PEER - Pioneering collaboration launched

["Janice Kuta" <kuta@stm-assoc.org>]

For release on 14 October 2008

PEER - Publishing and the Ecology of European Research
News Release
14 October 2008

Pioneering collaboration between publishers, repositories and the 
research community launched

PEER (Publishing and the Ecology of European Research), supported 
by the European Union, will investigate the effects of the 
large-scale, systematic depositing of authors' final 
peer-reviewed manuscripts (so called Green Open Access or 
stage-two research output) on reader access, author visibility, 
and journal viability, as well as on the broader ecology of 
European research.  The project is a collaboration between 
publishers, repositories and researchers and will last from 2008 
to 2011.

Peer-reviewed journals play a key role in scholarly communication and 
are essential for scientific progress and European competitiveness.  The
publishing and research communities share the view that increased access 
to the results of EU-funded research is necessary to maximise their use 
and impact.  However, they hold different views on whether mandated 
deposit in open access repositories will achieve greater use and impact.

There are also differences of opinion as to the most appropriate 
embargo periods.  No consensus has been reached on a way forward so far.

The lack of consensus on these key issues stems from a lack of 
clear evidence of what impact the broad and systematic archiving 
of research outputs in open access repositories might be, but 
this is about to change.

The aim of PEER is to build a substantial body of evidence, by 
developing an 'observatory' to monitor the effects of systematic 
archiving over time.  Participating publishers will collectively 
contribute 300 journals to the project and supporting research 
studies will address issues such as:

* How large-scale archiving will affect journal viability

* Whether it increases access

* How it will affect the broader ecology of European research

* Which factors influence the readiness to deposit in 
institutional and disciplinary repositories and what the 
associated costs might be

* Models to illustrate how traditional publishing systems can 
coexist with self-archiving.

The International Association of Scientific, Technical and 
Medical Publishers (STM), the European Science Foundation, 
Gottingen State and University Library, the Max Planck Society 
and INRIA will collaborate on PEER, supported by the SURF 
Foundation and University of Bielefeld, which will contribute the 
expertise of the EU-funded DRIVER project.

Michael Mabe, CEO of STM and Chair of the PEER Executive said, 
"STM is delighted to take a leading role in PEER.  Not only will 
PEER lead to a greater understanding of journal and repository 
use in the digital age, but it will also do much to foster trust 
and mutual understanding between the stakeholders in academic 
research and scholarly publishing."

For further information on PEER, please contact Michael Mabe, 
STM, Prama House, 267 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7HT, UK (tel: +44 
1865 339324/fax: +44 1865 339325/e-mail mabe@stm-assoc.org

Janice E. Kuta
Director of Marketing & Membership
International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers
E-mail: kuta@stm-assoc.org
Tel: 212-533-0832
Fax: 212-420-8407
www.stm-assoc.org