BioInformatics has written a report, Scientific and Medical Journals on the Web (March 2005), which covers OA among other issues. The report is not free online, and a print edition costs $2,500. Registered users can get a free copy of the executive summary, which gives almost none of the report's conclusions. Excerpt from the summary: 'Since 2001, new developments such as open access publishing have raised even more questions for publishers. In order to facilitate broader dissemination of information, open access publishing would eliminate subscription fees collected by publishers and instead require authors to pay publishing costs. As a result, the report includes discussions of this alternative model from the author's perspective --including whether authors should be expected to pay a fee to publish their work, the effect of receiving payments on open access publishers' acceptance rates and copyright issues....When asked about open access publishing, more than a quarter of the respondents indicated that they strongly believe that the general public should be allowed to download, copy, redistribute or view a given work without restrictions. (Question 16).' Also see the press release.
(PS: I won't tell you how to spend your next $2,500 But it's a bad sign that the executive summary of this report misunderstands the upfront funding model for OA journals as an "author pays" model.)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 3/23/2005 12:50:00 PM.
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.
