In my last post, covering most of the Jisc services and projects supporting OA, i said that we’d post an update on the Jisc Publications Router shortly, and this is it.
The Jisc Publications Router is a project at EDINA to develop a viable prototype service to pass metadata and/or full text papers from journals (and other sources) to institutional systems such as repositories. Its current priority is to do this within three months of acceptance, to help universities comply with the REF OA policy.
While the project ends in July, Jisc is very much aware if the high demand for solutions in this area, and we have no intention of halting work. We do need to decide exactly how that will be done, taking into account the successes of the current working prototype, a fast-changing environment, and other factors. So, we are currently taking stock, with a view to making a decision on how Jisc will provide the services offered by the Router from August onwards. Note that we are not deciding whether such services are provided; that seems a clear “yes”, providing they are feasible. We are just taking stock of how they are implemented, and will make a decision in the next six weeks or so.
Rest assured, whatever happens, there must be continuity for the universities, publishers and others working with the Router. That is the priority.