| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 68.78 |
| Liaison | Kelly Wellman |
| Submission Date | Dec. 20, 2023 |
Texas A&M University
AC-11: Open Access to Research
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.33 / 2.00 |
Paula
Sullenger Associate Dean for Information Resources Services University Libraries |
"---"
indicates that no data was submitted for this field
Open access repository
Yes
Website URL where the open access repository is available:
A brief description of the open access repository:
Another website is https://www.tdl.org/
OAKTrust, the University’s institutional repository, is an open access digital repository for collecting, preserving, and distributing the scholarly output of the Texas A&M University and its partners. It provides increased access to the products of the University's research and scholarship endeavors, fosters the preservation of these digital works for future generations, promotes increasingly rapid advances in scholarly communication, and helps deepen community understanding of the value of higher education.
OAKTrust, the University’s institutional repository, is an open access digital repository for collecting, preserving, and distributing the scholarly output of the Texas A&M University and its partners. It provides increased access to the products of the University's research and scholarship endeavors, fosters the preservation of these digital works for future generations, promotes increasingly rapid advances in scholarly communication, and helps deepen community understanding of the value of higher education.
Open access policy
No
A copy of the institution's open access policy:
---
The institution's open access policy:
The Texas A&M University Libraries (Libraries) is using this section to not only provide a copy of the Texas A&M University (University)’s Open Access Policy that the Libraries has established and maintains but to also address the numerous steps the University and the Libraries are taking to making publication of University authors’ works in Open Access resources easier to achieve as well as bring about a University-wide policy that requires its employees to publish scholarly works open access or archive final post-peer reviewed versions of scholarly works in an open access repository. As noted in the STARS Version 2.2 AC-11 notes this policy will not be a strictly voluntary policy but will allow for publisher embargoes and/or provide a waiver option that allows authors to opt-out of the open access license/program for individual articles, policies, and commitments.
This section of AC-11 will contain the following parts:
*** Current Open Access Policy
*** External Funding Agency Compliance Open Access Requirements
*** Charge by the Texas A&M Faculty Senate to Create an Open Access Policy that Contains an Open Access Open Access Publication Requirement
*** Recent Efforts to Broaden Author Rights to Publish Open Access
Further, it should be noted that while not having an Open Access publication requirement does not prevent an institution from receiving full points for section AC-11, it is the intent of the Texas A&M University, through its Faculty Senate, to create such a policy as another means to promote global access to information and knowledge.
*** CURRENT OPEN ACCESS POLICY ***
In 2019, under instructions by the Faculty Senate and the Senate Research Committee passed a resolution recommending that Texas A&M develop and adopt an Open Access Policy (copy of the charge is attached in this section (Texas A&M Open Access Policy Charge). The COVID-19 Pandemic delayed the completion of this policy but work should begin again during the 2021-2022 academic year. As a template the Task Force is using Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center document for drafting an Open Access Policy (https://cyber.harvard.edu/hoap/Drafting_a_policy). As with other Open Access Policies that have been posted as part of STARS Version 2.2 AC-11 sections (and noted in AC-11), the Texas A&M University Open Access Policy will allow for publisher embargoes and/or provide a waiver option that allows authors to opt-out of the open access license/program for individual articles, policies, and commitments.
The Libraries’ working Open Access Policy is:
The Texas A&M University Libraries “is an active advocate of open access, believing that open access can help address both the price barriers and the permission barriers that undermine global access to the products of Texas A&M University’s scholarly and creative work, as well as helping alleviate the serious issue of providing Texas A&M scholars access to the world’s scholarly literature due to rising subscription costs. Our Libraries’ programs seek to provide the tools and services that remove barriers to scholars publishing their scholarship as open access.”
The University’s institutional repository, called OAKTrust (established in 2013), is charged with collecting, preserving and distributing “the scholarly output of the University, including scholarly articles and books, electronic theses and dissertations, conference proceedings, technical reports, digitized library collections, and data sets.” OAKTrust also provides a platform that supports both the collection of ongoing research data and the facilitation of online collaboration between research entities and/or individuals.
