Category Archives: RCUK

Beta SHERPA/FACT Applications Programmer’s Interface Announced

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SHERPA Services is pleased to announce the launch of a beta version of an application programmers’ interface (API) for SHERPA/FACT, the funders and authors compliance tool. This is available for beta testing during November 2013.

Potential Applications

SHERPA/FACT is a tool that helps authors check if a journal’s open access policies complies with the requirements of the open access policies of the research funders Research Councils UK (RCUK) and Wellcome Trust. The data on journal policies is drawn from SHERPA/RoMEO and the funders’ policies from SHERPA/JULIET. Matching the two sets of policies is quite a complex process.

The FACT website (http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/fact/) is designed for general use. However, some users may wish to customise SHERPA/FACT for their institutions, which can be achieved using the FACT API. For instance, the API would enable them to:

  • Embed FACT within their own branded web pages
  • Link to local information on open access funds, guides, policies, and advisors
  • Reformat the FACT data, for example to highlight local policies and preferences

The FACT API could also be used for statistical studies, such as checking the potential compliance of lists of journals or articles. E.g. see:

http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/documents/FACT-OR2013-2013-07-09.pptx, slides 20 to 23.

Main Features

Having specified the required funder(s), the API can be queried by journal titles or ISSNs.

The API returns FACT data for Gold (Paid OA), Green (self-archiving) and Overall compliance. There is a choice of XML (default), JSON, and PHP array output formats. In general, all computable information is returned as arguments and displayable information is returned as data. E.g.

<goldcompliance goldcompliancecode="yes" goldcompliancereport="paidoa">You can publish your article compliantly with open access</goldcompliance>

See: http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/fact/apimanual for more information and examples.

Beta Testing Invitation

We invite developers and researchers to participate in the beta testing of the FACT API. You need to register for a free SHERPA/RoMEO API Key, which you can do at:

http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/apiregistry

There is a short presentation on how to register and how to use the API key at:

http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/RoMEO-API-Keys-2011-10-04.pdf.

Feedback

Testers will be able to send us comments and report issues at any time using the FACT Feedback form. They will, however, also be asked to complete a questionnaire at the end of the testing period. All feedback will help towards getting the API ready for production release.

Production Version

We are currently investigating sustainability options for the development and support of the FACT service, including the API. We therefore do not have a date for releasing the production version. Please note that we may need to charge a subscription for use of the API production version.

We would be happy to extend SHERPA/FACT and its API to cover further research funders anywhere in the world. Interested funding bodies are invited to contact us.

Contact Details

Peter Millington – peter.millington@nottingham.ac.uk – Technical queries

Azhar Hussain – azhar.hussain@nottinham.ac.uk – SHERPA/FACT service queries

SHERPA/FACT – BETA Release Now Available

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Joint Press Release: Centre for Research Communications, Wellcome Trust, and RCUK

SHERPA/FACT – BETA Release Now Available

To coincide with the RCUK’s new OA policy and Wellcome Trust policy changes, the Centre for Research Communications (CRC) is pleased to announce the availability of SHERPA Funders’ & Authors’ Compliance Tool (SHERPA/FACT) Beta. The beta release of SHERPA/FACT interprets data from SHERPA/RoMEO, JULIET and other sources to provide clear guidance to RCUK and Wellcome Trust funded authors on compliance with their Open Access (OA) policies and advises on the options available.

SHERPA/FACT Beta:

  • Asks authors to select which of the RCUK Councils or Wellcome Trust has funded their work.
  • Asks authors to enter the journal name or ISSN of the journal they wish to use.
  • Cross-references the information held in RoMEO and in JULIET on both Funders’ and Publishers’ policies.
  • Gives the author clear information as to whether that journal offers publication or archiving rights compliant with their funders’ policy.
  • Notes the level of OA fee payable, if any, and if available from the publisher site.
  • Gives guidance to the author as to what action to take next to comply with their funders’ policy, customising guidance according to the stage of the author’s publication – accepted, published, etc.

For more information and to use SHERPA/FACT beta, please visit www.sherpa.ac.uk/fact

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a beta version and has been tested for accuracy against existing data held by SHERPA/RoMEO, JULIET and other third party sources. However, information in this area is dynamic and many publishers are currently updating, changing and clarifying their policies in response to the launch of the RCUK and Wellcome Trust policies.

As updated policy information becomes available from publishers, SHERPA/FACT will be updated accordingly. We are aware of a number of changes due to be released soon – indeed, FACT may even prompt further clarifications to be made. FACT beta will, over the coming weeks, undergo continuous improvements to the information it holds.

Please use SHERPA/FACT beta for evaluation purposes and report any information that needs updating and any other comments to fact@sherpa.ac.uk.

