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 to navigate from them to related material; and the extent to which they can not only be read, but also analysed, manipulated, combined with other material, and used for a variety of purposes. Full accessibility would imply access to the version of record as published, in XML/HTML formats as well as PDF files, with full functionality and any semantic mark-up where that is provided by the publisher; and the ability to use and re-use the information with as few restrictions as possible.

B. More publications from across the world accessible to the higher education and research sectors in the UK

6.5. We have noted earlier that over 1.9m peer-reviewed articles were published in 2010 in c 25,000 journal titles, along with large numbers of other publications. Although the largest and most research-intensive universities and related research institutes have access to large proportions of those publications, no UK university has licensed access to all of them; and among the smaller and less research-intensive institutions, the proportion falls sharply.

6.6. In order to meet this criterion, more—preferably all—of the global total of research publications produced each year would have to be accessible to more—again, preferably all—of the members of the HE and research sectors as a whole, including those in smaller and/or less-well-endowed institutions. The key aim here is to ensure that members of the HE and research communities in the UK—students as well as academics—have access free at the point of use to the latest research findings wherever they are published.

6.7. Again, the criterion could in principle be met by a number of mechanisms, with varying implications as noted in paragraph 6.4 above.

C. More publications from across the world accessible to other sectors in the UK

6.8. For most people and organisations outside the HE sector—the health service; central Government and its agencies; other parts of the public sector including local government; the commercial sector, especially SMEs; the voluntary sector; and the public at large—it is at present often hard to secure access to journals free at the point of use. In order to meet this criterion, steps would have to be taken to make more—preferably all—of the global total of research publications accessible either to members of specific sectors or, again preferably, to everyone in the UK.

6.9. Like the previous criteria, this criterion could in principle be met by a number of different mechanisms. But since levels of awareness and understanding of the nature and scope of scientific and research publications is significantly lower outside the HE community and researchers in R&D-intensive businesses and other organisations, measures to increase access will have to be accompanied by a campaign to raise awareness, along with guidance on how to discover and navigate around such publications.

D. Financial sustainability for publishing