What was the impact?

The University of Southampton is the only UK institution that has been carrying out research and development into open access, whilst also lobbying for policy change.

Their research has had a significant impact on the economy, public engagement and practitioners.

The launch of the online repository system EPrints in 2000 pioneered the notion that individual higher education institutions could implement repositories across all their departments. Since its launch more than 110 UK institutions have implemented EPrints, hosting 2.2million publication records.

The popularity of EPrints led to the creation of a successful service business EPrintsServices that provides repository hosting services, training and consultancy to more than 100 organisations. EPrints Services employs seven staff and has generated more than £3m in revenue.

The Southampton team was also instrumental in the formation of the UK Council of Research Repositories that is driving the recognition of repository administration and management as a professional function.

Another successful new spin-out company Arkivum was launched in 2011 to provide archiving services for digital assets. Arkivum is a spin-out from our IT Innovation Centre and has secured £4m in venture capital funding, employing 17 staff.

Southampton’s research into open source tools for preservation planning has also been used by digital archiving and audiovisual organisations such as the National Archives.

The University’s researchers remain active in open access policy design and worldwide awareness raising by lecturing at global public events and being members of national bodies.