Bill Hubbard, Director of the CRC, said: “For more Open Access research from the RCUK and Wellcome Trust to be made available to everyone, researchers need clear guidance about whether their chosen journal complies with their funder’s policy. SHERPA/FACT will give them a clear answer, help raise an institution’s rate of compliance and ultimately help more research to be made available to us all.”

Mark Thorley, chair of Research Councils UK Research Outputs Network, said: “The launch of this beta version of SHERPA FACT is part of our strategy of providing a range of resources to support implementation of the new RCUK Policy on Open Access”.

Robert Kiley, Head of Digital Services at the Wellcome Trust, said: ”Providing clear guidance to our researchers will help to ensure they can comply with the Trust’s Open Access mandate.”

Further information

Contact
Azhar Hussain
Tel: 0115 8467235 or email: azhar.hussain@nottingham.ac.uk

 

How academics/ repository staff can help SHERPA FACT?

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SHERPA FACT will interpret data from SHERPA RoMEO, JULIET and other sources to provide guidance to RCUK and Wellcome Trust funded authors on compliance with their Open Access (OA) policies and advise on the options available. Checking SHERPA FACT will be an integral part of the author compliance workflow and RCUK and the Wellcome Trust will be advising their funded authors to check SHERPA FACT for information on journal compliance and guidance on how to comply with their OA policies.

As part of this work we are currently reviewing and updating the policy information we hold in SHERPA RoMEO.

If you are aware of any changes to publisher policies, including their hybrid open access options, please let us know by using the ‘Suggest an Update for this Record’ button or e-mailing us on  romeo@sherpa.ac.uk

How publishers can help SHERPA FACT

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SHERPA FACT will interpret data from SHERPA RoMEO, JULIET and other sources to provide guidance to RCUK and Wellcome Trust funded authors on compliance with their Open Access (OA) policies and advise on the options available. Checking SHERPA FACT will be an integral part of the author compliance workflow and RCUK and the Wellcome Trust will be advising their funded authors to check SHERPA FACT for information on journal compliance and guidance on how to comply with their OA policies.

 

As part of this work we are currently reviewing and updating the policy information we hold in SHERPA RoMEO. From recent conversations with publishers we know that many have plans to amend and launch policy updates before or on 01 April, as a result we expect to receive an influx of updates to SHERPA RoMEO policies on the 1st of April which will take some time to process.

 

To help us ensure that we have current and proposed policy information ready for upload on 01 April, we would be grateful if publishers would take this opportunity to:

 

  • Visit www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo and review the policies listed against their entry and let us know of any changes required by using the ‘Suggest an Update for this Record’ button or e-mailing us on  romeo@sherpa.ac.uk
  • Lets us know the details of any Hybrid Open Access Options
  • Inform us of any proposed policy changes prior to 01 April, this information will be held under strict embargo in SHERPA RoMEO and will only be made available after the 01 April RCUK OA policy launch

 

Please note that the CRC will be closed over the Easter holidays 29th March to 2nd April, so our first working day after the 1st April will be Wednesday the 3rd April.

SHERPA FACT – Helping researchers comply with the Open Access policies from RCUK and the Wellcome Trust

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The Centre for Research Communications (CRC) is pleased to announce that Research Councils UK (RCUK) and the Wellcome Trust have provided seed funding for the development of a SHERPA Funders’ & Authors’ Compliance Tool (SHERPA FACT). SHERPA FACT will interpret data from SHERPA RoMEO, JULIET and other sources to provide clear guidance to RCUK and Wellcome Trust funded authors on compliance with their Open Access (OA) policies and advise on the options available.

The RCUK’s new OA policy will be effective from 01 April 2013. This policy requires that all peer reviewed research papers, resulting from research funded by the Research Councils, will be published in journals under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) License or otherwise made available as OA via a repository. On the same date, the Wellcome Trust will also require that articles with which it is associated – and for which an Article Processing Charge (APC) has been levied – must also be published under a CC-BY license. 

SHERPA FACT will:

  • allow authors to select which of the RCUK Councils or Wellcome Trust has funded their work
  • allow authors to enter the journal name or ISSN, or ESSN, or publisher of the journal they wish to use
  • cross-reference the information held in RoMEO and in JULIET on both Funders’ and Publishers’ policies
  • give the author clear information as to whether that journal or publisher offers publication or archiving rights compliant with their funders’ policy
  • note the level of OA fee payable, if any, and if available from the publisher site
  • give guidance to the author as to what action to take next to comply with their funders’ policy, customising guidance according to the stage of the author’s publication – pre-submission, accepted, published, etc

 

Such guidance might be, for example, to:

  • take a hybrid OA option offered by the publisher;
  • pay the OA fee for a full OA journal or
  • archive their work under a particular embargo period

SHERPA FACT will be available from 01 April 2013.

Further information

Contact
Azhar Hussain
Tel: 0115 8467235 or email: azhar.hussain@nottingham.ac.uk