The Libraries’ support for Open Access seeks to provide the following benefits to the University:
INCREASED VISIBILITY, DISCOVERABILITY, and ACCESSIBILITY
Open access literature has the potential to be much more accessible than print-only or subscription-based publications. For researchers, the Open Access model removes the barriers, such as subscription costs, to accessing literature, and the inconveniences associated with this traditional model. As more scholarly information is made freely available, scholars are relying much more on materials that they can find and retrieve online. Authors, with the possibilities of alternative accessibility, must consider how their research can be found and used.
INCREASED IMPACT
The obvious result of higher visibility of open access literature is that open access leads to increased impact and greater citation rates. Multiple studies conducted over the last several years show that open-access materials are cited at a higher rate than articles that are published traditionally.
REDUCED COST
For libraries, open access relieves the burden associated with the ever-increasing cost of serials subscriptions. Comparing data from 2015 and 2019, the CPI rate of inflation increased 6.9%, while the serials rate of inflation during that same 5 year period increased 24.1%. That is, serial inflation increased at a rate 3.5 times greater than CPI inflation. Between 1998 and 2018 serials costs have increased 166%. Many academic libraries are seeing subscription costs increase greater than their purchasing budgets. This is further exacerbated by decreasing purchasing budgets. The result is that due to smaller budgets and rising costs many university libraries are canceling vital information resources. A library’s reliance on the current subscription-based serials model is no longer sustainable.
To further mitigate rising resource costs the Libraries’ provide financial support and incentives for Open Access in general and specifically the University’s OakTrust institutional repository, and the OA Textbook project:
•OAKFund:
The OAKFund was established in 2015 by the Libraries to underwrite article publication charges for open-access articles written by Texas A&M faculty. From 2015-2021, the fund supported the publication of over 400 open access publications. FY22 was the last year of the OAKFund, as the Libraries search for other impactful ways to support open access.
•PeerJ Memberships:
OAKFund also offers a limited number of PeerJ Lifetime Publication Plans. Eligible authors must have an article accepted for publication in PeerJ. Unlike a one-time payment of publication charges, PeerJ membership lasts a lifetime, allowing an author to publish one article per year. Even if eligible authors leave Texas A&M University, future publications accepted in PeerJ will be free of charge.
BioMed Central APC Discount:
BioMed Central publishes 272 peer-reviewed open access journals. Texas A&M faculty receive a 15% discount on the article-processing charge.
Cambridge University Press Read & Publish Program
This program allows Texas A&M faculty to publish Gold Open Access articles in over 360 Cambridge journals at no cost.
The Royal Society Read & Publish Program
This program allows Texas A&M faculty to publish Gold Open Access articles in any of The Royal Society’s journals at no cost.
The Company of Biologists Read & Publish Program
This program allows Texas A&M faculty to publish Gold Open Access articles in three of The Company of Biologist’s journals at no cost.
MDPI’s Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP)
This program provides Texas A&M faculty with a 10% discount on their APCs for any paper published in an MDPI journal and a 10% discount on the Book Process Charges for MDPI Books.
•OA Textbooks:
Texas A&M faculty can significantly contribute to the reduction, and potentially the removal, of high textbook costs for students and thereby enhance student success through the adoption of Open Educational Resources (OERs), as well as other low-cost to no-cost textbook alternatives. The Libraries conduct outreach and support activities to faculty instructors interested in OERs for their courses. The Libraries have supported faculty use of OERs in 11 courses at Texas A&M that to date has served over forty-five thousand students and contributed to potentially over $2 million in student savings. The accessibility of OERs as digital documents that could be freely shared in a wide range of ways directly support student learning and success was beneficial for remote learning caused by the pandemic. This program has resulted in four new OERs in business math, English composition, and construction science. In its new organizational structure, the Libraries are forming a unit that will focus on working with faculty to expand OERs on campus. Finally, Texas A&M librarians are collaborating with several regional and national organizations including, the Texas Digital Library, the Open Textbook Network, and the Open Education Leadership program at the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC).
