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

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Introduction to SHERPA RoMEO and its Significance for Publishers

Azhar Hussain

Centre for Research Communications

University of Nottingham

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RoMEO for Publishers

London, 20 July 2011

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Themes

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  1. What is SHERPA RoMEO?
  2. Who is it for?
  3. Opportunity for Publishers

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What is SHERPA RoMEO?

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The Bigger Picture

1999

Open Archive Initiative (OAI) launched, to develop a protocol that would allow repositories to expose metadata about the documents held in them

2000

Southampton University launched OAI compliant software

E-Prints

2000

OAI-Protocol for Metadata Harvesting version 1.0 released – enabling the harvesting of metadata in repositories

2002

University of Michigan launched OAIster; a specialist search engine enabling users to search multiple repositories by means of a single interface

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By 2002:

  • OAI
    • Created the necessary infrastructure to allow a network of interoperable institutional repositories to be created
  • E-Prints
    • Provided the all important repository software
  • OAIster
    • Specialist search engine aggregating the content to enable users to search multiple repositories by means of a single interface

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Change in Attitudes

Availability of technology influenced a shift in academic author attitudes, who now wanted to:

“ Maximise the impact of their papers by making

them freely available on the web”

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In Other Words:

Authors and researchers wanted to:

“ continue publishing in the traditional manner, and then self archive the full text of their article on their own website or an institutional repository”

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�������The Demand & Response

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Response

Demand

Authors and researchers want to archive current publications on their own websites or institutional repositories

Publishers announced new policies/guidelines detailing what authors can and cannot self archive along with associated conditions

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

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�������So Far So Good!

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Response

Authors and researchers want to archive past and current publications on their own websites or institutional repositories. More publications, published in different journals, over past 5 years etc

Increase in Demand

Different publishers have different policies/guidelines detailing what authors can and cannot self archive along with associated conditions

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Introducing RoMEO

VISION

    • One Database
    • Containing summaries of publisher and journal copyright transfer agreements and associated conditions
    • All in a single location
    • Available to all wanting to self archive publications and unsure of rights and associated conditions

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Early History

  • Loughborough University research project, Aug 2002 July 2003
    • Created a list of 80 publishers’ policies based on survey work
  • Handed over to SHERPA at Nottingham, Oct 2003
    • SHERPA repeated the survey and analysis; and kept an auditable trail, Nov 2003 to Feb 2004
    • Created SHERPA RoMEO searchable database, launched in April 2004

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Features

  • Growing Database
    • 998 Publishers and 18000 + Journals
    • Publisher Search
    • Journal Search
    • Controlled Vocabulary
    • Funder Compliance Indicators
    • Web Interface and API
    • Use of Publishers PDF
    • Paid for OA Options

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Future Plans

  • Strategic Additions:
    • Web of Science
    • Principal Country Publishers
  • Real Time Knowledge Base:
    • Always on community
    • Connecting users with each other
      • Post questions to community
      • Register e-mail
      • Let community answer

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������Who Is SHERPA RoMEO For?

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Our User Community

  • Target Market
    • Anyone who wants to enquire if an article or research paper can be archived in an institutional repository or a website
  • User Community
    • Academic Authors
    • Academic Researchers
    • Institutional Repository Staff
    • Librarians
    • Research Funders

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Weekly Usage Figures

  • Visits Per Week
    • 19507
  • Absolute Unique Visitors Per Week
    • 9342
  • Average Time On Site
    • 7 Minutes
  • % New Visits
    • 40.27%
  • From Where (June)
    • 126 Countries; 1797 Cities; 6 Continents

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������OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLISHERS

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What We Offer

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  • Simple but powerful idea
  • Worldwide coverage
    • Established International Partnerships
    • Established Global User Base
  • Recognised Brand
    • Trusted Global Voice
    • Plugged into the needs of the Open Access and Institutional Repository Community
  • Established links with Universities and the Academic Community
  • Online Community at the heart of our business model
  • Getting Bigger – Growing

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Most Importantly

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“20,000 visitors weekly, all consulting our database for information and guidance on your policies”

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Getting Involved

  • Visit your policy on RoMEO
    • Let us know if it needs updating or correcting
  • Link to our site from your advice and guidance pages
  • Give us a named contact to use when confirming policy changes etc
  • Use us as a marketing and communication tool
    • 20,000 visitors weekly, all from a particular market segment, waiting to hear what you have to say

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Any Questions?

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

Blog: http://romeoblog.jiscinvolve.org

E-mail: romeo@sherpa.ac.uk

Twitter: @SHERPAServices

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Azhar Hussain:

azhar.hussain@nottingham.ac.uk

0115 84 67235

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