The Open Access (“OA”) movement, which seeks to promote the free distribution of scholarly material on the public Internet, aims for nothing less than “universal availability of a comprehensive source of human knowledge and cultural heritage.” Open Access initiatives have great potential for facilitating widespread distribution of scholarly literature and multiplying the ways in which students and teachers can make educational use of this content.
Although Open Access tools have been available for several years, academic researchers have not yet adopted these tools in large numbers. This Note seeks to address this phenomenon by discussing what a more expansive impact — and a richer feedback loop, beyond one’s immediate disciplinary peers — might mean for the future of academic work. Part II defines Open Access, discussing how it works and how a shift away from subscription journal-based publishing might affect knowledge-sharing in universities. Part III examines the primary concerns fueling academic resistance to Open Access. Part IV criticizes this resistance and asserts that it could be overcome through a more thorough understanding of Open Access and its impact, in conjunction with institutional advocacy and legislative attempts to ensure public access to publicly funded research. Finally, Part V offers some provisional normative conclusions as to how we can most effectively use the law in conjunction with institutional advocacy to create open regimes of scholarly publishing....
Bramble hasn't merely self-archived his article. As an experiment, he has also made a wiki out of it.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 3/05/2007 11:59:00 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.
