SDG Impact - Towards societal impact through open research

Project 2: Assessing non-academic usage

How much of SDG-relevant research is openly available? And further, how successful are scholarly publications in reaching their target audience, whether scientists, policy makers, or practitioners in the field? Find out below.


Project Scope

This project sets out to “dig deeper” and assess the exact nature and scope of impact that research outputs in selective SDGs have on non-academic actors. These stakeholders include: business, politics, industry, interest groups – all drawing on research for critical decision making. 

Such an investigation includes a comparative element of OA versus non-OA content, benchmarking within the Euro zone, and concludes with some recommendations for interpreting the results (in line with responsible research assessment guidelines). Special attention will be given to gaining insights in the usage and relevance of research outcomes outside academia.

Timeline: Timeline: All project work complete

Project Management: Harald Wirsching

Download results of a bibliometric analysis of research content contributing to the SDGs

This specialist SDG publication report includes a comparative element of open access versus non-open access SDG content as well as country comparisons, with a special focus on the Netherlands.

White paper

Open for all: exploring the reach of open access content to non-academic audiences

This white paper summarises findings from a joint project between Springer Nature, the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU) and the Dutch University Libraries and the National Library consortium (UKB), exploring how research content is being used outside of academia. It draws together findings from a bibliometric analysis of nearly 360,000 documents published in 2017 (book journals , proceedings), and a survey of nearly 6,000 readers on Springer Nature websites, putting a spotlight on the potential impact of immediate Gold OA publishing on societal impact: who uses research content where this relates to the SDGs, and for what purpose? Our results show a strong OA advantage, with a high volume of readers from non-academic communities.

↓ Download the whitepaper (PDF, zenodo.org)

About us

Steering Committee: 

Prof. dr. K.M. (Koen) Becking, Board Member at VSNU, and President of the Executive Board of Tilburg University 
Harry Blom, Vice President, Journals, Development, Policy and Strategy, Springer Nature
Carrie Webster, Vice President Open Access, Springer Nature 

Consulting Group:

Henk van den Hoogen, Chair of the UKB Coordination Platform for Research Impact, Programme Manager Research Support, Maastricht University Library
Ingrid Wijk, Director of the University Library, Maastricht University 
Darco Jansen, Manager Open Access and Open Science, VSNU
Maurice Vanderfeesten, Innovation Manager, Research Library Vrije University
Mithu Lucraft, Marketing Director, Outreach and Open Research
Harald Wirsching, Vice President, Strategy & Market Intelligence Group
Timon Oefelein, Senior Manager, Account Development, Strategic Partnerships, Outreach

Project Contacts

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Timon Oefelein

Springer Nature

Senior Manager, Account Development, Strategic Partnerships, Outreach

timon.oefelein@springer.com

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Henk van den Hoogen

UKB

Project Manager

h.vandenhoogen@maastrichtuniversity.nl

Media Contact

Katie Baker | tel +44 207 843 2651| katie.baker@springernature.com