*** EXTERNAL FUNDING AGENCY COMPLIANCE OPEN ACCESS REQUIREMENTS ***
While it has been noted in this section of AC-11 that compliance meeting external funding open access requirements does not qualify as meeting a University-wide open access requirement, it should still be noted that a large amount of research (and thus publications) arise from external funding agencies. These funding sources extend beyond just the NSF and NIH; many of which has also begun requiring open access publication. As such the University regularly audits compliance to these agencies funding requirements. Over a decade ago the University was shown not meet many (i.e., not just open access publication requirements) agency requirements While this matter was rectified immediately, the University went the extra step of creating a long-term auditing infrastructure to ensure full compliance.
*** CHARGE BY THE TEXAS A&M FACULTY SENATE TO CREATE AN OPEN ACCESS POLICY THAT CONTAINS AN OPEN ACCESS OPEN ACCESS PUBLICATION REQUIREMENT ***
As stated previously, while not having an Open Access publication requirement does not prevent an institution from receiving full points for section AC-11, it is the intent of the Texas A&M University, through its Faculty Senate, to create such a policy as another means to promote global access to information and knowledge.
In 2019, under instructions by the Faculty Senate and the Senate Research Committee passed a resolution recommending that Texas A&M develop and adopt an Open Access Policy (copy of the charge is attached in this section (Texas A&M Open Access Policy Charge). The COVID-19 Pandemic delayed the completion of this policy but it is expected to be resolved and presented during the Fall 2021 academic semester. As a template the Task Force is using Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center document for drafting an Open Access Policy (https://cyber.harvard.edu/hoap/Drafting_a_policy)
As with other Open Access Policies that have posted as part of STARS Version 2.2. AC-11 sections (and noted in AC-11) the Texas A&M University Open Access Policy will allow for publisher embargoes and/or provide a waiver option that allows authors to opt-out of the open access license/program for individual articles, policies, and commitments.
*** RECENT EFFORTS TO BROADEN AUTHOR RIGHTS TO PUBLISH OPEN ACCESS ***
In August 2020, the Dean of the Texas A&M University Libraries (David Carlson) began work to create the Texas Library Coalition for United Action (TLCUA). At present there are 40 institutions that make up this coalition. The goal of the coalition is to “think creatively about access to faculty publications and the sustainability of journal subscriptions. TLCUA [is] organized to identify the best way to change current models and the relationships between academic institutions and publishers. The goals of the Coalition are ambitious – improved access to scholarship, greater control over faculty content, and pricing models that are sustainable for strained library budgets in higher education.” The proposed changes to author rights that is being presented to publishers enable the authors with greater freedom to publish their works in open access resources alongside publisher resources.
This section of AC-11 will contain the following parts:
*** Current Open Access Policy
*** External Funding Agency Compliance Open Access Requirements
*** Charge by the Texas A&M Faculty Senate to Create an Open Access Policy that Contains an Open Access Open Access Publication Requirement
*** Recent Efforts to Broaden Author Rights to Publish Open Access
Further, it should be noted that while not having an Open Access publication requirement does not prevent an institution from receiving full points for section AC-11, it is the intent of the Texas A&M University, through its Faculty Senate, to create such a policy as another means to promote global access to information and knowledge.
*** CURRENT OPEN ACCESS POLICY ***
In 2019, under instructions by the Faculty Senate and the Senate Research Committee passed a resolution recommending that Texas A&M develop and adopt an Open Access Policy (copy of the charge is attached in this section (Texas A&M Open Access Policy Charge). The COVID-19 Pandemic delayed the completion of this policy but work should begin again during the 2021-2022 academic year. As a template the Task Force is using Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center document for drafting an Open Access Policy (https://cyber.harvard.edu/hoap/Drafting_a_policy). As with other Open Access Policies that have been posted as part of STARS Version 2.2 AC-11 sections (and noted in AC-11), the Texas A&M University Open Access Policy will allow for publisher embargoes and/or provide a waiver option that allows authors to opt-out of the open access license/program for individual articles, policies, and commitments.
