Testing the Finch Hypothesis on Green OA Mandate Ineffectiveness

TL;DR

This study provides evidence that strong Green Open Access mandates significantly increase deposit rates in institutional repositories, challenging the hypothesis that such mandates are ineffective.

Contribution

It empirically demonstrates that stronger Green OA mandates lead to higher deposit rates, countering the Finch Hypothesis.

Findings

Deposit rates are significantly higher with stronger mandates.

Strong mandates achieve over 70% deposit within 2 years.

UK's national OA rate is 35%, higher than the global baseline of 25%.

Abstract

We have now tested the Finch Committee's Hypothesis that Green Open Access Mandates are ineffective in generating deposits in institutional repositories. With data from ROARMAP on institutional Green OA mandates and data from ROAR on institutional repositories, we show that deposit number and rate is significantly correlated with mandate strength (classified as 1-12): The stronger the mandate, the more the deposits. The strongest mandates generate deposit rates of 70%+ within 2 years of adoption, compared to the un-mandated deposit rate of 20%. The effect is already detectable at the national level, where the UK, which has the largest proportion of Green OA mandates, has a national OA rate of 35%, compared to the global baseline of 25%. The conclusion is that, contrary to the Finch Hypothesis, Green Open Access Mandates do have a major effect, and the stronger the mandate, the stronger the effect (the Liege ID/OA mandate, linked to research performance evaluation, being the strongest mandate model). RCUK (as well as all universities, research institutions and research funders worldwide) would be well advised to adopt the strongest Green OA mandates and to integrate institutional and funder mandates.