As OA self-archiving mandates by research funders grow, here is Arthur
Sale's timely and useful strategy to help accelerate the complementary
growth of self-archiving mandates by universities and research
institutions:
Sale, A. (2007) The Patchwork Mandate
D-Lib Magazine 13 1/2 January/February
http://www.dlib.org/dlib/january07/sale/01sale.html
doi:10.1045/january2007-sale.
Excerpts [interpolations added]:
"This article is written mainly for repository managers who are at
a loss as to what policies they (or their universities or research
institutions) ought to deploy in order to ensure that most, if
not all, of the institution's scholarly output is deposited in
the institution's repository. In essence, there are only two pure
policies:
requiring (mandating) researchers to deposit, and
relying on voluntary (spontaneous) participation, with or without
encouragement...
"A mandatory deposit policy will approach a capture
rate of 100% of current research publications,
though it will take a couple of years to achieve that
goal. Figures of 60-90% can be expected in a short time.
See... for some data on how mandates actually work...:
Sale, A. The acquisition of open access research
articles. First Monday, 11(9), October 2006.
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue11_10/sale/index.html
"Voluntary deposit policies are known to achieve no greater deposit
rate of current research than 30% and more usually around 15%...
The evidence for this can be produced and is absolutely clear...:
Sale, A. The Impact of Mandatory Policies on
ETD Acquisition. D-Lib Magazine April 2006,
12(4).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1045/april2006-sale
Sale, A. Comparison of content policies for institutional
repositories in Australia. First Monday, 11(4), April 2006.
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue11_4/sale/index.html
"This short article describes a third policy that provides a
transitional path between the two.
"What is the patchwork mandate? Simply this:
"Knowing that you have [not yet] been unable to convince the senior
executives, you nevertheless personally commit to having a mandate
across your institution.
"You aim to pursue a strategy that will achieve an institutional
mandate in the long term. (It is highly recommended that you register
your intention to do this in ROARMAP so as to encourage other
repository managers caught in the same dilemma.)
http://www.eprints.org/openaccess/policysignup/
"Since you haven't been able to get an institutional mandate [yet],
you work instead towards getting departmental (school/faculty)
mandates one by one. Each departmental mandate will rapidly trend
towards 100%, and little activism is needed to maintain this
level....
"Conclusion
"I am convinced that the patchwork mandate strategy described
in this article will work in most cases. It is being trialled in
Australia, and although it won't achieve 100% deposit of content
into the institutional repository instantly, it is a clear way to
work towards that goal. You can even explain the patchwork mandate
approach to your senior executives, and they probably won't stop
you from trying it. They may even encourage you in your efforts.
"Just remember that voluntary persuasion of individuals is known not
to work beyond a pitiful participation level. Self-archiving needs
to be made part of the routine academic duty, and this requires a
policy endorsement of mandatory deposit by someone."
Received on Tue Jan 16 2007 - 04:36:56 GMT