Open Access News

News from the open access movement


Friday, December 17, 2004

Was OA an area to watch in 2004?

Last year (December 19, 2003) Science Magazine listed open access among the "breakthroughs of the year" and "areas to watch in 2004". The article is accessible only to subscribers but see this OA summary. This year (December 17, 2004), editor Donald Kennedy assessed the Science predictions from last year: "We like our call on soil microbiology, and biodefense research did well, as predicted. But the controversy over open-access publishing resisted a clear resolution; and science and security, far from progressing significantly, remains a mess." This year's article too is accessible only to subscribers. (PS: If a "clear resolution" requires the disappearance of critics, then it's true that we haven't gotten that far. But then neither has Darwinism. Yet clearly 2004 was a year of stunning progress for OA. I'll have more to say about this in the January issue of SOAN.)