Transcript The University PowerPoint Template

Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association
Conference, 17-18 September 2014
Engaging with the Public on
Research and the Future of
Open Access
Stephen Pinfield and Emily Nunn
Information School,
University of Sheffield, UK
The Purpose of Open
Access
What is open access for?
Who is it aimed at?
The Issue: Open Access and
the General Public
“The Research Councils take very seriously
their responsibilities in making the outputs
from this research publicly available – not
just to other researchers, but also to
potential users in business, charitable and
public sectors, and to the general taxpaying public.”
Research Councils UK (2013)
Recent Study
Aimed to investigate attitudes
towards lay summaries of OA
journal articles in the context
of engaging the general public
with medical research
Placing lay summaries in the
wider contexts of patients’
information-seeking
behaviours and OA publishing
activities
Nunn, E., & Pinfield, S. (2014). Lay summaries
of open access journal articles: Engaging with
the general public on medical research. Learned
Publishing, 27(3), 173–184.
doi:10.1087/20140303 .
http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/79609/
Highlights
• Qualitative research involving 12 interviews with
employees of organisations with a stake in OA
publishing and members of patient groups
• Patient access to the research literature one of a
number of information resources that can help them
manage their health conditions as ‘informed patients’
• Gaining access problematical because of paywalls,
discovery problems and language barriers
• Lay summaries seen as helpful for patients’ health
management and OA stakeholders’ in addressing
strategic imperatives
• The research gives rise to number of important wider
questions about OA
OA and the General Public
Question: Should the general public be considered
an important potential audience for academic
research?
•
“If you can access the research via Europe PMC
that’s fantastic, but it doesn’t by any means suggest
that it’s understandable” (OA Stakeholder)
•
“In a way [lay summaries] flow naturally from the idea
of open access and it’s taking it to some extent to its
logical conclusion” (OA Stakeholder)
•
“I don’t think [publishers] do have a responsibility to
do that…” (OA Stakeholder)
The Rationale for Public
Access (1)
Question: What are the arguments which point to
public access being a priority?
• OA stakeholders tended to articulate arguments for lay
summaries in the same way as OA, around Davis’
(2009) 3 ‘frames’:
• “public accountability” – publically-funded research
should be publically accessible
• “transparency” – research should be open to
scrutiny
• “public good” – beneficial outcomes flowing from
research
The Rationale for Public
Access (2)
• OA stakeholders emphasised the “public accountability”
and “transparency” frames
“The main rationale we give is this idea that the public paid for it so the
public should be able to read it” (OA Stakeholder)
“It’s very important for us that we can show what’s been achieved from
the research that we fund, so it’s almost like the bare minimum for us is
to be able to show people the research articles” (OA Stakeholder)
• Little was said about direct “public good” – can it be
demonstrated?
• Arguments were framed as principles and there was
often little consideration of practical issues
• Pragmatic arguments were made about public good will
and future funding
“It helps us to convince people of the benefits of continuing to fund us”
(OA Stakeholder)
The Role of Intermediaries
Question: What is the role of intermediaries in
enabling the public to access and use research
outputs?
The study identified different possible
intermediaries
• The expert (clinician) – patient-doctor relationship
• Agencies communicating science/medicine to the
public – patient leaflets etc.
• Other members of the public – patient fora
• Lay summaries
Practical Issues
Question: What are the key practical issues in
reaching the public with research?
• Costs and funding priorities
• Who should be involved?
“I think at the end of the day if you’re being funded by a charity
or you’re doing medical research you should be able to explain
to people with that condition how your research is going to
benefit them and who it’s important” (OA Stakeholder)
“Introducing [science communication] as standard research
practice[…] so it’s a natural part of their process of thinking
about research” (OA Stakeholder)
• How can benefits be assessed?
OA Beyond the Academy:
Ongoing Work
• OA advocacy and public policy are often
framed in terms of the benefit to the public
• In what ways can OA (directly or indirectly)
benefit the public?
• How can these be demonstrated?
• To what extent is there the need for
additional work to yield public benefit?
Questions and Comments
[email protected]