The Canadian Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI) has released its Strategic Plan 2005-2010. Section 3.2 gives a misleading overview of OA: as if self-archiving didn't exist, as if OA journals charging author-side fees used an "author pays" model, as if most OA journals used this funding model, and as if some OA proponents argued that peer-reviewed literature was costless to produce. Then it draws some conclusions: 'This decade will see continuing experimentation with Open Access models and growing pressure on publishers to make journals partially or fully open access. This will have significant impacts on not-for-profit publishers, including CISTI's publishing program, the NRC Research Press. CISTI already provides free access for Canadians to the electronic versions of the NRC Research Press journals and monographs. This access is supported by funding from the Government of Canada through the Depository Services Program, administered by Public Works and Government Services Canada. However, CISTI relies on revenue from the sale of NRC Research Press publications outside of Canada. CISTI must be aware of and respond to trends regarding Open Access and will need to develop a new funding model for its publishing activities that will take these trends into account. Open Access may result in reduced collection costs for libraries. However, costs related to maintaining permanent storage and access may rise. As the trend to institutional repositories becomes a standard practice, CISTI is positioned to develop an institutional repository for NRC and may be called upon by the government to provide broader access to R&D outputs of Canadians through a national repository. New challenges and opportunities created by the outcomes of the Open Access movement will impact on CISTI's collection costs and policies and on how CISTI provides access to STM information in the new paradigms.'
Two of the CISTI strategic goals push in the right direction, though without committing the organization to OA: 'Goal 1: Provide universal, seamless, and permanent access to information for Canadian research and innovation. Goal 2: Enable researchers and entrepreneurs to advance and exploit knowledge through accelerated, innovative scientific communication.'
Posted by
Peter Suber at 4/14/2005 08:34:00 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.
