The ICSU has published Scientific Data and Information (December 2004), a report of its Committee on Scientific Planning and Review (CSPR). Excerpt: 'Taken together, these changes are providing scientists throughout the world with more and enhanced access to research data and information. The benefits of this include the growing involvement of scientists in international research projects and increased scientific and policy interest in global scale and comparative research activities. Meanwhile, the legal concept of intellectual property as applied to scientific data and information is also in a state of flux and there are still major obstacles to data access in many parts of the world....The ICSU Priority Area Assessment (PAA) Panel on Scientific Data and Information strongly recommends that ICSU assume an international leadership role in identifying and addressing critical policy and management issues related to scientific data and information....[T]he economic foundations of scientific journal publishing are threatened both because of the demand for free access to on-line publications and because library budgets have not been able to keep pace with rising journal prices and the growth of the literature....Journal publishers should encourage authors to make the data for their articles available in electronic repositories that are stable, widely accessible and professionally managed....Because of the importance of extending the benefits of digital publications to all scientists worldwide, ICSU should encourage its member organizations to work with the International Network on the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) to build cost-efficient and sustainable publishing capacity and journal access in developing countries....ICSU should continue to actively promote the principle of full and open access to scientific data. With regard to scientific publishing, ICSU should ensure that the principle of universal and equitable access to scientific publications is upheld.' (PS: For the report's distinction between "open access" and "universal and equitable acess" see Box 3 in Section 4, on p. 24.)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 12/17/2004 03:00:00 PM.
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.
