eResearch: the institutional repository experience at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh

Abstract

On 10 October 2004, the Scottish Declaration on Open Access was adopted by 22 Scottish higher education institutions, including Queen Margaret University.1 The main implication of this was that research output could be made accessible to all, and not just to those who can afford to subscribe to academic journal publications. The primary argument supporting this shift is that whilst a lot of public money funds research, the results of the research are not then usually made freely available. Indeed, some research-funding bodies, including JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) and the Wellcome Trust, are now also mandating open access when awarding research funding. In response to the signing of the declaration, information and library services staff at QMU began to look at the implementation of a research repository that could openly display the research output of QMU digitally. As a result ePrints repository software, which was developed at the University of Southampton, was installed first in 2005, and since January 2007 more than 450 articles have been added to the repository. The repository was given the name ‘eResearch’