LINGUIST List 15.2556

Tue Sep 14 2004

FYI: Continuing Discussions on Open-Access

Editor for this issue: Ann Sawyer <sawyerlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Stevan Harnad, Victory for the NIH open access plan in the House (fwd)
2. Brian �Dubhghaill, eForum on Open-Access to Scholarly Publications

Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2004 15:45:26 +0100
From: Peter Suber <peters AT earlham.edu>
To: AMERICAN-SCIENTIST-OPEN-ACCESS-FORUM AT LISTSERVER.SIGMAXI.ORG
Subject: Victory for the NIH open access plan in the House


If the Open Access News blog is so full of news these days that you
can't read every item, then let me draw special attention to this one
from yesterday:

Victory for the NIH plan in the House

By an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 388-13 the House of
Representatives tonight adopted the appropriations bill for the
Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and
related agencies (H.R. 5006). The bill includes the directive to the NIH
to develop an open-access plan by December 1, 2004. On to the Senate!

H.R. 5006
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:h.r.05006:
<http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:h.r.05006>:;
(the final colon is part of the URL)

Section containing the directive to NIH
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/db_id=cp108&r_n=hr636.108&sel=TOC_338641> &db_id=cp108&r_n=hr636.108&sel=TOC_338641&?
<http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/?&;
(the final ampersand is part of the URL)

Open Access News
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/fosblog.html


 Peter Suber

The following message was posted today on the listserv of the International
Council on Archives.

- --- Forwarded message from vikas.nathundp.org -----
 Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2004 17:24:13 +0200
 From: vikas.nathundp.org
Reply-To: vikas.nathundp.org
 Subject: Invitation- eForum on "Open-Access to Scholarly Publications: A model
for enhanced knowledge management?"
 To: ICA-LMAJORDOMO.SRV.UALBERTA.CA


Dear Colleagues at ICA-l, 
This upcoming event may be of particular interest to several members in 
this list. It relates to providing Open-Access to scholarly publications 
through Open-Access Journals and Open-Access Archives or Repositories. 
We hope to hear your views on this discussion forum starting from 
20 September onwards: 

- ---- 
Dear All,

We invite you to participate in the upcoming eForum on "OPEN ACCESS TO
SCHOLARLY PUBLICATIONS: A MODEL FOR ENHANCED KNOWLEDGE MANGEMENT?"
hosted by the global public goods Network
(gpgNet). http://www.gpgnet.net/topic08.php

The eForum will run from 20 September through 4 October 2004.

To subscribe to this forum, send a blank email to:
subscribe-gpgnet-oagroups.undp.org or, go to:
http://groups.undp.org/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=gpgnet-oa


There exists a rapidly expanding stock of scientific knowledge. Yet,
access to this pool of knowledge is often difficult. A primary reason
for this is the relatively high price of scholarly journals, their
printed and their web-based versions. This situation, it can be argued
is both inequitable and inefficient.

Initiatives have been undertaken to demonstrate that scientific
knowledge need not necessarily be published in forms that make access
expensive - or even impossible. It could be provided free of charge -
through open access to it - without detrimental effect on scientific
knowledge production and preserving the peer-review process that is
key to validate scientific results.

With open access, fees to meet the publishing costs - when required -
are paid up front when articles are accepted by a journal, rather than
by the readers. Access to the journal is then provided for free.


Today, about 5% of academic publishing follows the open-access
model. But the model is quickly gaining ground, including among both
for-profit (BioMedCentral -BMC) and not-for-profit (Public Library of
Science PloS) publishers.

- ------------------------------------------------------- 
The key points suggested for the debate are:

1. What are the main pros and cons of open-access scholarly
publishing?

2. Thinking in particular of scholars in developing countries (and the
fact that research grants may not be as easily available for them than
for industrial-country scholars), could they face a new disadvantage?
What sources will be available to pay these fees when authors cannot
get their funder or employer to pay them? Will all open-access
journals be able to waive processing fees in cases of economic
hardship, as PLoS and BMC do? Should the international aid community
maintain a fund/facility to help meet these costs?

3. Is the open-access model of publishing more likely to be successful
in some than in other fields? What would determine the likely success?

4. Could the open-access model of knowledge management be applied
beyond scholarly academic publishing?

- -------------------------------------------------------- 
To aid debate on the topic, read a detailed overview of how open
access to scholarly publications works by Peter Suber, Open Access
Project Director at Public Knowledge, Washington, D.C, available at
http://www.earlham.edu/%7Epeters/fos/overview.htm

Also read how the Budapest Open Access Initiative defines "Open
Access" at http://www.soros.org/openaccess

Join us for this debate and share with us - and the global public -
your observations on this topic.

Inge Kaul 
Director 

Office of Development Studies 

Vikas Nath 
Manager 
global public goods Network (gpgNet) Forum 

United Nations Development Programme 
336 East 45 Street 
New York NY 10017 USA 
Email: infogpgnet.net 
URL: http://www.gpgNet.net

gpgNet.net intends to serve researchers, policymakers, business and
civil society as a platform for information exchange and discussion on
issues concerning the theory, policy design and practice of providing
global public goods.

20 September- 4 October 2004: gpgNet Forum on "Open Access to
Scholarly Publications: A Model for Enhanced Knowledge Management?"

Subscribe to this forum by sending a blank email to:
subscribe-gpgnet-oagroups.undp.org or going to:
http://groups.undp.org/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=gpgnet-oa

Read background paper to the discussion at
http://www.gpgnet.net/topic08.php

- ------------------------------------------------
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