Alma Swan, Dancing with words, Optimal Scholarship, November 24, 2007. Excerpt:
The Council of the European Union yesterday issued its "Conclusions on scientific information in the digital age: access, dissemination and preservation". From the language in the Conclusions (Euro-speak, of course) it is clear that the Council has taken on board the arguments that scientific communication is suboptimal and can be improved. It also makes the step of linking this with doing science better in Europe, and with the benefits to the people of Europe that would ensue from such improvements. So far, so good. The overall outcome, though, is that the Council recommends 'more studies'. Who would ever have predicted that? This is Eurocracy at its best....
There were also several mentions in the Conclusions of the term 'delayed open access'. I would call that an oxymoron except that oxymorons are meant to be deliberate and done for effect. I doubt the Council intended such an outcome. The Budapest Open Access Initiative and the Berlin Declaration gave us nothing on timing, but the Bethesda Statement did: it specifically defines Open Access as 'immediate', as of course it must be....There is a great attraction to publishers in finding ways to describe Restricted Access as open. Carried to its logical conclusion, all publications thus become Open Access....
Though we should be grateful that there are signs of some sort of grasp of the issues at stake, we have to conclude that the Council still hasn't got the point....
Dear Council members: European scientists are every bit as good as any elsewhere in the world. If you think European science doesn't work as well as it should, you are right. We have major problems with our science in Europe - structural, economic, political. Seeing to it that the fabric of communication is optimal would help a very great deal. Come up with a proper policy on the use of taxpayer-funded research. You can do it if you try.
In a book just published on exam howlers, one schoolboy quote is this: "The USSR and the USA became global powers but Europe remained incontinent." From the mouths of babes ....
Posted by
Peter Suber at 11/25/2007 09:50:00 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.
