Oxford Journals Latest Open Access Announcement

["MUKHERJEE, Mithu" <mithu.mukherjee@oupjournals.org>]

**** Apologies for cross posting****

Please find below news of the latest Open Access development from Oxford
Journals. Two of Oxford's premier journals - NAR and the Journal of
Experimental Botany - have been awarded =A360,000 of funding from JISC, 
the Joint Information Systems Committee. This will allow both 
publications to continue their experiments with Open Access, offering 
discounts and waivers on author charges.

If you have any questions about this, or any other activity at Oxford
Journals, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards,

Rachel Goode
Communications Manager
Oxford Journals
Oxford University Press
Great Clarendon Street
Oxford, OX2 6DP
UK
Tel: +44 1865 353388 =20
rachel.goode@oupjournals.org=20

___

JISC funding gives Oxford Journals new boost for Open Access experiments

12 January 2005

Oxford Journals today announced that two of its most prestigious titles 
have been granted a total of =A360,000 to help fund continued 
experimentation with Open Access.

Nucleic Acids Research (NAR) and the Journal of Experimental Botany both
applied for the funding from JISC (the Joint Information Systems 
Committee, a committee of the UK further and higher education funding 
bodies) in response to its Open Access Publishing Initiative Invitation 
to Tender. Each journal has been awarded =A330,000 of funding.

This is the second round of funding awarded by JISC to publishers moving
towards or already working with Open Access content delivery. The first
round awarded =A3150,000 to four publishers. In this second round, five 
bids were successful, including both of those submitted by journals 
from the Oxford Journals portfolio.

NAR is the largest journal owned and published by Oxford University 
Press.  It has been trialling a partial Open Access system in 2004 and 
moves to a full Open Access model in 2005 -- the first established 
journal of this stature to make such a move. The funding allocated by 
JISC will allow NAR to waive its =A3300 charge per article for eligible 
UK authors based at NAR member institutions, and to offer eligible UK 
authors at non-member institutions a discounted charge per article of 
=A3600.

Oxford Journals has been taking a proactive approach towards 
experimenting with Open Access and the possibilities this new business 
model offers.  However moving such an established journal to a 
financially viable full Open
Access model is a considerable challenge:

Presenting the bid, Claire Saxby, Biosciences Editor at Oxford Journals
said, "If we were to rely solely on income from author charges to fund 
NAR as an Open Access journal, it is likely that the charges required 
would only be accessible to the best-funded researchers at present. 
With this in mind we have developed a model for NAR which combines a 
variety of funding sources to help subsidise author charges. We are 
learning a great deal from our experiments so far."

"We are delighted that JISC is supporting our Open Access initiative 
with NAR," said Martin Richardson, Managing Director of Oxford 
Journals.  "NAR is one of the most prestigious journals to make a 
complete switch to Open Access, and our status as a University Press 
gives us the impetus to experiment with and learn from new distribution 
models that might help make research more accessible.  Support from 
JISC will really help us and our authors test the viability of this 
model."

The Journal of Experimental Botany, published on behalf of the Society 
for Experimental Biology, is already benefiting from JISC funding: 
during 2004, it has been offering authors the option to pay a fee of 
=A3250 in return for making their manuscripts freely available online 
from the time of publication. First round funding from JISC was used to 
waive open access fees for all UK authors in 2004 and also contributed 
towards keeping 2005 subscription prices at 2004 levels. The funding 
awarded in the second round will be used to waive Open Access fees for 
UK authors in 2005 and will support the introduction of free 
subscriptions for all UK institutions in 2006.

Mary Traynor, Managing Editor of the Journal of Experimental Botany
commented: "The Journal hopes to focus the academic community on the
relationship between academics, publishers and institutional libraries 
with the intention of forging new relationships and driving innovation 
in academic publishing. Although our Open Access experiment is still in 
its early stages, initial indications are encouraging.

"Submissions have increased by 15% and online usage statistics show that
there are 33% more full text downloads of open access papers than those
which remain under subscription control. The Journal of Experimental 
Botany is the only high ranking plant journal offering an open access 
option and this, combined with a steadily increasing impact factor, 
will contribute to future success."

For more information on both NAR and the Journal of Experimental Botany,
please contact:

Rachel Goode
Communications Manager
Oxford Journals
Oxford University Press
Great Clarendon Street
Oxford, OX2 6DP
UK
Tel: +44 1865 353388 
rachel.goode@oupjournals.org=20

Notes to Editors:
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the world's largest and most 
international of university presses. Founded in 1478, it currently 
publishes more than 4,500 new books a year, has a presence in over 
fifty countries, and employs some 3,700 people worldwide. It has become 
familiar to millions through a diverse publishing programme that 
includes scholarly works in all academic disciplines, bibles, music, 
school and college textbooks, children's books, materials for teaching 
English as a foreign language, business books, dictionaries and 
reference books, and journals.

Oxford Journals, a Division of OUP, publishes over 180 journals 
covering a broad range of subject areas, two-thirds of which are 
published in collaboration with learned societies and other 
international organisations.

The collection contains some of the world's most prestigious titles,
including Nucleic Acids Research, JNCI (Journal of the National Cancer
Institute), Brain, Human Reproduction, English Historical Review, and 
the Review of Financial Studies.  For further information visit
<www.oupjournals.org>.

JISC - Joint Information Systems Committee - is a committee of all UK 
further and higher education funding bodies, and is responsible for
supporting the innovative use of information and communication 
technology (ICT) to support learning, teaching and research. It is best 
known for providing the JANET network, a range of support, content and 
advisory services, and a portfolio of high-quality resources. 
Information about JISC, its services and programmes can be found at 
<http://www.jisc.ac.uk/>. For further information, contact Philip 
Pothen:
+44 (0)20 7848 2935, email p.pothen@jisc.ac.uk

Mithu Mukherjee
Marketing and Communications Assistant
Oxford Journals
Oxford University Press
Great Clarendon Street
Oxford
OX2 6DP

#01865 354471
mithu.mukherjee@oupjournals.org