Katie Mantell, 'Self-archiving' urged for developing world scientists, SciDev.Net, March 5, 2004. On a widely distributed letter by Subbiah Arunachalam, Leslie Chan, and Barbara Kirsop, calling on authors from developing countries to self-archive. Excerpt from the SciDev article: "Many current initiatives to free up access to scientific research focus on the development of open-access journals, which provide free online access to users, normally covering their costs by charging scientists to publish their research. The authors of the letter welcome this as a long-term strategy. But they add that for those in the developing world who cannot wait, it is better to encourage researchers to archive their published research in institutional archives." (PS: This call is exactly right, but shouldn't be misunderstood as applying only to scientists and scholars from the developing world. Self-archiving benefits all researchers. If the concept is new to you, see the Self-Archiving FAQ.)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 3/05/2004 08:52:00 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.