Project co-ordinator: Jörgen Eriksson, Lund University Libraries...
Grant from the National Library of Sweden and the Swedish Knowledge Foundation: 620 000 SEK
Final report: 2009-08-31
The pilot project involves the creation of a work-flow and a method for the achievement of free and open access to key publications of Nobel Laureates in physics, chemistry and physiology or medicine at Nobelprize.org. The pilot project will investigate publisher and copyright issues, accessibility to materials from different time periods, etc. Three Nobel Laureates from each Nobel Prize category and from each of three identified time periods will be selected to be included in the pilot project.
The pilot project will not only result in free, world-wide access to some of the 20th century’s key scientific publications, but will also draw further attention to Open Access as an alternative way of publishing.
After the pilot project a project plan will be developed for a full scale Open Access project, including key publications of all Nobel Laureates in physics, chemistry and physiology or medicine....
Lund University Libraries’ head office has experience in working with Open Access publishing, in running an institutional repository and in developing and maintaining library internet services. The library is furthermore in possession of large literature collections whereof much older material will be readily available for digitization, an area where the library already has experience and equipment.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet, respectively, who manage the nomination- and selection processes of the Nobel Laureates in physics, chemistry and physiology or medicine, will secure the quality of the selection of key publications.
Last fall, the Booker Prize Foundation considered making OA editions of all the novels nominated for the Booker Prize, but apparently decided against it. A project for Nobel-prize winning articles would be much easier because the authors wouldn't lose royalties and (as I argued in my article) even the journals would benefit. Publishers see the logic of this, and last year the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics both decided to provide retroactive OA to the pathbreaking articles they had published by the 2007 Nobel prize winners in physics.
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.
