Steven Schwartz, The end of the scholarly journal, Campus Review, April 8, 2008. (Thanks to Stevan Harnad.) Schwartz is the Vice Chancellor of Macquarie University. Only the first two sentences are free online, at least so far:
Academics in Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences have voted unanimously to make their scholarly papers available on-line for free to anyone with an internet account. Although academics can opt out if they have a reason, on-line publication is the default option.
From the body of the article:
Australian funding agencies have not yet mandated open access but they are certainly moving in that direction....
Open access has the capacity to change all this [the journal pricing crisis]. The free exchange of information is a bedrock academic value, one that is supported by open access....
Open access is a step towards a digital world in which ideas and information could flow freely to anyone on earth. But it is not the only step....
Because of the influence exerted by Harvard, the example that its academics have set is sure to spread. Other universities will make similar commitments and some day, not long off, the last printed journal will roll off the printing press. This will not be a sad occasion but a happy one because it will mean that scholarly work will be freely available to everyone.
Update. An abridged version of the text is OA on Schwartz's blog.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 4/18/2008 09:35:00 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.
