Research Communication Costs in Australia. Dept of Education, Science and Training Report

["Colin Steele" <Colin.Steele@anu.edu.au>]

This lengthy report is now available on the Australian Department 
of Education, Science and Training website, as below. It may be 
of interest to this list as it provides analysis of some of the 
issues that have been featuring on the list in recent times, such 
as the costs of open access, scholarly publishing, institutional 
repositories and eprints, etc. Peter Suber covered this in his 
Open Access news on 29 September.

Colin

http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/research_sector/policies_issues_reviews/key_issues/australian_research_information_infrastructure_committee/

or via a link to the PDF access page at:

http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/research_sector/policies_issues_reviews/key_issues/australian_research_information_infrastructure_committee/documents/dest_research_communications_cost_report_sept2006_pdf.htm

"Research communication costs in Australia: Emerging 
opportunities and benefits

This report to DEST was prepared by the Centre for Strategic 
Economic Studies, Victoria University. Released in September 
2006, it explores the costs involved in research communication 
activities and some of the potential benefits available through 
emerging, more open, scholarly communication alternatives.

The environment in which research is being conducted and 
disseminated is undergoing profound change, with new technologies 
offering new opportunities, changing research practices demanding 
new capabilities, and increased focus on research performance. 
This changing environment raises a key question: are there new 
opportunities and new models of scholarly communication that 
could enhance the dissemination of research findings and, 
thereby, maximise the economic and social returns to public 
sector investment in R&D? This study makes a significant 
contribution towards helping us answer this question.

The study draws on international and local experience to provide 
a preliminary cost-benefit analysis of existing and emerging 
alternatives for scholarly communication for institutions in 
Australia and for Australia as a whole. Its focus is on:

The underlying economics of scholarly publication, distribution 
and access; Understanding the various emerging alternative models 
for publication and access; and Exploring the costs, benefits and 
implications for Australia at both the national and institutional 
levels. The examination of the total costs of the process of 
research creation, dissemination and access also provides an 
opportunity for a wider analysis of funding and budget issues in 
scholarly communication at institutional and national levels."


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Professors John Houghton and Peter Sheehan have also released a 
CSES Working Paper: Outlining an economic modelling approach to 
estimating the potential impacts of OA across OECD countries 
(incl. Australia).  http://www.cfses.com/documents/wp23.pdf.

It suggests that:

"Whether applied across the board or to sector specific research 
findings (e.g. open access to publicly funded research) it seems 
that there may be substantial potential benefits to be gained 
from more open access. For example, reading from Table 2 (above), 
circa 2003:

With Germany's GERD at USD 58.7 billion and assuming social 
returns to R&D of 50%, a 5% increase in access and efficiency 
would have been worth USD 3 billion;

With Japan's GERD at USD 112.7 billion and assuming social 
returns to R&D of 50%, a 5% increase in access and efficiency 
would have been worth USD 5.8 billion;

With the United Kingdom's GERD at USD 33.7 billion and assuming 
social returns to R&D of 50%, a 5% increase in access and 
efficiency would have been worth USD 1.7 billion; and

With the United State's GERD at USD 312.5 billion and assuming 
social returns to R&D of 50%, a 5% increase in access and 
efficiency would have been worth USD 16 billion.

While it is impossible to calculate the quantum of benefits with 
certainty, these simple estimates of the potential impacts of 
enhanced access on returns to R&D suggest that a move towards 
more open access may have substantial positive impacts.

For Australia, we present a range of possible returns and suggest 
that... with Australia's GERD at USD 9.6 billion in 2003, 
assuming social returns to R&D of 50%, a 5% increase in access 
and efficiency would have been worth USD 492 million in increased 
returns to investment in R&D; and with government expenditure on 
R&D at USD 1.86 billion and a 25% rate of return to R&D, a 5% 
increase in access and efficiency would have been worth USD 48 
million. These are recurring annual gains, so assuming that the 
increases in access and efficiency are permanent they can be 
converted to growth effects."


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Colin Steele
Emeritus Fellow
The Australian National University
Canberra  ACT 0200  Australia
Email: colin.steele@anu.edu.au

University Librarian, Australian National University (1980-2002)
and Director Scholarly Information Strategies (2002-2003)