Category Archives: oa.russell_group

Statement of support for the sector’s rejection of the Springer Nature proposal

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“Our university members are fully behind the recent decision by the sector, and the negotiating team, to reject the latest offer from Springer Nature. We recognise and welcome the improvements that Springer Nature has made to its offer throughout the negotiations. However, the latest proposal still does not meet the needs of the sector and our members.

UK universities agreed a clear set of requirements at the start of the negotiations and these must be met before we will support an agreement with Springer Nature. The requirements include reducing and constraining costs, ensuring all UK research can be published open access, and providing greater transparency on costs and Springer Nature’s transition to open research.

We support the continuation of negotiations in the hope an appropriate agreement can be reached which will make the transition to open access financially sustainable and equitable….”

Open Research Support at Russell Group Universities | Edinburgh Research Data Blog

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“As part of my work as Research Data Steward, I was asked by our Open Research Co-ordinator to investigate the open research support available at Russell Group universities and how the University of Edinburgh compares.[1] Open research, which is also known as “open science” or “open scholarship”, refers to a collection of practices and principles around transparency, reproducibility and integrity in research. To understand to what extent Russell Group universities have adapted to the ongoing development of open science, we have conducted analysis in terms of four areas. Do they have a published policy around Open Research? Do they have an Open Research Roadmap? Do they mention any training or specific support for researchers in achieving Open Research? What services do they provide to support Open Research? …”

Statement on Negotiations Between HE Sector and Elsevier

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“In the context of ongoing Elsevier ScienceDirect journals agreement negotiations, we are sharing the following statement alongside the UK higher education sector:

Our universities are fully committed to the approach being taken by the UK’s Elsevier Negotiation Team and support the recommendation to reject the most recent proposal from Elsevier on the basis it does not yet meet the two core objectives of the negotiations: to reduce costs to levels which are sustainable, and facilitate rapid transition to full and immediate open access to UK research.

UK universities have agreed a set of negotiation objectives that reflect our shared desire to foster open research. We welcome the progress the Elsevier Negotiation Team has made with Elsevier over recent months, whilst noting their advice that the current proposal does not yet deliver against the sector’s requirements. We hope both parties can continue to work together to achieve a more equitable agreement which allows for the sector-wide management of the open access transition.”