leveraging funder mandated deposition into central archives

From: Michael Eisen <mbeisen_at_LBL.GOV>
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:00:16 -0700

There are some interesting threads in the discussion about whether the
NIH should have mandated deposition into institutional archives. But
the discussion is really kind of pointless, because, as we like to say
in these parts "it ain't gonna happen" - for both practical and
political reasons. And, whether Stevan likes it or not, other funders
are likely to follow suit (though - bless his heart - I'm sure Stevan
will never stop trying).

I would like to shift the discussion a bit to something a bit more
practical. Now that the NIH policy is in place, how can we most
effectively leverage it to advance open access. I have been trying
here at the University of California to do just this by proposing that
the University:

a) require author deposition in an institutional archive
b) require that authors amend copyright agreements with publishers to
not only allow deposition in the IR, but to allow redistribution and
reuse of the content (so, for example, the full-text could be ingested
into PMC, thereby satisfying the NIH mandate)
c) handle the deposition of material from the IR to PMC (which may, or
may not, require additional steps)

Honestly, I don't have high hopes at this point. But I'm going to keep
trying and would love some thoughts from the group about HOW to do
this (and not the endless debate about whether (b) is necessary that I
fear might ensue) and what other steps we might take make this a
teachable/actionable moment.

-Mike

Michael Eisen
UC Berkeley/PLoS
Received on Sat Jul 26 2008 - 01:37:39 BST