easier for Emory authors to publish in eligible open access journals and books. The fund's web page includes the guidelines for eligibility for the fund and links to the Directory of Open Access Journals and Directory of Open Access Books for those who want to find OA journals and book publishers in their field.  

Emory University faculty, post-docs, and currently enrolled graduate and undergraduate students on the Emory and Oxford campuses are eligible to apply for funding. The money is awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, up to a maximum reimbursement of $1,500 per article or book. See the funding web page for details, including other restrictions.    

The OA-funded articles from this academic year were:  

• "Diet and density dependent competition affect larval performance and oviposition site selection in the mosquito species Aedesalbopictus (Diptera: Culicidae)," co-authored by Miho Yoshioka, Jannelle Couret, Frances Kim, Joseph McMillan, Uriel Kitron and Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec of Emory University; Thomas R. Burkot of James Cook University (Australia) and Ellen M. Dotson of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. This article was published in October 2012.

•  "Bonobos respond to distress in others: Consolation across the age spectrum,"  co-authored by Frans B. M. de Waal and Zanna Clay of Emory University.  

• "Association of duration of residence in the southeastern United States with chronic kidney disease may differ by race: the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS)" cohort study, co-authored by Laura Plantinga, Suzanne Elizabeth Judd, and William McClellan of Emory University; Virginia J. Howard, Paul Muntner, Rikki Tanner, Dana Rizk, David G. Warnock, and George Howard of the University of Alabama; and Daniel T. Lackland of Medical University of South Carolina.  

• "Promoting neonatal staff nurses' comfort and involvement in end of life and bereavement care," co-authored by Weihua Zhang of Emory University and Betty S. Lane of Clayton State University.  

For more information on OpenEmory or the OA Publishing Fund, visit the website or contact Lisa Macklin at lisa.macklin@emory.edu or 404-727-1535.

Texas A&M University Joins COPE

[Reprinted from the Texas A&M University announcement]

Libraries and Division of Research Create OAK Fund

Marketing and Communications | September 02, 2013

The Texas A&M University Libraries and the Division of Research have established a dedicated fund to support scholarly publication in the institutional repository. The OAK Fund will underwrite charges for scholarly journals and monographs according to guidelines and eligibility criteria set forth on the Libraries scholarly communication website.

The OAK Fund complements the OAK Trust, the Libraries’ institutional repository. Peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and scholarly monographs are eligible for funding.

For a minimum of two years, the OAK Fund will have a total allocation of $50,000 annually. This funding is made possible by shared contributions from the University Libraries and the Division of Research of $25,000 each. After two years, the program will be assessed for effectiveness. If successful, the program may be expanded.

The OAK Fund aims to encourage innovative models of scholarly publishing using digital and networking technologies, increase access to Texas A&M research and scholarship and assist faculty and researchers to publish in open-access (OA) venues, but may lack the funding sources to meet the OA publication charges. Each author may receive up to $3000 per year for all open access fees. Funding for qualified projects will be made on a first come-first served basis within the academic year.

“OA publications are an exciting option for faculty and the communication of research. Among other advantages, it expands the reach and visibility of the vital and rich contributions in research being made by A&M faculty. We’re especially pleased to partner with the Division of Research through the OAK Fund to promote scholarly publication using this innovative model. While the application process is straightforward, our librarians in the scholarly communication office are happy to assist with the process and answer questions regarding the guidelines,” explained David H. Carlson, dean of the University Libraries in announcing the OAK Fund initiative.

In approving the funding for the OAK Trust, Dr. Glen A. Laine, Interim Vice President for Research, commented, “The discovery and dissemination of knowledge is central to the mission of a tier one research institution. The OAK Fund will provide our academic and research community an additional peer-reviewed mechanism to communicate their findings.”

For questions or assistance with applications, email mailto:akfund@library.tamu.eduor call 979-862-1635.

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For more information: contact Charlene Clark, Texas A&M University Libraries; 979.862.4233 or charleneclark@library.tamu.edu

University of Tennessee Joins COPE

 [Reprinted from the University of Tennessee announcement]

University of Tennessee Signs Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity (COPE)

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT) has proclaimed support for open-access publishing of journal articles by signing the Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity (COPE). UT is the eighteenth institution to join a roster of signatories that includes Harvard, Duke, Sloan-Kettering, and other preeminent research institutions.

Open-access publishing is an alternative to the prevailing business model of subscription-based journal publishing. Open-access journals are freely available online to researchers, scholars, and the public worldwide.

COPE was formed in 2009 to encourage equity of the two models of journal publishing.

For universities, open-access publishing offers several advantages over the traditional model. Open access insures that research and scholarly work will be broadly disseminated and discovered. Scholarly work and research results are published online, through journals and institutional digital repositories, and made immediately available to the millions of people around the world who have access to the Internet.

Open-access publishing also allows authors to retain copyrights in own scholarly work rather than ceding copyrights to a commercial publisher.

Commercial publishers play a valuable role in the cycle of scholar communication. However, in recent decades inflation in costs of subscription-based journals has consumed an every larger portion of university libraries’ collections budgets. 

"Open-access publishing offers an attractive and viable alternative to the scenario of ever-increasing journal subscription fees," says Steve Smith, UT's dean of libraries. Publication costs for open-access journals are borne on the front end by sponsoring organizations or through author fees (article processing charges) rather than subscription fees charged to the end user. "We are proud that UT's Open Publishing Support Fund has, since 2008, been subsidizing publication in open-access journals," declares Smith. The Fund, a project of the university libraries and the office of research and engagement, has to date underwritten the publication of 79 open-access articles by 48 faculty and graduate student authors.

The University of Tennessee has long had a policy of supporting and funding open-access publishing. A decade ago, a group of UT life sciences faculty requested that the university provide incentives for faculty to publish in open-access journals. The UT Faculty Senate endorsed the Tempe Principles for Emerging Systems of Scholarly Publishing in 2003 and passed a resolution in May 2006 endorsing administrative incentives to encourage faculty publication in alternative scholarly outlets. 

"Joining COPE confirms the university's commitment to a new culture of scholarly communication," according to Taylor Eighmy, UT's vice chancellor for research and engagement.  "For tenure and promotion decisions, 'peer-reviewed' is 'peer-reviewed,' whether on paper or online. The ultimate goal is to create and disseminate new knowledge. Sharing UT's research and scholarship is central to our mission as a land-grant institution." 

COPE-Compliant Institutions

Several institutions that are not COPE signatories have established funding for the subvention of article-processing charges for open-access publications that is compatible with the compact’s language. In the spirit of acknowledging such funding and the alternative publishing avenues these efforts support, the COPE signatories page now includes a list of these COPE-compliant institutions, with links to their funds. If you know of another institution with a COPE-compliant fund, please contact us.