Open Access

Streamlined open access workflows, tracking and compliance monitoring

 

As the global OA movement continues to evolve, so too does the complexity of managing compliance. Research institutions now face a growing array of mandates from funders, governments, and internal bodies, each with their own unique requirements.

 

Symplectic Elements allows your researchers to easily deposit publications into open repositories with the push of a button, significantly increasing deposit rates. You can monitor, track, prompt, and report on this process; driving open access engagement and compliance in-line with your institutional policies.

Intelligent data harvesting and easy deposit

Intelligent data harvesting means Elements is always working for you in the background, continuously identifying and matching research outputs to populate your publication record in Elements. As the metadata of scholarly works is already in Elements, full-text deposit becomes as simple as a few mouse clicks.

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Guide and prompt researchers with minimal effort
Clear call-outs in the homepage guide your researchers to deposit their publications to selected institutional repositories directly with only a few clicks of the mouse. Deposit advice from Sherpa/RoMEO is embedded as standard, providing clarity over copyright. In addition, administrators can provide their own guidance at the organisational level or for particular publishers or journals.

We integrate with:

 

Open Access monitoring with Elements

Measuring engagement with Open Access policies can be time-consuming and difficult. Administrators spend valuable time chasing researchers to deposit their articles, jumping between many different systems to track engagement with their policy. Our in-built Open Access Monitor streamlines these activities, creating a centralised hub for monitoring open access engagement and compliance.

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The OA Monitor enables you to:

  • Easily monitor and track who has deposited publications, to ensure researchers’ work remains within policy requirements.
  • Record article-level exceptions and opt-outs against the policy.
  • Build reports on the level of compliance, by researcher, department or research group.
  • Easily visualise gaps in engagement in a single intuitive place, so administrators can take informed actions like depositing on behalf of the researcher, or carrying out advocacy or training for those who may be unaware of the policy.
  • Filter articles by linked funder to identify those that fall within a funder’s policy.
  • Recognise individual departments or researchers who are exhibiting high levels of engagement to empower them as advocates.
  • Configure your OA Policy within the system identifying which publications are targeted for deposit – putting you in control of your OA strategy.

Open Access Engagement

A centralised space to monitor compliance and engagement
Elements provides a unique view of what research outputs could or should be made openly available. When combined with information on what has already been deposited, institutions can gain powerful new insight into engagement levels. Administrators can filter publications by parameters to review how you are progressing toward compliance, record exceptions, track library status, and even make deposits on behalf of researchers.

With the latest enhancements to Symplectic Elements, institutions will have even greater control and transparency over their OA strategy, ensuring they remain compliant in a rapidly evolving research environment.

 

Expanded Open Access Pathways

Tracking for additional OA pathways, such as Gold Open Access, is being introduced. This will ensure a broader range of OA activity is captured, beyond just repository deposits.

 

Multi-Policy Compliance and Exceptions

Publications may be subject to multiple OA policies at once. Administrators will be able to track compliance across multiple policies, ensuring outputs meet all relevant mandates. Institutions will also be able to define exceptions to OA compliance policies, ensuring policies are enforced in a way that aligns with institutional goals.

 

Tailored prompts 

OA deposit prompts can be tailored based on a researcher’s primary group affiliation (for example, for the Medical School), providing them with more targeted and relevant guidance. 

 

Tracking Reuse Licenses

Compliance with funder policies often requires certain reuse licenses for publications. Enhancements will include the ability to track and report on these licenses, ensuring alignment with funder mandates.

 

Bulk Actions for Efficiency

Administrators can apply actions such as exclusions or exceptions across multiple publications at once, saving time and ensuring policies are applied consistently.

 

Meet Mandates for REF, NIH and ARC
Configuration of tailored compliance workflows can easily ensure that publications meet all necessary mandates for open access, such as those outlined by UKRI in the UK, NIH in the United States or ARC in Australia.

The Francis Crick Institute - Figshare integration

A Pathway to Open Research with Richer Research Profiles

The Francis Crick Institute is using technology to empower its researchers to have richer research profiles and to make it easier for them to publish their papers and data Open Access.

The best-in-class research information management system which brings together Symplectic Elements and Figshare allows them to:

  • Monitor their publications better
  • Capture manuscripts earlier to add acknowledgements of grants and all Crick staff contributions
  • Get a repository that handles both papers and data for open research

Read case study >

Our integrations at work

Learn more about Figshare & Elements together


Have more than one repository?

No problem! Elements can be integrated with multiple repositories simultaneously allowing institutions to consolidate deposit and monitoring activities within a single interface. 

Don’t see your repository? Contact us!

We wanted to create a single, multi-university resource that provides
enhanced visibility into expertise, equipment and research
support services and available IP.

Tim Cain, Ohio Innovation Exchange

This tool connects our scholarly and research expertise with audiences like media,
prospective graduate students, and academic collaborators, while simultaneously
helping faculty keep track of the very important work they do. It is a game-changer for U of T.

Associate Vice-President Research, University of Toronto

The deeply integrated environment we now have will greatly enhance
our ability to manage the range of repository activities and strengthen
our position in preparing for any future research assessment exercises.

Digital Development Manager, University of Sussex

It helps keep us organised and keeps everything in one place.

Peter Fisher, Worldwide Cancer Research

Researcher profiles and end-to-end funded research
project management all now take place in the one interface,
which has huge benefits to our researchers.

Liam Cleere, University College Dublin

The discovery module has provided a delightful and fantastic
searchable public interface to our to our faculty.

Paul Bergen, Tufts University

The rate of deposit has increased by 1000% within 12 months following the switch-on of
the publication prompt in Elements and discussion about the HEFCE Open Access policy.

Queen Mary University of London

Elements impressed us with its simplicity, flexibility and control
for individual faculty members, and great responsiveness with customer service.

Clarke Iakovakis, Oklahoma State University

I think the most important feature Symplectic Elements came with was interoperability
The fact that it had that flow through profiles to the repository was really, really valuable for us.

Research Advisor, La Trobe University

Working with Symplectic Grant Tracker has streamlined our grants application process,
with automation of various processes being key to saving us time.

Research & Grants Manager, Bowel Research UK