Arthur Sale's "Patchwork Mandate" Recommendation

Sale, A. (2007) The Patchwork Mandate D-Lib Magazine 13 1/2 January/February doi:10.1045/january2007-sale.

"This article is written mainly for repository managers who are at a loss as to what policies they (or their universities or research institutions) ought to deploy in order to ensure that most, if not all, of the institution's scholarly output is deposited in the institution's repository. In essence, there are only two pure policies:

requiring (mandating) researchers to deposit, and

relying on voluntary (spontaneous) participation, with or without
encouragement...

"A mandatory deposit policy will approach a capture rate of 100% of current research publications, though it will take a couple of years to achieve that goal. Figures of 60-90% can be expected in a short time. See... for some data on how mandates actually work...:

Sale, A. The acquisition of open access research articles. First Monday, 11(9), October 2006.

"Voluntary deposit policies are known to achieve no greater deposit rate of current research than 30% and more usually around 15%... The evidence for this can be produced and is absolutely clear...:

Sale, A. The Impact of Mandatory Policies on ETD Acquisition. D-Lib Magazine April 2006, 12(4)

Sale, A. Comparison of content policies for institutional repositories in Australia. First Monday, 11(4), April 2006.

"This short article describes a third policy that provides a transitional path between the two.

"What is the patchwork mandate? Simply this:

"Knowing that you have been [as yet] unable to convince the senior executives, you nevertheless personally commit to having a mandate across your institution.

"You aim to pursue a strategy that will achieve an institutional mandate in the long term. (It is highly recommended that you register your intention to do this in ROARMAP so as to encourage other repository managers caught in the same dilemma.)

"Since you haven't been able to get an institutional mandate [yet], you work instead towards getting departmental (school/faculty) mandates one by one. Each departmental mandate will rapidly trend towards 100%, and little activism is needed to maintain this level....

"Conclusion

"I am convinced that the patchwork mandate strategy described in this article will work in most cases. It is being trialled in Australia, and although it won't achieve 100% deposit of content into the institutional repository instantly, it is a clear way to work towards that goal. You can even explain the patchwork mandate approach to your senior executives, and they probably won't stop you from trying it. They may even encourage you in your efforts.

"Just remember that voluntary persuasion of individuals is known not to work beyond a pitiful participation level. Self-archiving needs to be made part of the routine academic duty, and this requires a policy endorsement of mandatory deposit by someone."

Arthur Sale