CURRENT STATUS OF OPEN ACCESS POLICY IN JAMMU AND KASHMIR

Posted byAarif NabiPosted inUncategorized
Open Access for All

I have found the most valuable thing in my wallet is my library card.

Laura Bush


Introduction

Open Access (OA) is the free and unrestricted access to the online literature. Peter Suber has defined open access literature as the one which is “digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions”. It is the barrier-free access to the literature available online allowing users to read, copy, download, print, browse or use them for academic purposes without any barrier and payment except what is paid for internet access. The only requirement for the user is that the attribution be given to the author on distribution or using such literature. OA is generally believed to be of two types: gratis OA where only the price barriers are removed and the content is made available without paywalls and libre OA where most of the permission barriers are removed such as copyright barriers etc. Other jargons attached to the OA include gold OA and green OA. The former is the open access given by journals, while in the latter, it is given by repositories. When the access to literature is paywalled and available only on payment, it is called as toll access.

In India, the origin of OA movement is generally traced back to 2001 when an OA repository called EPrints@IISc, was commenced by Dr. T B Rajasekhar in Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. It is since then that most of the Indian universities have adopted OA policies to benefit academicians in general and researchers in particular. Moreover, India is also planning to join Plan-S, a global coalition for Open Science. But the cost, limited govt. funding and other problems are impeding this decision.

Open Access in Jammu and Kashmir

The UT of Jammu & Kashmir has no OA policy as such. However, some universities have ensconced their own journals and repositories providing OA to the readers. The researcher visited UGC website to search for the universities in the state. There are 2 Central and 8 State Universities and 1 University of National Importance. The researcher then visited the main websites of each of these universities to look for various OA policies adopted by them.


Central Universities


Central University of Jammu:

The website of the university has although mentioned some books, journals and research publications but the same is not available on the university website. The university has also subscribed for MOOCs from Swayam but that too are not available on the main website of the university


Central University of Kashmir:

The University has signed an MOU with the Allama Iqbal Library of University of Kashmir for access and use of information resources and services. The university website has provided the list of the e-books but when accessed, they open into the Springer journal which needs subscription. However, some 2 to 3 e-books from each department are freely available and can be accessed by anyone. The theses and dissertations of the students are freely available on Shodhganga and can be accessed by anyone. The information of research scholars and their research topics, is available on the university website but no information has been given about funding agencies and research data.

State Universities


Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University, Rajouri, J&K:

Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University of Jammu has adopted an OA approach in its entirety. It provides an OA to its e-journals, directories, e-newsletters, e-books and archives which can be both accessed as well as downloaded without any restriction. The ongoing research in the university can also be freely accessed with full statistical data and other details such as funding agencies and total funding for each project. The research data can also be downloaded.

Cluster University of Jammu, J&K:

The university website doesn’t have details of the open access as such. However, a log id of the student is required to access the university website and other details including the information pertaining to various other colleges under the said university. There are 5 colleges under this university.

Cluster University of Srinagar, J&K:

This university website also lack details of the open access as such. Whatever details are available on the website can be accessed only via log id. It governs 5 colleges of Kashmir.

Islamic University of Science and Technology, Pulwama, J&K:

The university has open access in terms of theses and dissertations which can be accessed freely through online repository- Shodhganga by anyone. Some articles are available on the university website with an open access.

University of Jammu, J&K:

The university has its own multidisciplinary journal called ‘Research’ available on the website. The submissions are subjected to peer review. The publications in this journal are OA. However, there are submission or publication charges for both staff and other non-institutional members. The university website also provides details of its research scholars and ongoing research along with the total funding and funding agencies. But the research is not available on the website.

University of Kashmir, Srinagar, J&K:

This university alone has some 21 journals of its own. But only few of them are OA such as KU Law Review and Journal of Applied Psychology etc. Rest of the journals only provide the details of the articles published. The university library, Allama Iqbal Library is one of the largest university libraries of state. The thesis and dissertations are provided with open access to everyone. Other e-resources are only available to the staff and students of the university. The Kashmir University has also one digital repository called Knoor where open access is provided to everyone. They only allow peer reviewed or pre-prints to be published free of cost.

Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Srinagar, J&K:

The SKUAST has its own Journal of Research with only two publications per year. There are no publication charges. But the registration to the journal is necessary to access the content by both staff and students. This journal also publishes their research work and review papers of prime importance. The other e-resources on website are also not OA.

Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra, J&K:

The university has its own bi-annual e-journals, Abhivyakti and Arth Anvesan, with an OA. Moreover, the university also publish monthly OA e-newsletter. Besides this, the university has subscribed to various other open access resources such as DOAJ, NOPR, SMVDU etc where they publish their content.


Institutions of National Importance

National Institute of Technology, Srinagar:

The NIT, Srinagar has its own institutional digital repository with an OA. However, the content available on open repository is almost negligible. The university website provides complete details of its journal publishers the access of which is subjected to subscription by both students and staff.
Although, most of these universities have their own journals and other sources of online data, but they are paywalled and subjected to subscription by both students and staff. And where it is Open, the content available is negligible and insignificant. There is still a lot these universities can do in terms of OA. There are multiple reasons why the state has failed advocating OA movement ranging from misconceptions regarding OA to lack of research.


Relevance of OA in Jammu and Kashmir

Due to continuous price hike in subscription and publication fee, it is far better to adopt OA policy. Even the state government has failed to establish OA policies. It is better for the scholarly community to publish their content is OA journals especially in the state which lacks in research and research institutions. Due to continuous strikes and shutdown calls in the state, the education sector has seriously suffered. The OA policy can be very helpful for the student community to read online at their homes. It can also be helpful in policymaking of the state through legal research and will result in better policies. The OA not only benefits the readers, but it also gives the opportunity to the authors to improve their work by receiving feedbacks. So, the OA is very much relevant in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.


Conclusion

In the contemporary world, the OA movement is very much important. It has been seen that OA books are more cited than the restricted ones. It also improves the quality of the work or research and attracts a larger audience to the author. The only requirement is attribution to the author. The OA articles are much downloaded, accessed, used and cited. It gives recognition to a journal yet not famous in the field. However, most of the authors have been reluctant to make their work OA because of various misconceptions. They believe that OA bypasses peer review, reduces academic freedom, violates copyrights etc. But all these arguments can be altogether denied. Even the peer reviewed articles can be OA and authors can still retain some of the rights over their work. With the use of modern technology, the old publications can be converted into OA and greater results can be expected.


Bibliography


Books

Peter Suber, Open Access, The MIT Press 4 (1st Ed. 2012).

Reports

Open Science India Report, p. 273, available at https://osf.io/aj9gw.

Journal and Web Articles

Websites

Published by Aarif Nabi

Law Student and Judicial Aspirant

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