Just how open are we? Ralf Schimmer Max Planck Digital Library

1. Just how open are we?
The gap between claim and reality and how it can be closed
UKSG Conference 2018
Glasgow, 9 April 2018
Dr Ralf Schimmer
Deputy General Manager & Head of Information, Max Planck Digital Library

2. 1
Setting the stage
The transition to OA access is a timely topic of enormous strategic and
operational relevance
Much progress has already been accomplished
─ through policy decisions such as in the UK
─ through offsetting or otherwise transformative agreements
@oa2020ini
Contributing to the UKSG Plenary Session:
Pushing boundaries and razing walls: news from the front in the open access transition
But our efforts are still not enough and need to be intensified

3. 1. Indicators of the state of openness
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4. @oa2020ini
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Top 20 journals worldwide: 8 gold OA
Number of papers published in 2016
Analysis based on Web of Science
Of the top 20 journals
based on the number of
articles published world-
wide,
8 are gold OA journals.
OA highly relevant
everywhere
(OA as of 2017)
OA journal

5. @oa2020ini
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Top 20 journals for Max Planck Society: 7 gold OA
Number of papers published in 2016
Analysis based on Web of Science
Of the top 20 journals
based on the number of
articles published for the
Max Planck Society,
7 are gold OA journals.
OA also highly relevant
at institutional level
OA journal

6. @oa2020ini
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Top 20 publishers worldwide:
Total article and OA Gold output in 2016
Number of papers published in 2016
Analysis based on Web of Science
Rank Publisher Number of articles 2016 Share of publisher 2016 Cumulative share 2016 Year 2016 OA Gold Share OA Gold 2016
1 Elsevier 391480 17% 17% 13407 3,42%
2 Springer 185696 8% 25% 11971 6,45%
3 Wiley 142928 6% 31% 5271 3,69%
4 Taylor&Francis 83087 4% 34% 1235 1,49%
5 ACS 41929 2% 36% 102 0,24%
6 RSC 41796 2% 38% 843 2,02%
7 IEEE 38164 2% 39% 1059 2,77%
8 NPG 36615 2% 41% 25577 69,85%
9 OUP 34278 1% 42% 2914 8,50%
10 LWW 26909 1% 43% 0 0,00%
11 PLOS 25248 1% 45% 25248 100,00%
12 BMC 25098 1% 46% 24944 99,39%
13 Sage 24423 1% 47% 252 1,03%
14 AIP 20920 1% 48% 1504 7,19%
15 IOP 20834 1% 48% 1139 5,47%
16 APS 18086 1% 49% 419 2,32%
17 MDPI 15683 1% 50% 15683 100,00%
18 CUP 14467 1% 50% 157 1,09%
19 Hindawi 12350 1% 51% 11158 90,35%
20 Frontiers 11115 0% 51% 11115 100,00%
Other 1141171 49% 100% 137710
Total 2352277 291708
OA dominated
publisher
OA publishers among
the largest in the
world.
Non-OA publishers
with growing OA
shares.

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UK Study 2017: Monitoring the Transition to OA
@oa2020ini

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Measuring the availability of open access – example 1
@oa2020ini

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Measuring the availability of open access – example 2

10. 9
How can we draw a conclusion?
“Open Access is the
default in the system.”
“I can find open
information whenever I
need it.”
“Open Access is coming
by itself.”
“I thought we already had
Open Access.”
@oa2020ini
Some frequently articulated impressions and opinions:
Fear of an
APC system
Hope in a scholarly
controlled publishing
system

11. 2. Just how open are we really?
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12. @oa2020ini
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@oa2020ini
A whirlwind of change and innovation
in the information industry

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@oa2020ini
But inertia in the eye of the storm

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@oa2020ini
And what do the find in the eye of the storm?
A stagnant paywall system!

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Biomed Central
PLOS
SCOAP3
PubMed Central
OA mandates
University Presses/OJS
Community journal initiatives (e.g. LINGOA)
Cooperative models
arXiv
After 15 years of OA movement,
the paywall system remains largely unaffected
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$10bn global revenue
Repositories

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Biomed Central
PLOS
SCOAP3
PubMed Central
OA mandates
Repositories
University Presses/OJS
Community journal initiatives (e.g. LINGOA)
Cooperative models
arXiv
After 15 years of OA movement,
the paywall system remains largely unaffected
15
$10bn global revenue

17. @oa2020ini
t
After 15 years of OA movement,
the paywall system remains largely unaffected
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5% of revenue
$10bn global revenue

18. @oa2020ini
The paywall – a massive obstacle to progress
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After more than a decade of global effort, paywall access and the subscription system are as
prosperous as ever; only 15% of content is immediately OA (not counting hybrid).
t
$10bn global revenue
5% of revenue

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The paywall system:
The antithesis to a world of openness
Paywall regime
 excessive costs and enormous
price increases
 restrictive copyright
 budgets monopolized by big deals
with pricing still based on print legacy
 utterly outdated system, prohibiting
digital research
 roadblock to innovation and new
development
 breeding piracy
Open Access
 sustainable economic models,
transparency and competition
 free usage rights
 money free to float where needed,
costs based on service levels
 open system, responding to the need
of the 21st century
 fundamental principle to enable the
richness of Open Science
 enabling true social networks
The paywall is the primary roadblock to openness, innovation and sustainability.