The Libraries’ working Open Access Policy is:
The Texas A&M University Libraries “is an active advocate of open access, believing that open access can help address both the price barriers and the permission barriers that undermine global access to the products of Texas A&M University’s scholarly and creative work, as well as helping alleviate the serious issue of providing Texas A&M scholars access to the world’s scholarly literature due to rising subscription costs. Our Libraries’ programs seek to provide the tools and services that remove barriers to scholars publishing their scholarship as open access.”
The University’s institutional repository, called OAKTrust (established in 2013), is charged with collecting, preserving and distributing “the scholarly output of the University, including scholarly articles and books, electronic theses and dissertations, conference proceedings, technical reports, digitized library collections, and data sets.” OAKTrust also provides a platform that supports both the collection of ongoing research data and the facilitation of online collaboration between research entities and/or individuals.
The Libraries’ support for Open Access seeks to provide the following benefits to the University:
INCREASED VISIBILITY, DISCOVERABILITY, and ACCESSIBILITY
Open access literature has the potential to be much more accessible than print-only or subscription-based publications. For researchers, the Open Access model removes the barriers, such as subscription costs, to accessing literature, and the inconveniences associated with this traditional model. As more scholarly information is made freely available, scholars are relying much more on materials that they can find and retrieve online. Authors, with the possibilities of alternative accessibility, must consider how their research can be found and used.
INCREASED IMPACT
The obvious result of higher visibility of open access literature is that open access leads to increased impact and greater citation rates. Multiple studies conducted over the last several years show that open-access materials are cited at a higher rate than articles that are published traditionally.
REDUCED COST
For libraries, open access relieves the burden associated with the ever-increasing cost of serials subscriptions. Comparing data from 2015 and 2019, the CPI rate of inflation increased 6.9%, while the serials rate of inflation during that same 5 year period increased 24.1%. That is, serial inflation increased at a rate 3.5 times greater than CPI inflation. Between 1998 and 2018 serials costs have increased 166%. Many academic libraries are seeing subscription costs increase greater than their purchasing budgets. This is further exacerbated by decreasing purchasing budgets. The result is that due to smaller budgets and rising costs many university libraries are canceling vital information resources. A library’s reliance on the current subscription-based serials model is no longer sustainable.
To further mitigate rising resource costs the Libraries’ provide financial support and incentives for Open Access in general and specifically the University’s OakTrust institutional repository, and the OA Textbook project:
•OAKFund:
The OAKFund was established in 2015 by the Libraries to underwrite article publication charges for open-access articles written by Texas A&M faculty. From 2015-2021, the fund supported the publication of over 400 open access publications. FY22 was the last year of the OAKFund, as the Libraries search for other impactful ways to support open access.
•PeerJ Memberships:
OAKFund also offers a limited number of PeerJ Lifetime Publication Plans. Eligible authors must have an article accepted for publication in PeerJ. Unlike a one-time payment of publication charges, PeerJ membership lasts a lifetime, allowing an author to publish one article per year. Even if eligible authors leave Texas A&M University, future publications accepted in PeerJ will be free of charge.
BioMed Central APC Discount:
BioMed Central publishes 272 peer-reviewed open access journals. Texas A&M faculty receive a 15% discount on the article-processing charge.
Cambridge University Press Read & Publish Program
This program allows Texas A&M faculty to publish Gold Open Access articles in over 360 Cambridge journals at no cost.
The Royal Society Read & Publish Program
This program allows Texas A&M faculty to publish Gold Open Access articles in any of The Royal Society’s journals at no cost.
The Company of Biologists Read & Publish Program
This program allows Texas A&M faculty to publish Gold Open Access articles in three of The Company of Biologist’s journals at no cost.
MDPI’s Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP)
This program provides Texas A&M faculty with a 10% discount on their APCs for any paper published in an MDPI journal and a 10% discount on the Book Process Charges for MDPI Books.
