The state of Open Access in Belgian French-speaking universities
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The document summarizes the key findings of a study on open access in Belgium's French-speaking universities conducted by BICfB at the request of university rectors and F.R.S.-FNRS. It finds that while open access policies have been adopted, compliance is uneven. Institutional repositories contain over 250,000 references, but only 13.2% have open access full-texts. Journal articles make up over half of open access materials, but practices vary significantly between institutions. The report calls for stronger mandates and copyright policies to increase open access and visibility of university research.
![BICfB…
• BICfB = Bibliothèque Interuniversitaire de la Communauté française de Belgique
• Non-profit organization created in 2000 by the Rectors of the French-speaking
universities (9 universities in 2000; 6 in 2012 [after mergings])
• Aimed at promoting, coordinating and developing a common policy between
the university libraries regarding academic and scientific documentation
o consortial purchase of eProducts
• ca 50 products for 2012
o 1 yearly project / study (e.g.: institutional repositories, Open Access, preservation and
curation…)
• Financed by the public authorities (65%) and the universities (35%)
• Daily activities managed by a technical staff (1,5 FTE)
• Decisions taken by the Board (6 universities’ chief librarians)
Open Access in Belgium’s French-speaking Universities 2](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/openaccess-in-belgiums-french-speaking-universities-130610022059-phpapp01/85/The-state-of-Open-Access-in-Belgian-French-speaking-universities-2-320.jpg)
![References with a FT in Open Access
52%
15%
12%
6%
6%
2%
2% 0%
5%
Academic journal articles [n=17.226]
Book chapters [n=4.797]
Unpublished communications [n=3.793]
Dissertations [n=2.073]
Working papers [n=1.862]
Reports [n=621]
Books [n=604]
Patents [n=125]
Others [n=1.665]
by document type
See p. 27 of the report
Open Access in Belgium’s French-speaking Universities 8
Total: 32,766 references](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/openaccess-in-belgiums-french-speaking-universities-130610022059-phpapp01/85/The-state-of-Open-Access-in-Belgian-French-speaking-universities-8-320.jpg)
![Editorial role in OA journals
• Approximately 1/10 researcher from our universities would actively be
involved (editorial role) in OA journals! awareness
• 1/5 OA journal has got an IF 2010
• 1/3 OA journal has got an SJR 2011
• Confusion among the researchers (8% of the online survey answers) between:
o Open Access journals,
o Journals accessible thanks to an institutional subscription (traditional model),
o And hybrid journals (= journal for which a subscription is needed to get access to, with
some few Open Access articles [because researchers paid to publish them in OA])
real necessity to inform better the researchers of the perversity of hybrid journals
• Very few publications on Open Access (part from librarians…)
Open Access in Belgium’s French-speaking Universities 13
international recognition](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/openaccess-in-belgiums-french-speaking-universities-130610022059-phpapp01/85/The-state-of-Open-Access-in-Belgian-French-speaking-universities-13-320.jpg)
The state of Open Access in Belgian French-speaking universities
- 1. The State of Open Access in Belgium’s French-speaking Universities François Renaville, BICfB / ULg Open Access to Excellence in Research Brussels, October 22, 2012
- 2. BICfB… • BICfB = Bibliothèque Interuniversitaire de la Communauté française de Belgique • Non-profit organization created in 2000 by the Rectors of the French-speaking universities (9 universities in 2000; 6 in 2012 [after mergings]) • Aimed at promoting, coordinating and developing a common policy between the university libraries regarding academic and scientific documentation o consortial purchase of eProducts • ca 50 products for 2012 o 1 yearly project / study (e.g.: institutional repositories, Open Access, preservation and curation…) • Financed by the public authorities (65%) and the universities (35%) • Daily activities managed by a technical staff (1,5 FTE) • Decisions taken by the Board (6 universities’ chief librarians) Open Access in Belgium’s French-speaking Universities 2
- 3. A Study on Open Access • Request from the Rectors and the F.R.S.-FNRS at the General Assembly (Spring 2011) • Aim: to take stock of OA development and projects in the universities, particularly on: 1) Institutional Mandates 2) Institutional Repositories (IRs) (Green Road) 3) Active implication of researchers & professors (with editorial role) in OA journals (Gold Road) • Made between February and May 2012 • Presented to the Rectors and the F.R.S.-FNRS in June 2012 Open Access in Belgium’s French-speaking Universities 3
- 4. 1) Institutional Mandates for FT PhD theses Journal articles Other document types FUNDP 2008 / / FUSL 2005/2008 / / UCL 2005/2008 2008 (application planned for 2013) 2008 (application planned for 2013) ULB 2007 2007 2007 ULg 2006 2007 / UMONS / / / F.R.S.- FNRS / • Publications must be referenced in the IRs (recommendation, mandatory 2013 for some researchers) • No mandate for the FT in the IRs Open Access in Belgium’s French-speaking Universities 4 Situation of May 2012
