Benefits to the private sector of open access to higher education and scholarly research

HOST Policy Research (HOST) recently concluded an intensive and pioneering study for JISC on the benefits to UK industry and commerce of Open Access (OA) to higher education research outputs. The focus of the current study is not on assessing private sector demand, but on identifying, mapping and reviewing practical illustrations of benefits. In particular, the study was asked to look at: (1) identifying and, where possible, quantifying tangible and attributable benefits in Open Access engagement to university research outputs; (2) identifying success factors and recurrent enablers to realising these benefits; and (3) establishing illustrations of what and how benefits were realised, the timescale for realisation and transferability of that experience. The study was also asked to review the quality of available evidence, how this might be addressed and to propose an evidence-based typology of Open Access engagement and benefit realisation over the short, medium and longer-term.

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