TA achievements

TAs are playing a crucial role in enhancing the visibility, reach, and impact of an institution’s research, supporting organisational goals and bolstering reputation. By participating in a TA, institutions can support their researchers which in turn boosts their own impact.

“When it [research] is picked up by authoritative and peer-reviewed journals, it makes a difference. It brings a different eye to our HBCUs:²¹ to Grambling State University, or to Fisk University or a Southern University and all of the other institutions that we have participating in this.

Just think, as these doors open, it’s giving our students another step to move forward and have opportunities that just haven’t been available.”

Adrienne Webber, Dean, University Digital Library, Grambling State University

OA also plays a role in accelerating progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), enabling more readers to access and use research that can affect real-world change. Over half (53%) of our SDG-related articles were published OA in 2023²², with TAs providing member institutions with the momentum to grow OA for SDG-related content.

“I’m actually building an SDG monitoring project to relate to transformative agreements as well as to SDG impact. It ties well with the institutional mission and also the government initiative on SDGs. We use the Times Higher Education University Rankings which looks at SDG impact.

So already there is competition around that because that’s the way local universities can demonstrate to the government why they’re being publicly funded.”

Lazarus Matizirofa, Deputy Director, Department of Library Services at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

To learn more about how TAs are enabling a global shift towards OA, click on each achievement below.

1. Fuelling the growth of OA

2. Greater access to content

3. Quality research for all

4. Easier OA publishing

5. Cost management

6. Easier administration

7. Support institutional goals

8. Increasing equity

²⁰ https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2022/reputation-ranking
²¹ Historically black colleges and universities
²² https://stories.springernature.com/oa-report-2023/index.html