Australian computer science on the global map

Abstract

At the time of writing only seven Australian universities had research archives compliant with the Open Access Initiative (OAI) standards. The University of Tasmania proposes a coordinated push by all computer science departments through offering a start-up service that will enable each computer science department in every university in Australia, New Zealand, PNG, East Timor, and the University of the South Pacific to have an OAI presence. Research evidence shows that putting preprints and postprints of research papers on an OAI-compliant server increases the average citation rate by at least 300%, and the readership by a greater factor. 100% coverage in the Australasian region will increase the profile of computer science research in the region. It will also make the same research more accessible to those institutions with smaller budgets, thereby assisting them in their mission.