Funder mandated deposit in centralised or subject based repositories

From: Garret McMahon <garret.mcmahon_at_TCD.IE>
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2010 09:52:55 -0500

Robert?s arguments for CR over IR do seem to rest on funders? service
requirements (rights management, format, version tracking) being best served
by a centralised locus of deposit. I can see the attraction of developing
processes with publishers that meet funder OA policies through facilitating
direct deposit into a CR in terms of economies of scale. However service
development in support of OA hinges on policy and this approach does appear
less flexible when it comes to adapting to future changes in service demand
and delivery. The Elsevier example is illuminating. The CR model achieves
traction through processes put in place by publishers to meet funder
policies. If, for whatever reasons, a publisher does not favour CR deposit
then there will be an implicit failure (with the onus on the authors
presumably) to meet the funder?s grant requirement of OA to research
outputs. With the principal of academic freedom in mind CR deposit in this
instance surely undermines the effectiveness of the funder?s OA policy.

I have little to add to Stevan?s eloquence on the ?deposit locally, harvest
centrally? model and I accept his points regarding the need for an
institutional policy on IR deposit as being central to its success. From a
data management standpoint I am unconvinced that service requirements,
current or future, are best served by the CR model. The repository in my
home institution is fully integrated with the Research Support System (TCD?s
CRIS) allowing our research community to manage data relative to their
research interests and outputs. It is also the primary point of ingest into
the IR providing content which is aggregated by national and international
services. An infrastructure to support funder requirements regarding
reporting and OA is already in existence. It seems that an insistence on CR
deposit may be over-egging the OA pudding.

Regards,
Garret McMahon
Trinity College Dublin
Received on Mon Feb 22 2010 - 15:42:52 GMT