SPARC Japan
Promoting Japanese Journals' Visibility
Masamitsu NEGISHI(NII: National Institute of Informatics)

APAME 2013, TokyoJapan Medical Association Auditorium
Aug. 3, 2013

SPARC (USA)SPARC: Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources
Coalition, 1997ARL: Association of Research Libraries
Serials Crisis / Price raising by commercial publishers
Advocacy for researchers: Don’t publish on those journals
Inauguration of equitable journals in collaboration withacademic societies"Get back scholarly media to researchers’ hands"
Budapest Open Access Initiative, 2002
2004: SPARC objective changed:
Promotion of OA (Open Access) journals
NIH Public Access Policy, 2005 (PMC: PubMed Central)
Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act(FASTR) , Feb. 2013
23

SPARC Japan, 2003国際学術情報流通基盤整備事業
Project for improving infrastructure fordisseminating (Japanese) scholarly
information internationally (at NII)
2001: Call from SPARC to NII and Japanese
National University Library Association for theco-operation in SPARC campaign
4

5

Statistical fact on international visibility of Japanese papers,
2000 (M. NEGISHI using ISI databases)
Net Total

Science /Engn

BioMedical

SocialSciences

Interdis
ciplinaryJapan

144

6374

52Foreign

3,676

1,396

2,105

206

55

JPN share

3.8%4.3%

3.4%

2.4%

3.5%

JPN Jrnl

18,187

10,610

7,348

114

115

Foreign Jrnl

577,912254,195

310,563

10,982

13,235

JPN share

3.1%

4.0%

2.3%

1.0%

0.9%

JPN Jrnl

14,743

8,272

6,316

73

82

Foreign Jrnl

56,58526,82529,227380874

Outflow Ratio

79.3%

76.4%

82.2%

83.9%

91.4%

12.0%

13.3%

11.2%

4.1%

7.2%

Share of JPN Pap on Frgn Jrnl

9.8%

10.6%

9.4%

3.5%

6.6%

Share of Frgn pap on JPN Jrnl

18.9%

22.0%

14.0%

36.0%

28.7%

Journal CoverageN ofJournals

N ofPapers

N Papersby JPNAuthors

World Share of JPN Pap

6

What were the problems for us
Low visibility and circulation of Japanesejournals in worldwide scene
Low electronification of Japanese journals
Low development of business models forelectronic journals by Japanese societies=> 80% Outflow of Japanese papers tooverseas journals
7

SPARC Japan activities
at the beginning
Develop business models suitable forJapanese societies’ electronic journals
Promote international collaboration withrelated organizations
Advocacy for Japanese researchers,societies and libraries to promoteJapanese journals

8

SPARC Japan Progress and Outcome
Period 1 (2003-2005), 2 (2006-2008)

Select and promote 45 partner journals in English
Support their electronification in various ways=> All 45 journals electronified, 13 of them areelectronic-only publication
Host seminars for researchers, societies and libraries;
32 times
Support societies’ advertising activities at big
conferences overseas
Publish SPARC Japan Newsletter, 20099

10SPARC Japan, Progress and Outcome
Period 3 (2010-2012)(Financial support for partner journals
discontinued)
Host seminars, 30 times
Support societies’ advertising activities at big
conferences overseas
Publish SPARC Japan Newsletter, 16 issues

11Outflow of Japanese Papers to Foreign Journals(Statistical Survey in 2011 by M. Negishi)

日本人論文の海外流出率

82.0%

80.0%
78.0%
SPARC
Japan

76.0%
74.0%

79.6%

79.1%

72.0%
2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

1994

70.0%

12

SPARC Japan Outcomes till 2012
All 45 partner journals electronified
New electronic-only express journal launched:
ELEX by IEICE (Inst Elec Info Commn Engineers)
Joint publishing organization by bio-related societies:
UniBio Press
Mathematical journals joined an overseas package,
Euclid by Cornell Univ Library & Duke Univ Press
5 partner journals newly got "Impact Factors“Problems remain to be solved
Collaboration with university libraries
Response to the worldwide open access trend
13

SPARC Japan now
Period 4 (2013-2015)
Collaborate with International OA initiatives:
SPARC, SPARC Europe, SCOAP3, arXiv.org,COAR, ...
Support SCOAP3, arXiv.org
Respond to problems in promotion of IR:
Institutional Repositories and OA journals
Collect and disseminate basic information on IRs,
OA journals focusing on Japanese scholarly
papers and journals
1415

Institutional payment of APCs
More publishers adopting institutional payment model for
APC: Article Processing Charges (paper submissioncharges), e.g. Prepay Membership by BioMed Central
Understanding of the trend at Japanese universities is stillpoor
If the trend should be accelerated overseas, publication ofJapanese papers would critically be impeded
SPARC Japan plans:Fact-finding survey on the trend
Feasibility study of pilot projects to examine how thoseschema can be applicable to Japanese university
environment (fiscal / organizational / managerial)
16