Abstract: Open access (OA) is attractive and desirable as a means by which to achieve the goal of improving the efficacy and efficiency of communicating scientific research results. The arguments most heard in favour of open access are, unfortunately, often not very strong or persuasive for researchers in their role of author, even though it is on them, and their funders, that the success of open access ultimately depends.Yet there is an inevitability of open access eventually becoming the norm, merely due to the technological possibilities of the Internet. Both publishers and the academic community should recognize this and create publishing models that satisfy the need for universal access in an economically viable fashion.
From the body of the chapter:
...A stronger argument for open access is that it increases the efficiency of scientific discovery. The likelihood of wasting resources and time on duplicate investigation decreases when researchers have comprehensive access to the results of earlier work. ‘Cross-fertilization’ between disciplines and specialities would also be enhanced. Hypothetically, this comprehensive access could be provided by the traditional publishing model, but it would require that every research institution in the world had access to all the relevant and potentially relevant literature. The realities of the traditional model make this impossible. There is, arguably, not a single institution in the world that has access to all the literature that is, or might be, relevant to the research carried out there.
But the strongest argument for open access is simply that it is possible, now that the Internet has reached a level of stable maturity and reliability. Add that to the benefits of OA and the case is compelling. The question is not ‘why open access?’ It is ‘why not?’...There are no technical barriers to open access, just barriers of habit....
The impact of the Internet on the environment in which scientists communicate and in which science journals are being published is enormous and fundamental. Being a geologist originally, I see an analogy here to the impact of the meteorite on the environment on Earth which precipitated the end of the era of dinosaurs. Some of them survived. Not the largest, not the strongest, but the most adaptable. They evolved into animals that include some of the most beautiful and plentiful creatures that exist now: birds. Publishers who recognize the impact of the Internet on the environment in which they work, and who are willing and able to adapt to the new environment, have a very good prospect of surviving and thriving....
In the whole process [of journal publishing] – from submission, registration, via the organization and facilitation of peer review and editorial judgement leading to a kind of official certification and a unique reference, to copy-editing and redaction, dissemination in formats suitable for consultation of the literature as well as for archiving, and embedding in the literature via inclusion in appropriate abstracting and indexing services – dissemination is just one of the many functions performed. Dissemination, however, is the one on which the economic value of a publisher is built. This is unfortunate for publishers in the new environment of the Internet, because dissemination is the one function that can now very easily and cheaply be performed by many others, including the author....
If a method could be found to attach economic value to the other functions of scholarly journal publishing...the vulnerability of complete dependence on dissemination could be lessened considerably. That is if the service of publishing could represent its value rather than the published content. The method is ‘author-side’ paid publishing and it entails asking authors for a financial contribution for performing a service to them instead of selling these authors’ content to libraries....This is commonly known as open access publishing. The ‘open access’ here is a consequence of the model. If publishing is a service to authors and is being paid by them or on their behalf, there is no need for getting income from readers, and any financial barriers to providing access disappear. Indeed, it becomes part of the service to authors to maximize the article’s visibility, and open access is an indispensable tool to achieve that....
Posted by
Peter Suber at 1/29/2008 11:10:00 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.
