The UK Higher Education Union (AUT) decided on April 22 to conduct an academic boycott of two Israeli universities. The decision has generated many news stories and declarations from academic and political organizations --too many for me to blog here. But there is an OA connnection, which I'll mention once and then move on. The connection, and my own position, were well put by Andrew Marks, a Columbia University biologist and editor of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, in an interview on August 31, 2003. Quoting Marks: 'Academic freedom and preserving open access to scientific information is a universal issue. The concept of excluding a specific group - in this case Israelis - based on politics potentially leads to very dangerous endpoints. The open exchange of ideas is fundamental to biomedical research and the advancement of learning and fighting human diseases. Who decides whether someone's political viewpoints are acceptable in the scientific world? Politics simply cannot be used as a litmus test for who can and cannot pursue scientific research.'
When I blogged Marks' comments in 2003, I got critical email from boycott supporters. Some argued that Israeli policy was deplorable and some argued that what is at stake here is human rights rather than "politics". Let me reply to these objections quickly if only to head off similar emails this time. Both miss the point, which is about the wisdom of academic boycotts, not the wisdom of Israeli policy. When scientists boycott good science because of the nationality of the scientist, then they are simply hurting themselves, hurting innocent colleagues, hurting science, and failing to make any gains in changing the national policies they deplore.
Update (May 27, 2005). The AUT has voted to end the boycott.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 5/03/2005 12:12:00 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.
