In his erudite discussion, Willinsky
avoids vilifying publishers, and instead
concerns himself with the principles at
stake. However, he is in the fortunate
position of debating the topic from
the confines of academia, without
the need to manage the business and
operational changes that he proposes.
Few would disagree with the principle
of open access, but the more tricky
question is how we get from here
(subscription/controlled access) to
there (free access)....
One of my personal frustrations is
that since the principle is perceived
as all-encompassing, the arguments
both for and against also tend to
group all scholarly publications
together, and assume that they all
have the same drives, ambitions,
objectives, and financial buoyancy.
Despite active support for open access
in parts of the biomedical and physics
communities, not all disciplines are
participating in this movement for
open access. Moreover, there are also
diff erences around the world, with
many journals from Latin America
and Asia happy to make their material
free online, as their funding allows for
this, whereas in Africa few journals
are willing to make their content
free because they cannot aff ord to
risk their small but vital subscription
revenue....
The potential complexity of online
publishing is blowing apart the
conventional journal publishing
model, because of the technical
innovations it offers and the social questions it raises....Furthermore,
the changing commercial model
is itself disrupting the established
norms. Although there is considerable
experimentation, no easy solution
has yet been found to resolve the
issue of open access and ensure the
longevity of research. This book is a
valuable addition to the debate, but I
suspect it will be several years until a
fi nal solution to the principle of open
access --if there is one-- is found.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 6/12/2006 03:42:00 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.
