SPARC Open Access Newsletter
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The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) is an international alliance of academic and research libraries developed by the
Association of Research Libraries The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 127 research libraries at comprehensive, research institutions in Canada and the United States. ARL member libraries make up a large portion of the academic and resea ...
in 1998 which promotes open access to scholarship. The coalition currently includes some 800 institutions in North America,
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
, Japan, China and Australia. Richard Johnson served as director 1998-2005.
Heather Joseph Heather Joseph is a United States-based advocate for open access and particularly academic journal publishing reform. She is the Executive Director of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) and a member of the PLOS Boar ...
became
executive director Executive director is commonly the title of the chief executive officer of a non-profit organization, government agency or international organization. The title is widely used in North American and European not-for-profit organizations, though ...
in 2005.


History

The idea of SPARC was presented at the 1997 annual meeting of the
Association of Research Libraries The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 127 research libraries at comprehensive, research institutions in Canada and the United States. ARL member libraries make up a large portion of the academic and resea ...
. Kenneth Frazier, librarian at the University of Wisconsin, proposed that attendees at the meeting develop a fund to create a new publication model for academic journals wherein many libraries contributed to that fund, and from that fund, the contributors would create new publications on some model which lowered the costs of all journals. As founding director, Rick Johnson led the establishment of SPARC in 2002 as a result of so many librarians expressing the desire for reform. SPARC Europe was established with
LIBER In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Liber ( , ; "the free one"), also known as Liber Pater ("the free Father"), was a god of viticulture and wine, male fertility and freedom. He was a patron deity of Rome's plebeians and was part of the ...
in 2001. David Prosser became director in 2002. Starting in 2006 the SPARC Innovators Award has been given semi-annually to recognize an individual, institution, or group exemplifying SPARC principles. SPARC has established itself as an international alliance of academic and research libraries working "to correct imbalances in the scholarly publishing system". Its focus is to stimulate the emergence of new scholarly communication models that expand the dissemination of scholarly research and reduce financial pressures on libraries. Action by SPARC in collaboration with stakeholders – including authors, publishers, and libraries – builds on the opportunities created by the networked digital environment to advance the conduct of scholarship. Leading academic organizations have endorsed SPARC. ''SPARC Europe Seal for Open Access Journals'' offers certification for journals choosing the CC-BY license ( Creative Commons) and provide the
Directory of Open Access Journals The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is a website that hosts a community-curated list of open access journals, maintained by Infrastructure Services for Open Access (IS4OA). It was launched in 2003 with 300 open access journals. The proje ...
(DOAJ) with metadata on article level.


SPARC Author Addendum

SPARC publishes an addendum which authors may use to negotiate with academic publishers. The form provides a templated request by authors to add to the
copyright transfer agreement A copyright transfer agreement or copyright assignment agreement is an agreement that transfers the copyright for a work from the copyright owner to another party. This is one legal option for publishers and authors of books, magazines, movies, te ...
which the publisher sends to the author upon acceptance of their work for publication. Authors which use the form typically retain the rights to use their own work without restriction, receive attribution, and to
self-archive Self-archiving is the act of (the author's) depositing a free copy of an electronic document online in order to provide open access to it. The term usually refers to the self-archiving of peer-reviewed research journal and conference articles, as ...
. The form gives the publisher the right to obtain a non-exclusive right to distribute a work for profit and to receive attribution as the journal of first publication.


Endorsements

Founding organizations: *
Association of American Universities The Association of American Universities (AAU) is an organization of American research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education. Founded in 1900, it consists of 63 universities in the United States ( ...
(AAU) *
Association of American University Presses The Association of University Presses (AUPresses) is an association of mostly, but not exclusively, North American university presses. It is based in New York City. Until December 2017, it was known as the Association of American University Presses ...
(AAUP) * Big 12 Universities Chief Academic Officers Later endorsements: *
Association of College & Research Libraries The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association, is a professional association of academic librarians and other interested individuals. It is dedicated to enhancing the ability of academi ...
*
Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada Universities Canada (french: Universités Canada) is an organization that represents Canada's universities. It is a non-profit national organization that coordinates university policies, guidance and direction. Formed in 1911, as the Association ...
*
Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee Universities Australia (formerly the ''Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee'') is an organisation founded in Sydney in May 1920, which attempts to advance higher education through voluntary, cooperative and coordinated action. After being b ...
*
Canadian Association of Research Libraries The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) was established in 1976 and brings together thirty-one research libraries. Twenty-nine members are university libraries, plus Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and the National Research Council ...
*
Jisc Jisc is a United Kingdom not-for-profit company that provides network and IT services and digital resources in support of further and higher education institutions and research as well as not-for-profits and the public sector. History T ...
*
National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) is a research, policy, and advocacy organization of public research universities, land-grant institutions, state university systems, and higher education organizations. It has member ca ...
*
Standing Conference of National and University Libraries SCONUL (Society of College, National and University Libraries) is the membership organisation for all academic and national libraries in the UK and Ireland. History SCONUL was founded in 1950 as the Standing Conference of National and University ...


See also

* Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association, of which SPARC Europe is a founding member * Open Access * Open educational resources policy *
Library publishing Library publishing, also known as campus-based publishing, is the practice of an academic library providing publishing services. Concept A library publishing service usually publishes academic journals and often provides a broader range of publish ...
* Open Access Movement in India


References


Further reading

* *


External links

* {{Open navbox Open access projects Scholarly communication Organizations established in 1998 Articles containing video clips Lobbying organizations in the United States Political advocacy groups in the United States Organizations based in Washington, D.C.