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What is TU Delft Library doing to change publication culture? 

  • Alastair Dunning – Head, Research Services TU Delft Library 
  • Just de Leeuwe – Publishing Advisor 
  • Louise Otting – Collections Manager 
  • Nienke van Schaverbeke – Head, Scholarly Communications and Publishing 

(Update December 2024: the additional BTW rate has thankfully now been cancelled. We have also decided to reduce our Open Access for Gold APCs more slowly, rather than scrapping it)

 Opinion pieces, conferences, policy statements, blog posts, petitions and articles are singing the same song: the academic publishing industry needs serious reform. Maybe not a complete revolution, but a discarding of many ingrained instincts and processes. 

In the Netherlands, this chorus is even louder. Cuts to the university sector, and, more specifically, a promised increase in the rate of the BTW (belasting over de toegevoegde waarde, the Dutch valued added tax). Publications will now be charged the full 21%, instead of 9%. This adds an estimated 5 to 10% to all library collection costs. 

“Libraries therefore need to champion not only open access but cost-restraining forms of open access. This means both gold and immediate green open access options need to be an essential part of our strategy as we seek to constrain costs while achieving 100% immediate open access for articles published by TU Delft authors.”

(A Vision for 21st-Century Scholarly Collections: a report for the Delft University of Technology Library)

Change requires multiple actors. Universities, and their libraries, are obviously key players here. They provide access to collections, negotiate with publishers, and connect with the researcher communities 

Therefore, at TU Delft Library, we are undertaking the ‘Changing Publication Culture’ project, adopting numerous strategic and tactical decisions to promote change. 

This includes  

1)  From 2025, we will reduce our existing open access funds. These funds were established to support TU Delft authors who had no means to pay for GoldAPC publications.

2) From 2025, we will introduce a Scholarly Communications innovation fund to support new processes and models within academic publishing

3) We are organising events to engage and build synergy with the research community. This includes events such as the Peer Review Showdon, Changing Publication Culture  

Cone aat TU Delft Library
Cone at TU Delft Library

4) We also engage each of the eight faculties individually. Firstly, with Publication Task Forces, where members of the library meet with a small number of researchers within each faculty to discuss publication and collection issues. And secondly with presentation and discussion groups to each of TU Delft’s 46 academic departments   

5) Definition of principles to guide us through TU Delft’s negotiations with publishers. We are still working on these. But they will reflect our shared approach to publishing and licensing, drawn on the meetings mentioned above

6) Enacting a new collections strategy based on these principles. We have already started work here and a fuller list of prinicples will be shared soon.

Building national consensus is also critical. Particularly as bigger licencing deals in the Netherlands are done as part of the shared SURF consortium with strong input from the library directors that lead (UKB, Universiteitsbibliotheken & Nationale Bibliotheek) A white paper is currently being discussed that will help shape a national direction to change publication culture.

Towards a responsible Publication Culture – CoalitionS survey

CoalitionS has created a survey on to ask researchers for their input on how we, as a research community, can work towards a responsible publication culture.

 

Here you can find the link to the survey
(CWTS is coordinating, that is why the link is through Leiden University)

 

 

 

The publishers have already had their chance and gave (very critical) feedback, but now it is the turn of the researchers to speak out and give their input.

As a library we negotiate with a lot of publishers on behalf of our students, staff and researchers and we see many reasons for concern. It is clear to us that something  has to change. We wrote about this before in the blog about Changing Publication Culture at the TU Delft.

There will also be a conferance on April the 18th in Utrecht on ‘What do we want (or not want) from publishers?’ This event is organized with support from NWO, NFU and UNL and is an open forum to discuss what the academic sector wants from the publishing sector in safeguarding academic values in a just, equitable and open scholarly communication landscape. There are still some places available, so please join us if you wish to discuss this topic more in depth. 

Further details are available via: https://www.universiteitenvannederland.nl/en/current/events/what-do-we-want-or-not-want-from-publishers

Registration via: https://www.aanmelder.nl/conferenceapril18/registration

If the 18th does not suit your schedule, but you feel this topic should be discussed in your department and/ or faculty, reach out to us and we can discuss how to bring this information and the discussion to your department/ faculty.

If you have ideas, feedback or other comments I’d very much like to hear them. You can leave a comment or e-mail me directly.