Here are a few more details on the open-access position statement issued today by Wellcome Trust. Excerpts: "The Trust has a fundamental interest in ensuring that neither the terms struck with researchers, nor the marketing and distribution strategies used by publishers (whether commercial, not-for-profit or academic) adversely affect the availability and accessibility of this material [produced by its research grants]....The Wellcome Trust therefore supports open and unrestricted access to the published output of research, including the open access model (defined [elsewhere in the statement]), as a fundamental part of its charitable mission and a public benefit to be encouraged wherever possible."
The Trust now supports the launch of new OA journals and repositories, promises its grantees that it will pay the processing fees charged by OA journals, and encourages authors to retain copyright and make their work openly accessible whenever possible. The Wellcome Trust is the largest and most influential player yet to take these important steps.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 10/01/2003 06:22:00 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.
