An exploration of workflows for monitoring Open Access publishing at the University of Michigan

Background: Dr. Alondra Nelson's August 2022 Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) memo, "Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research," calls for federal agencies to develop or update plans to ensure immediate, public access to federally-funded research publications and data.

The memo is expected to advance change across the Open Access (OA) publishing landscape, placing increased significance on the authors' ability to track and report on [Institution's] OA publishing characteristics. Where ad hoc database searches for OA publication trends met our institutional needs in the past, the authors have begun intentionally testing and documenting select workflows to better understand pros and cons of various OA tracking methods.

Description: The authors will describe the administrative context for OA reporting efforts at [Institution], and will report on three OA tracking methods, their pros and cons. The three OA tracking workflows will include:

1. Periodic search and collection of OA publication rates in Scopus, Web of Science, and Dimensions. Each database is capable of institutional filtering, and filtering to Green, Gold, and Bronze OA status.
2. Using OpenRefine and the Unpaywall API to query OA publications by institutional affiliation [1].
3. Coordinating with [Institution's] faculty expertise platform (Symplectic Elements) and administrative team to test the feasibility of OA tracking in an administrative module, as well as the feasibility of tracking OA publications at the departmental level.

We will evaluate OA tracking workflows based on administrative reporting as our primary end use. Rather than attempting a comprehensive bibliographic analysis of [Institution's] OA publishing trends, our goal is to test workflows based on efficiency and their ability to track with requisite granularity (e.g., Green, Gold, and Bronze OA) to inform administrative awareness and OSTP policy compliance.

Conclusion: If selected to present, we will share an overview of these three workflows and various strengths and limitations associated with each. We will also provide context on how the workflows have or have not met our institutional reporting needs, and any future plans for OA tracking and administrative reporting at [Institution].

References
1. Langham-Putrow A, Enriquez A. Analyzing institutional publishing output: a short course. [Internet]. Penn State Universities ScholarSphere. [version 3, March 21, 2022; cited October 31, 2022]. .