JISC renews BioMed Central membership for UK Universities

[Grace Baynes <Grace@biomedcentral.com>]

Apologies for cross-posting. We hope that the below will be of interest to
this list. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Grace Baynes
grace@biomedcentral.com

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20 September 2004

JISC renews BioMed Central membership for UK Universities
 
BioMed Central, the Open Access Publisher, and JISC (Joint Information
Systems Committee) are pleased to announce that they have renewed their
agreement that gives all UK universities membership of BioMed Central
until September 2005.  Under the renewed membership agreement all UK
higher education staff can continue to publish their work in BioMed
Central's growing number of Open Access journals without incurring a
direct article-processing charge.

News of the JISC renewal comes at a key time for Open Access in the UK.
The UK government is due to respond shortly to 'Scientific Publications:
Free for all' - the House of Commons Science & Technology Select Committee
report1. In the report, the Committee concludes that changes in scientific
publishing are "necessary as a matter of urgency" and everyone should have
free, open access to UK research findings. They urge the UK Government to
"act as a proponent for change" and "lead by example". JISC's decision, to
fund Open Access publication in BioMed Central's journals for all UK
universities for a further year, provides critical support for the growth
of Open Access in the UK while policy is debated at government level.

JISC first signed up for BioMed Central membership in July 2003, and since
then there has been a huge increase in support and usage from researchers
in the UK. Submissions to BioMed Central's journals by UK academics have
increased by 180%, and publications have increased by 210%.  Downloads of
BioMed Central journal articles by the UK community have more than doubled
since July 2003. These results demonstrate that the JISC membership has
had a huge impact on the awareness of Open Access publishing in just one
year.

Natasha Robshaw, Head of Marketing & Sales at BioMed Central, is delighted
at JISC's decision to renew: "In signing up for UK-wide membership last
year, JISC really took a leadership role in the Open Access movement.
Their renewal of the agreement this year shows that they are happy with
the service provided by BioMed Central, and that their decision has been
justified by the uptake in the academic community. The resulting increase
in submissions and usage of our journals demonstrates how successful the
JISC membership has been to date and we look forward to this trend
continuing. As our journals continue to become more and more respected in
the community, we expect to welcome many new authors and readers."

Lorraine Estelle, Collections Team Manager at JISC, also welcomed the
renewal of the agreement: "As feedback has shown and as the figures
demonstrate, the first year of the agreement has been a highly successful
one. JISC is committed to exploring alternative models of publishing and
to promoting wider access to the products of research for the benefit of
the academic community. The renewal of this agreement means continued
wider access to research outputs for our entire community."

The UK is a major contributor to the global advance of knowledge. With
just 1% of the world's population, Britain funds 4.5% of all scientific
research, and produces 8.5% of the research articles that are published
worldwide.2 As the momentum for Open Access publishing increases, and
funding agencies and government organisations respond to the
recommendations of the S&T committee, BioMed Central and the JISC look
forward to seeing an increasing proportion of these articles published
with Open Access, for the benefit of science and society at large.

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Interviews and Further Information:

Press Office Contacts:
Philip Pothen for JISC Telephone: +44 (0)20 7848 2935 E-mail:
Philip.pothen@kcl.ac.uk	

Grace Baynes for BioMed Central Telephone: +44 (0)20 7631 9988 E-mail:
press@biomedcentral.com

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