2. The Remodelling of the Section for the Grant-in-Aid for Publication of Scientific Research Results (Scientific Periodicals)
a. An overview of the subsidy for research by grants-in-aid
○ Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI), has a section called “Scientific Periodicals”, henceforth “GiA-PSRR-SP”, which was established as part of the Grant-in-Aid for Publication of Scientific Research Results, henceforth “GiA-PSRR”, which is designed to assist financially with expenditures related to the publication of research results. The provision of subsidies under GiA-PSRR-SP, has been under operation to support periodical scholarly journal publishing by societies, or society groups which run the publishing enterprise jointly for the purpose of facilitating international scholarly communication.
b. Challenges Facing Grant-in-Aid for Publication of Scientific Research Results (Scientific Periodicals)
○ The current screening process of GiA-PSRR-SP has allowed good journals to stably receive support through GiA framework. This has led to the criticism that, GiA-PSRR-SP apparently has come to lack sufficient competition. While the GiA budget is generally increasing, the allocation for GiA-PSRR-SP has been diminishing to roughly a third of that in its peak. The drastic budget reduction has discouraged applicants, resulting in a reduced number of applications.
○ In formulating the kinds of expense GiA-PSRR-SP covers, the assumption has been that journals are published in print so that the subsidy must be used for the direct publication costs, to the result of failing to accommodate the growing trend of digital publishing. Other types of expense that are essential to journal publishing, such as those for refereeing and editorial assistance, cannot be covered by the grants, either.
The screening process for the GiA-PSRR-SP basically consists in the reviews of academic value by experts, and people who are actually engaged in journal publishing have not participated in the reviewing as peers. As a result, the screening system is not capable of adequately evaluating efforts to improve publishing practices.
c. A Course of Actions for Improving Grant-in-Aid for Publication of Scientific Research Results (Scientific Periodicals)
○ From the perspective of strengthening Japan's contribution to scholarly communication, we need to encourage the kind of journal publishing which ensures the diversity of research interests and thereby substantially advance scholarly and scientific research. To achieve these goals, it is important for GiA-PSRR-SP to give consideration such a way that the funding will enhances international competitiveness.
○ The following is the Working Group's proposal for the course of actions which is necessary in remodelling GiA-PSRR-SP. The Working Group hopes that the proposal will be discussed internally more in detail by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, which operates the processes of screening applications and allocating grants in this category, along with the examination of the impact of the improvement.
(Providing grants for expenditures necessary for the publication of journals)
· With regard to the eligibility of projects, the aid needs to be made available for project proposals that are designed to strengthen the contribution to international scholarly communication. In addition to programs implemented by individual academic societies, new initiatives which coordinate and consolidate communities of researchers in specific research area to start a new online journal in the area.
· With regard to the types of expense to be covered by the grant, funds should flexibly cover such project expenses as strengthen the capacity of international scholarly communication as well as the direct costs of publishing conventional print journals.
(Revision of the application guidelines to evaluate efforts to strengthen the capacity of international dissemination of information)
· It is to be desired to arrange the format of proposal in the way that the applying society itself sets goals for its own project as well as specifies the yearly progress plans for the entire period so that the review committee can review the application as a whole, together with an explicit statement prior to the application that the committee will prioritise the elements in the proposal which concern the improvement of journals. With regard to the length of project period, the shift from the current practice of giving the grant primarily on a single-year basis to the framework in which the grantee can show the results from the project which can be evaluated.
(Support for open access initiatives)
· To promote open access journals, we should give a thought to installing a new focus category and simultaneous multicategori applications should be permitted to encourage open access journal initiatives towards the publication of new open access journals other than conventional subscription-based journals.
(Other important matters regarding the improvement of Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research)
· The structure and composition of the review process should guarantee the appropriate evaluation of the proposed projects in terms of their contributions to improved scholarly communication. It should be so arranged that a special consideration in the process of reviewing is to be given to those proposals which are based on a plural number of societies' collaborative efforts.
· The upper limits on the amount of requested grant should be reconsidered, allowing for the possibility of removing the limits, from the perspective of ensuring the provision of necessary support at an appropriate scale.
· The change from the title of "Grant-in-Aid for Publication of Scientific Research Results (Scientific Periodicals)" should also be considered.
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