...Over 70% of respondents call for open access to scientific raw data from publicly funded research and 84% call for immediate and improved access and dissemination of publicly funded peer-reviewed scientific publications, though industrial respondents stress the need for limitations due to legal conformity, commercial sensitivity, etc. Scientific publishers underline the added value that they bring to the scientific process and the fact that they are open to new models of knowledge dissemination....
Finland and Poland see open access publication as pivotal to knowledge transfer and Finland considers that it should be promoted not only at EU level but also internationally. Switzerland’s National Science Foundation has recently introduced the principle of open access which is already in place at CERN....
Both EP [European Parliament] and EESC [European Economic and Social Committee] support open access to research publications and, with some nuances, to publicly funded research results....
One of the most significant remarks about the roles of EU, national and regional policies in establishing the ERA is that “European-wide structures and schemes should constitute a balanced mix of approaches respecting and facilitating bottom-up research activities, combined with strategic guidance and coordination where this serves European policy objectives.” In this regard, two universities suggest that “the EU should be more active in...[promoting] the establishment of open access repositories, and supporting academics in using them.” ...
Most respondents consider that the current situation does not facilitate the creation and operation of new infrastructures, and that a new model legal EU framework or guidelines should be developed covering issues such as access, conditions of use and intellectual property rights....
In terms of access to peer-reviewed scientific publications, a large library emphasises that “there are still significant barriers to access in researchers’ information channels”, a situation which leads to “unbalanced and ineffective knowledge sharing, so limiting the potential of the ERA.” An industry association highlights that “To achieve excellence in European research, the broadest possible access to the state-of-the-art knowledge must be guaranteed for all researchers, in private as well as in public... However […] in many instances giving immediate and totally open access to the results of publicly funded research may not be in the long-term and best interests of EU citizens… Publicly funded research especially in cutting-edge areas of technology, can potentially give rise to valuable intellectual property rights which if properly managed by the relevant public research institution can give rise to tangible benefits (e.g. through the creation of revenue streams) which can be used to support general educational aims or increase further the scale and quality of the European science base.” ...
Scientific publishers underline the added value that they bring to the scientific process and the fact that they are open to new business models provided that their costs are covered. One major publisher states that they are “concerned at the possible development of a policy … that requires researchers to post their accepted author manuscripts in a repository in a single specified time frame”, and consider that “such a one-size-fits-all policy would be detrimental to journals because each journal’s economic and usage profile is unique, and that such a policy would harm science and its beneficiaries.” Many publishers also call for the Commission to collaborate closely with them, in order to find possible solutions to the question of researcher access to publications.
While publishers recall the economic importance of current copyright arrangements, a governmental research body questions their underlying principles: “… current copyright law should be evaluated with a view to finding ways in which the law guarantees scientific authors the right to publish their research results under an open access regime….”
Comment. As I said when the preliminary results came out last fall,
There's nothing new in these comments, pro or con....It's time for the EC to adopt the recommendations from the study it sponsored in 2006, [implement the recommendations from EURAB in January 2007, implement the recommendations in the EU-wide petition from February 2007], firm up its commitment to its own policy guidelines in the communication of February 2007, and give effect to the policy arguments of the overwhelming majority of the respondents to the green paper. There are enough studies and surveys. It's time to act.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 4/15/2008 10:52:00 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.
