2 July 2015

Despite publisher concerns about the accuracy of information held on Sherpa/FACT (the Funders and Authors Compliance Tool), a recent study has found it to be more than 95% accurate, when checking publisher policies against funder mandates for open access. 

The study was carried out by experienced repository managers, and initially returned only 57% accuracy.  The team at SHERPA then followed up each instance where a discrepancy was found between the study team's results and what SHERPA/FACT had recorded, contacting publishers to establish policy, where required.  In short, the 57% accuracy was found to be incorrect, and stemmed from difficulty in interpreting the information on publisher websites. 

You can view the full press release, and find the data the study methodology on figshare.

ALPSP is part of the SHERPA/FACT Advisory Board. If you have any queries, please contact Audrey McCulloch.

Categories: SHERPA, publisher policies, open access, FACT, accurate, study