The Research Information Network (RIN) has appointed us (see
http://www.rin.ac.uk/sc-toolkit) to develop a web-based toolkit to support key stakeholders in the UK (especially research funders, higher education institutions, libraries and publishers) to apply the common principles set out in an earlier RIN document, the Research and the Scholarly Communications Process: Towards Strategic Goals for Public Policy (
http://www.rin.ac.uk/sc-statement).
The toolkit will provide guidance to relevant stakeholders in relation to each principle constituting the statement of principles, and their roles in applying them. It will encourage reflection on how the agendas of different stakeholders might be aligned behind common goals and conflicts of interests resolved.
In other words, we're looking to build something that will of genuine practical use to publishers, librarians, HEIs and research funders in formulating and developing policy. The scope is wide, including quality assurance (peer review and more); ensuring recognition and reward; presentation and publication of research outputs; facilitating access to research outputs; assessment, evaluation usage and impact; and long-term preservation.
We're currently in a research and consultation phase, surveying and interviewing people from across the scholarly communications spectrum. If you'd be interested in participating in this consultation exercise (and are based in the UK) and we have not already approached you, please do get in touch with me or Robin.
The project has its own blog:
http://rinsc.wordpress.com/. We plan to use the blog to post our research findings as they develop, gather data and documents and to solicit feedback as the project progresses towards implementing the toolkit.
-Mark