Today the ACRL released its important statement of Principles and Strategies for the Reform of Scholarly Communication. Among the principles it endorses are "a diversified publishing industry" that includes both "fair and reasonable prices for scholarly information" and "open access to scholarship". Among the specific strategies it endorses are the launch of new open-access journals, public and private funding for the processing fees charged by open-access journals, federal legislation requiring open access to federally funded research a certain time (such as six months) after it is published, the creation of new open-access institutional and disciplinary repositories, more self-archiving by scholars, and publisher agreements permitting authors to self-archive their peer-reviewed postprints. Excerpt:
One of the fundamental characteristics of scholarly research is that it is created as a public good to facilitate inquiry and knowledge. A substantial portion of such research is publicly supported, either directly through federally-funded research projects or indirectly through state support of researchers at state higher-education institutions. In addition, the vast majority of scholars develop and disseminate their research with no expectation of direct financial reward.
This is a balanced and forward-looking statement that deserves to be widely read and applied. It will also be published in the September issue of College and Research Library News.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 8/28/2003 09:24:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
