Intended audience:  Research managers, scientists, information professionals

Version 0.1 October 2009 [ download PDF]

The CIARD Pathways provide an introduction to the many ways in which research outputs can be made more available, accessible and applicable to stakeholders who will derive benefits from this knowledge.

For the administrator/policymaker, research director, individual researcher and librarian alike the internet, the open access movement, and the development of digital repositories have created new possibilities for enhancing the ‘visibility’ of research outputs and have greatly increased the potential audience for them.

Within the CIARD Pathways, there are several which focus particularly on areas of change in both policy frameworks and individual researcher behavior which will help to prepare an institution to stimulate the dissemination of research outputs. These Pathways are:

1.  Advocate the benefits of the digital accessibility of content

2.  Work with publishers who have flexible policies on Open Access

3.  License content to encourage use and re-use

This group of Pathways introduce:

·      Ways in which digital information management can be championed and advocated within an institution or network in order to gain the support of all relevant stakeholders.

·      The types of policy that will govern the effective development and continuing management of a digital repository – planning and resourcing, what should be deposited and how, the assessment of usage and success, and so on.

·      How researchers and research groups can ensure the maximum visibility for their outputs by publication in open access journals, or working with publishers who allow maximum flexibility for the author by allowing them to post their work freely on web sites or in repositories.

·      How researchers and institutions can create policies that encourage the use and reuse of their research outputs within a licensing framework that, while stimulating the dissemination and use of the outputs, also protects their integrity and the rights of the author and his or her institution.

·      Also how, by choosing certain journals or services to publish your research in, your outputs can become part of global digital collections of research materials that are made freely accessible to developing country researchers.

These Pathways show how policy frameworks, combined with advocacy and the commitment of individuals, will help research outputs to become more ‘visible’ and widely disseminated and hence raise the reputation of both institutions and individual researchers.

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