The European Science Foundation has published an important policy briefing, Open Access: Restoring scientific communication to its rightful owners. The ESF hasn't yet endorsed the paper's position, but may do so in the future. The briefing argues for a model of scholarly communication combining open access, peer review, and the Open Archives Initiative (as did the BOAI). It briefly sketches the history of the open-access movement, the problems it solves, and the ways in which it solves them. It also sketches the ESF's previous work in this cause. Quoting from the conclusion:
The world of scholarly publishing is undergoing a profound transformation. Nobody can predict the outcome of this revolution, but it is of great relevance for the future of scientific research. The Internet has made possible the no-cost dissemination of scientific information through a variety of mechanisms. We encourage experimentation with these new mechanisms because they promise a publication process with improved global access to research results. Importantly, this move forward can also bring a reduced financial burden for libraries. Experimentation with these new publishing and distribution tools can be accomplished without compromising the high standards enforced by the traditional publication process – both with respect to scientific quality (through peer review) and to stability of access (through paper or digital archiving).
The briefing was written by Alison Buckholtz, Raf Dekeyser, Melissa Hagemann, Thomas Krichel, and Herbert Van de Sompel.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 4/08/2003 02:45:00 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.