•OA Textbooks:
Texas A&M faculty can significantly contribute to the reduction, and potentially the removal, of high textbook costs for students and thereby enhance student success through the adoption of Open Educational Resources (OERs), as well as other low-cost to no-cost textbook alternatives. The Libraries conduct outreach and support activities to faculty instructors interested in OERs for their courses. The Libraries have supported faculty use of OERs in 11 courses at Texas A&M that to date has served over forty-five thousand students and contributed to potentially over $2 million in student savings. The accessibility of OERs as digital documents that could be freely shared in a wide range of ways directly support student learning and success was beneficial for remote learning caused by the pandemic. This program has resulted in four new OERs in business math, English composition, and construction science. In its new organizational structure, the Libraries are forming a unit that will focus on working with faculty to expand OERs on campus. Finally, Texas A&M librarians are collaborating with several regional and national organizations including, the Texas Digital Library, the Open Textbook Network, and the Open Education Leadership program at the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC).
*** EXTERNAL FUNDING AGENCY COMPLIANCE OPEN ACCESS REQUIREMENTS ***
While it has been noted in this section of AC-11 that compliance meeting external funding open access requirements does not qualify as meeting a University-wide open access requirement, it should still be noted that a large amount of research (and thus publications) arise from external funding agencies. These funding sources extend beyond just the NSF and NIH; many of which has also begun requiring open access publication. As such the University regularly audits compliance to these agencies funding requirements. Over a decade ago the University was shown not meet many (i.e., not just open access publication requirements) agency requirements While this matter was rectified immediately, the University went the extra step of creating a long-term auditing infrastructure to ensure full compliance.
*** CHARGE BY THE TEXAS A&M FACULTY SENATE TO CREATE AN OPEN ACCESS POLICY THAT CONTAINS AN OPEN ACCESS OPEN ACCESS PUBLICATION REQUIREMENT ***
As stated previously, while not having an Open Access publication requirement does not prevent an institution from receiving full points for section AC-11, it is the intent of the Texas A&M University, through its Faculty Senate, to create such a policy as another means to promote global access to information and knowledge.
In 2019, under instructions by the Faculty Senate and the Senate Research Committee passed a resolution recommending that Texas A&M develop and adopt an Open Access Policy (copy of the charge is attached in this section (Texas A&M Open Access Policy Charge). The COVID-19 Pandemic delayed the completion of this policy but it is expected to be resolved and presented during the Fall 2021 academic semester. As a template the Task Force is using Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center document for drafting an Open Access Policy (https://cyber.harvard.edu/hoap/Drafting_a_policy)
As with other Open Access Policies that have posted as part of STARS Version 2.2. AC-11 sections (and noted in AC-11) the Texas A&M University Open Access Policy will allow for publisher embargoes and/or provide a waiver option that allows authors to opt-out of the open access license/program for individual articles, policies, and commitments.
*** RECENT EFFORTS TO BROADEN AUTHOR RIGHTS TO PUBLISH OPEN ACCESS ***
In August 2020, the Dean of the Texas A&M University Libraries (David Carlson) began work to create the Texas Library Coalition for United Action (TLCUA). At present there are 40 institutions that make up this coalition. The goal of the coalition is to “think creatively about access to faculty publications and the sustainability of journal subscriptions. TLCUA [is] organized to identify the best way to change current models and the relationships between academic institutions and publishers. The goals of the Coalition are ambitious – improved access to scholarship, greater control over faculty content, and pricing models that are sustainable for strained library budgets in higher education.” The proposed changes to author rights that is being presented to publishers enable the authors with greater freedom to publish their works in open access resources alongside publisher resources.
Does the policy cover the entire institution? :
No
APC fund
No
A brief description of the open access APC fund:
OAKFund:
The OAKFund was established in 2015 by the Libraries to underwrite article publication charges for open access articles written by Texas A&M faculty. From 2015-2021 the fund supported the publication of over 400 open access publications. FY22 was the last year of the OAKFund as the Libraries search for other impactful ways to support open access.