20. @oa2020ini
Key characteristics of the paywall system
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Publication continuum
Pre-publishing Publishing Post-publishing
closed system
hindering use,
reuse and
interoperability
Submission layer &
Publication support
services
$10bn
cash flow
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Relieving symptoms, but not curing the cause
Real innovation will come when energies can be focused on forward-looking
solutions in an open environment.
Only two examples of
many innovative and
creative solutions:
• Smart and innovative work-arounds to the current access and copyright limitations
• There is a myriad of clever solutions popping up out there
• They all ease the symptoms and make our life better; but they cannot provide a cure
for the disease
• Moreover, they expend enormous effort and grow in complexity, patching a broken
system

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The evil twins: SciHub and RA21
 Expression of end-user frustration
 Essentially tied to the paywall system
 Symptomatic of a dysfunctional and
decaying system
 A mirror of negative elements; not the
carrier of a positive open access
vision
 Another example of working around the
real solution
 Resource Access 21 was already defined
in the Declarations of Budapest (2002)
and Berlin (2003):
it is designated Open Access
 OA is the only legitimate resource access
in the 21st century and the best possible
single sign-on system
SciHub and RA21 seem to be diametrically opposed, but they are twins and
together the epitome of what is wrong with the current system.

23. @oa2020ini
Key characteristics of an open system
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Submission layer &
Publication support
services
Publication continuum
Pre-publishing Publishing Post-publishing
Open system,
allowing
maximum (re-)use
and interoperability

24. @oa2020ini
The opportunities of an open system
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Emerging service arena:
new market entries; introducing new
systems & services
Growing competition:
publishers to provide core services
based on a transparent cost
structure
Exponential growth:
Thriving of social academic networks
and collaborations; TDM promise
finally fulfilled
In order to drive innovation and exploit the technological opportunities, the principle of openness
has to be adopted as the default in the scholarly communication system. For that, the paywall
must come down!
Submission layer &
Publication support
services
Publication continuum
Pre-publishing Publishing Post-publishing
Open system,
allowing
maximum (re-)use
and interoperability

25. @oa2020ini
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The consequential shift yet to happen
Paywall regime Open Access
The money flow has to be re-organized,
the journals have to be flipped to a truly open model.
$10bn
cash flow

26. 3. OA2020 as the way forward
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27. @oa2020ini
OA2020
Enabling institutions to take action in the transition
https://oa2020.org

28. @oa2020ini
OA2020
A global alliance to meet publishers at eye level
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Sign the OA2020 Expression of Interest
 Transform a majority of today’s scholarly journals from subscription to OA publishing in
accordance with community-specific publication preferences.
 Pursue this transformation process by converting resources currently spent on journal
subscriptions into funds to support sustainable OA business models.
currently 107
institutional signatories

29. @oa2020ini
Shifting from read access to publication focus
One-dimensional focus on subscriptions (read access) not good
enough anymore.
Publishing and reading are two sides of the same medal. They
are interrelated and need to be combined in our service level
agreements with the publishers—for instance, through offsetting or
publish & read models.
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30. $
€
$10bn
cash flow
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The OA transformation and its mission
read access transition bridge open access
Where we come from Where we want to go
Hybrid models, e.g. publish & read,
offsetting, pay as you publish
subscriptions
big deals
uncontrolled hybrid
cash flow
Shifting
cash flow
more immediate OA;
paving the way to new
business models (APC and
non-APC)
corridor of transformative agreements
@oa2020ini

31. 30
The transformation corridor must be widened!
More institutions and countries have to get involved!
read access transition bridge open access
Hybrid models, e.g. publish & read,
offsetting, pay as you publish
NO
SE
AT
MPDL
UK
NL
DEAL
corridor of transformative agreements
Where we come from Where we want to go
Transformative agreements are
complex, complicated and not
without risk.
We must avoid that those who
move forward with pilots get
caught in the act.
Hence it is essential that
others will follow.
Don´t watch and act as
bystanders.
Get involved!
@oa2020ini

32. @oa2020ini
Economic leverage and concerted action
m a n d a t e f o r o u r m o n e y
We don’t need further mandates for researchers
w e n e e d a
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We have the leverage to bring down the $5,000 per article we are putting
on the table in the subscription system.
By virtue of our own spending decisions we can drive Open Access into
the system.

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Thank you!
Dr Ralf Schimmer
Max Planck Digital Library
schimmer@mpdl.mpg.de
https://oa2020.org
@oa2020ini