Frank Gannon, Open access and closed options, EMBO Reports 5, 921 (October 2004). Gannon's second editorial on OA in a year (see OAN posting 1/6/04) indicates that he is beginning to come around on the issue, touting the NPG/EMBO Molecular Systems Biology journal. Yet his enthusiasm is guarded, as he voices concerns about the NIH OA plan, that the unintended result of it may be that agency-supported authors are excluded from publishing in journals that do not go along. Gannon expresses reservations about the author-pays model, saying that it could cost institutions more than journal site licenses; "more successful groups or institutions will inevitably carry a greater financial burden for the dissemination of research (this does not take into account institutional memberships, or plans such as that of PNAS to defray author charges for subscribing institutions.) Furthermore, he comments on the potential loss of revenue for societies, who may have to instill higher than average author charges in an OA environment. For OA to work, he writes, "we will have to be vigilant to ensure it does not become a double-edged sword that generates unexpected exclusions or unacceptable restrictions."
Posted by
Garrett at 10/01/2004 03:38:00 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.