- 5. 2) Green Road • Two projects: o BICTEL/e (2001-2003): PhD theses and e-prints o Institutional Repositories (2004-2008) • Institutional Repositories: o 250,000 archived references (beginning of March 2012) : • ca 33,000 references with an OA FT (13,2%) • ca 49,000 references with a FT in restricted access (19,6%) o Very contrasting situation : • No systematic FT deposit in all institutions • One single institution counts for 2/3 of all references with an OA FT Open Access in Belgium’s French-speaking Universities 5
- 6. Total References in the IRs 0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000 70,000 80,000 90,000 FUNDP FUSL UCL ULB ULg UMONS Number of references Number of references with FT Number of references with FT in OA P. 32 of the report (data from beginning of March 2012) Open Access in Belgium’s French-speaking Universities 6
- 7. Evolution of the “big” 3 IRs Beginning of March 2012 0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000 70,000 80,000 90,000 100,000 110,000 UCL ULB ULg Mid-October 2012 UCL ULB ULg Open Access in Belgium’s French-speaking Universities 7
- 8. References with a FT in Open Access 52% 15% 12% 6% 6% 2% 2% 0% 5% Academic journal articles [n=17.226] Book chapters [n=4.797] Unpublished communications [n=3.793] Dissertations [n=2.073] Working papers [n=1.862] Reports [n=621] Books [n=604] Patents [n=125] Others [n=1.665] by document type See p. 27 of the report Open Access in Belgium’s French-speaking Universities 8 Total: 32,766 references
- 9. 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 9,000 UCL ULB ULg UMONS Journal articles published between 2009 and 2011 in the IRs and in Scopus IRs Scopus Open Access in Belgium’s French-speaking Universities 9 Better visibility of the scholarly production of the universities Journal articles Also for more discrete publication types (working papers, e- prints, reports, patents…) (7% of all IRs) P. 37 of the report IRs & Scopus
- 10. Downloads from all IRs 194,345 491,609 670,000 0 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 600,000 700,000 800,000 2010 2011 2012 (estimated) Open Access in Belgium’s French-speaking Universities 10
- 11. 3) Gold Road No inter-university project at the time being • PEPS project (BICfB, 2004): • PEPS = Portail Électronique de Périodiques Scientifiques • = common platform for OA publishing of academic journals • study made on behalf of Minister Fr. Dupuis, but no funding for development • Only local initiatives: o Iconothèque ULB (2002) • 4,000 images and pictures for teaching and research o PoPuPS at ULg (2005) • Platform for OA publishing of academic journals (14 journals) o Partnership between Bibliothèques ULB and Éditions ULB (2008) • Out of print ULB books re-published in OA • Book chapters written by ULB authors and published by Éditions ULB available in OA in IR • What about the implication in OA journals of our researchers & professors (with an editorial role)? Open Access in Belgium’s French-speaking Universities 11
- 12. Editorial role in OA journals • HOW to come to that information? o Corpus based on three sources: 1) Online survey for researchers and professors • 176 answers from 101 different persons (20% with F.R.S.-FNRS mandate) 2) Universities’ librarians 3) Sample (20%) DOAJ • WHO & WHAT? o Globally, definite identification of: • 394 professors and researchers (if DOAJ = 100%: 866) • 205 academic journals • 467 implications (editor, editor-in-chief, member of the editorial board, member of the scientific board, peer-reviewer…) Open Access in Belgium’s French-speaking Universities 12
- 13. Editorial role in OA journals • Approximately 1/10 researcher from our universities would actively be involved (editorial role) in OA journals! awareness • 1/5 OA journal has got an IF 2010 • 1/3 OA journal has got an SJR 2011 • Confusion among the researchers (8% of the online survey answers) between: o Open Access journals, o Journals accessible thanks to an institutional subscription (traditional model), o And hybrid journals (= journal for which a subscription is needed to get access to, with some few Open Access articles [because researchers paid to publish them in OA]) real necessity to inform better the researchers of the perversity of hybrid journals • Very few publications on Open Access (part from librarians…) Open Access in Belgium’s French-speaking Universities 13 international recognition
- 14. Conclusions: How to go further? Mandates • Institutional mandates should be more respected • FT deposit mandates for researchers subsidized by the F.R.S.-FNRS • To a multi-institutional mandate stronger • To a European mandate? < fight lead by Universities’ Authorities Copyright issues • Authors shouldn’t automatically give all their copyrights to the publishers • Keeping rights within the universities More visibility, more downloads, more recognition! Open Access in Belgium’s French-speaking Universities 14
- 15. BICfB report L'Open Access en Belgique francophone : étude de la BICfB réalisée à la demande des Recteurs des universités et du F.R.S.-FNRS. by Renaville, F, Bastin, M, Audrit, S, Thirion, P (Ed.), Boueyrie, P, Chalono, D, de Bergeyck, V, Devroey, J-P, Henin, M- P, Gass, C, Laurent, J, Masselus, C, Nyns, C-H, Petit, N, Poumay, Y, & Vandooren, F. Bruxelles: Bibliothèque Interuniversitaire de la Communauté française de Belgique (BICfB), 2012. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/2268/124876 Open Access in Belgium’s French-speaking Universities 15
- 16. Thanks for your attention! [email protected] http://www.bicfb.be Slides available at: http://hdl.handle.net/2268/132440 Open Access in Belgium’s French-speaking Universities 16