Licensing solutions provider Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), US, hosted a forum in London, named 'A Copyright Clearance Center Roundtable: Open Access Publishing and the Role of Intermediaries.' The day consisted of facilitated discussions preceded by a keynote address from Ellen Collins, co-author of the Research Information Network (RIN) report 'The Potential Role for Intermediaries in Managing the Payment of Open Access Article Processing Charges.'
Collins' talk was followed by an open access (OA) panel made up of experts from publishing and academia. Among the highlights, the roundtable dwelt on how, although OA publishing is not new, recent mandates by funding agencies have created confusion and a sense of urgency to comply among publishers, institutions and authors.
It was also observed that all parties face many challenges related to administering APCs. These include how to define new business models and workflows, the need for education for authors and publishers, visibility to an article's publication status, uniquely identifying authors and articles with standard metadata, tracking and reporting OA compliance, and finding and implementing a scalable process.
CCC was recently named as one of the '10 to Watch' in Outsell's first Open Access Market Report. CCC's Open Access Solutions include secure tools for managing APCs, as well as colour charges, page charges and reprint orders. CCC's Open Access solutions also address downstream licensing options. CCC reportedly makes it easier for publishers to charge different OA fees pre-publication based on variables such as author affiliation or membership, funding source and journal type.
CCC also seeks to communicate publisher-specific reuse rights post-publication to users seeking permissions for all content, including OA articles, and capture valuable data about user interest in and reuse of publishers' OA publications.
