Open Access News

Pitman and others are already taking steps to realize the proposal and create the distributed network of cooperating journals. If you are a mathematician and would like to participate or simply make a public endorsement, then you can add your name to Pitman's page of supporters.

Also see Pitman's draft article, The Digital Revolution in Scholarly Communication and his list of free online mathematics journals.

Poynder asked what governments should do. McCabe's reply: "Well, antitrust enforcement alone is not going to fix this market. However, given that governments fund much of this research in the first place—and then pay the publishers to get it back in journal form—I think organizations like the National Science Foundation ought to invest some of their funds in a new journal initiative. This could be designed to provide money for people to start dozens, if not hundreds, of competitive nonprofit journals....Like SPARC, but on a much larger scale. The savings could be tremendous. Billions of dollars are spent on these journals, most of which is going into shareholders' pockets. While this is a good thing for the shareholders, it is a bad thing for society because there is no reason why research—whether it is funded by European or American governments—should not be at the fingertips of every individual who has access to the Internet. Bear in mind also that in this market—unlike most markets—the nonprofit sector does a better job than commercial publishers in almost all dimensions of performance."

Now I can see how Willinsky uses the open-access movement to argue his thesis. After mentioning the PLoS, PMC, OAI, BOAI, OKI, and PKP, he makes this point: "This emerging commitment among scholars to make the knowledge they create freely available is at the heart of my own call to the readers and editors of this journal to consider how turning educational research into a more accessible public resource can further the connection between democracy and education. While offering open access to all forms of scholarly research is certainly a global boon to students and faculty and to curious minds everywhere, it has a special political significance for the social sciences, as this work bears directly on social policies, programs, and practices. If open access to research in the life sciences can create a more democratic and educational dynamic in doctor-patient relationships, then, as I have argued elsewhere (Willinsky, 2000a), it is worth exploring across the social sciences. Here I am specifically asking researchers in the field of education to consider how greater public access to educational research is consistent with our understanding of what we do to foster education and further democratic participation, just as it speaks to the love of learning and pursuit of knowledge that has driven so many of us in this line of work."