Finch report implementation & review

 

Finch Group background and papers

The Working Group on Expanding Access to Published Research Findings (‘Finch Group’) was set up in October 2011 to examine how UK-funded research findings can be made more accessible.   This independent group was tasked with proposing a programme of action and make recommendations to government, research funders, publishers and other interested parties on how access to research findings and outcomes can be broadened for key audiences such as researchers, policy makers and the general public. The group completed its task in June 2012, and its report can be found here.


The group emerged from transparency discussions initiated at a high level round table meeting, in March 2011, by the Rt Hon David Willetts MP, Minister for Universities and Science. It was made up of representatives of the HE sector, research funders, the research community, scholarly publishers, and libraries. It was chaired by Dame Janet Finch DBE, Professor of Sociology at Manchester University and independent co-Chair of the Council for Science and Technology.


Focusing on academic publications - specifically journal articles, conference proceedings and monographs - the working group took into account parallel work relating to research data and other outputs being conducted by the Royal Society. It adopted an evidence-based approach to its work. It operated collaboratively and so far as possible sought to achieve consensus. Where that was not possible, it identified precise points of difference. It also sought to identify the key goals and guiding principles that should underlie public policy on publication of and access to research findings; and in the light of those principles to identify possible routes and mechanisms in order to achieve the key goals, along with the associated costs, risks and benefits. It took account of relevant policies and practice in other countries, and proposed a programme of action for all interested parties in the UK, contained in its final report.


In its deliberations, the group drew on the expertise of thee specialist sub-groups, which examinedkey issues of principle and practice that would be involved in increasing access to published outputs via the routes of, respectively, (i) greater take-up of open-access publishing, (ii) open-access repositories and (iii) development of national licensing.


The group’s work was supported by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills; the Publishers Association; Research Councils UK; and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (working with the Scottish Funding Council, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, and the Department for Employment and Learning Northern Ireland). The Research Information Network provided the group’s secretariat and research function.


The group’s terms of reference and the list of its members are attached below. It met on the following dates:

17 October 2011 - minutes below
1 December 2011 - minutes below
22 February 2012 - minutes below
27 April 2012 - minutes below
17 May 2012 - minutes below


Working Group ToR

Working Group mship

Note of mtg of WG on expanding access 17-10-11

Note of mtg of WG on expanding access 01-12-11

Note of mtg of WG on expanding access 22-02-12

Note of mtg of WG on expanding access 27-04-12

Note of mtg of WG on expanding access 17-05-12

18 June 2012

 

 

The Finch Report, the Government’s acceptance of its key recommendations, the new RCUK policies on open access, and the consultation by the Funding Councils on possible open access  requirements for material to be submitted to the REF expected in 2020, have changed the open access landscape in the UK. All those with a stake in the scholarly communications process - research funders, universities, publishers and not least researchers themselves - are responding to that new landscape and the issues to which it gives rise.

The final act of the Finch Group has been to review progress, in the year since the publication of its report, in the implementation of its recommendations. A report published in November 2013 points to a number of areas where further action is needed, but above all to the need for continued cooperation between all the key stakeholder groups, and for co-ordination of their activities. The Government has responded positively to all the recommendations.

As part of its work since the Finch Report, the RIN has convened a working group of representatives of funders, libraries, universities, publishers and learned societies to consider and make proposals for the configuration of a set of indicators that can be used to assess progress towards open access in the UK. A report has now been published and is available here.

That report is now being considered by an Open Access Co-ordinating Group convened by Universities UK, which met for the first time on 23 May 2014. The group also considered a brief paper on key developments since autumn 2013, and a copy is here. A similar paper on key developments in the second half of 2014 is here.

Here is a list which provides links to the key documents produced by the Finch Group, Government, Parliament, funders and other stakeholders since publication of the Finch Report in 2012. Documents relating to the Finch Group’s review of progress are also listed below.

Review of implementation of Finch report recommendations

David Willetts letter to Janet Finch One Year On

Monitoring Progress in the Transition to Open Access: Report of a Working Group


Last update: 7 April 2014

 

Quick links to key documents

Below are quick links to key documents relating to the implementation of the Finch Report recommendations.

Finch Group Report, full text

Finch Group Report, executive summary

Government Response to the Finch report

Review of Progress in Implementing the Recommendations of the Finch Report

David Willetts Letter to Dame Janet Finch in response to Review of Progress Report

1. RCUK and other research funders’ policies

RCUK policy on open access (July 2012)

Guidance for RCUK policy on open access (July 2012)

RCUK announcement on block grants for universities (November 2012)

RCUK spreadsheet on block grant calculation (November 2012)

Evidence to House of Lords S&T Select Committee inquiry (January 2013)

Report from House of Lords S&T Select Committee inquiry (February 2013)

Report from the House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee (September 2013)

RCUK final Policy on Open Access, and associated guidance (May 2013)

RCUK Revised Guidance (March 2013)

RIN report on UK university implementation of RCUK policies (July 2013)

Wellcome Trust position statement on open access

Wellcome Trust statement on the strengthening of its open access policy (June 2012)

Department for International Development (DFID) policy on open access (January 2013)

European Commission communication on open access (July 2012)

2. Funding Councils and the REF

Announcement of consultation on open access and submissions to the REF (February 2013)

Consultation on open access in the post-2014 REF (July 2013)

3. Gold Open Access

UKOAIG report on the potential role for Intermediaries in managing the payment of APCs (October 2012)

Wellcome survey of colour and page charges

4. Repositories and embargoes

Publishers Association statement on embargoes, with decision tree (August 201

5. Books and monographs

OAPEN-UK project

Knowledge Unlatched

8. Copyright and licensing

Creative Commons licenses

CC-BY license

Hargreaves Report (May 2011)

Government response to Hargreaves Report (August 2011)

Note of Wellcome workshop on CC-BY in humanities and social  sciences April 2013





Last update: 14 November 2013