PeerJ Memberships:
OAKFund offers a limited number of PeerJ Lifetime Publication Plans. Eligible authors must have an article accepted for publication in PeerJ. Unlike a one-time payment of publication charges, PeerJ membership lasts a lifetime, allowing an author to publish one article per year. Even if eligible authors leave Texas A&M University, future publications accepted in PeerJ will be free of charge.
BioMed Central APC Discount:
BioMed Central publishes 272 peer-reviewed open access journals. Texas A&M faculty receive a 15% discount on the article-processing charge.
Cambridge University Press Read & Publish Program
This program allows Texas A&M faculty to publish Gold Open Access articles in over 360 Cambridge journals at no cost.
The Royal Society Read & Publish Program
This program allows Texas A&M faculty to publish Gold Open Access articles in any of The Royal Society’s journals at no cost.
The Company of Biologists Read & Publish Program
This program allows Texas A&M faculty to publish Gold Open Access articles in three of The Company of Biologist’s journals at no cost.
MDPI’s Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP)
This program provides Texas A&M faculty with a 10% discount on their APCs for any paper published in an MDPI journal and a 10% discount on the Book Process Charges for MDPI Books.
The OAKFund was established in 2015 by the Libraries to underwrite article publication charges for open access articles written by Texas A&M faculty. From 2015-2021 the fund supported the publication of over 400 open access publications. FY22 was the last year of the OAKFund as the Libraries search for other impactful ways to support open access.
PeerJ Memberships:
OAKFund offers a limited number of PeerJ Lifetime Publication Plans. Eligible authors must have an article accepted for publication in PeerJ. Unlike a one-time payment of publication charges, PeerJ membership lasts a lifetime, allowing an author to publish one article per year. Even if eligible authors leave Texas A&M University, future publications accepted in PeerJ will be free of charge.
BioMed Central APC Discount:
BioMed Central publishes 272 peer-reviewed open access journals. Texas A&M faculty receive a 15% discount on the article-processing charge.
Cambridge University Press Read & Publish Program
This program allows Texas A&M faculty to publish Gold Open Access articles in over 360 Cambridge journals at no cost.
The Royal Society Read & Publish Program
This program allows Texas A&M faculty to publish Gold Open Access articles in any of The Royal Society’s journals at no cost.
The Company of Biologists Read & Publish Program
This program allows Texas A&M faculty to publish Gold Open Access articles in three of The Company of Biologist’s journals at no cost.
MDPI’s Institutional Open Access Program (IOAP)
This program provides Texas A&M faculty with a 10% discount on their APCs for any paper published in an MDPI journal and a 10% discount on the Book Process Charges for MDPI Books.
Open access journal hosting
Yes
A brief description of the open access journal hosting services:
The Texas A&M University Libraries in its OAKTrust Institutional Repository as well in the Texas Digital Library, of which Texas A&M University is a founding member, uses as its open access journal hosting service, the Open Journal Systems (OJS) open-source software, a management and publication software produced by the Public Knowledge Project.
Optional Fields
47
Website URL where information about the institution’s support for open access is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Data Sources:
https://library.tamu.edu/services/scholarly_communication/index.html
http://oaktrust.tamu.edu/
http://open.umn.edu
https://library.tamu.edu/services/scholarly_communication/author-assistance.html
https://library.tamu.edu/services/scholarly_communication/index.html
https://library.tamu.edu/services/scholarly_communication/Open_Access/oakfund.html
https://library.tamu.edu/services/scholarly_communication/open_ed_awards.html
https://pkp.sfu.ca/ojs/
https://www.dimensions.ai/
https://www.tdl.org/
https://library.tamu.edu/services/scholarly_communication/index.html
http://oaktrust.tamu.edu/
http://open.umn.edu
https://library.tamu.edu/services/scholarly_communication/author-assistance.html
https://library.tamu.edu/services/scholarly_communication/index.html
https://library.tamu.edu/services/scholarly_communication/Open_Access/oakfund.html
https://library.tamu.edu/services/scholarly_communication/open_ed_awards.html
https://pkp.sfu.ca/ojs/
https://www.dimensions.ai/
https://www.tdl.org/
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.