Andy Gass and Helen Doyle, The Reality of Open-Access Journal Articles, Chronicle of Higher Education, February 18, 2005 (accessible only to subscribers). Excerpt: 'Although reasonable people can undoubtedly disagree about aspects of open-access publishing -- generally speaking, making journal articles available online at no charge -- one point is beyond dispute: The concept is no longer merely a theoretical possibility. It is time to move beyond rehashing tired arguments about whether open access poses a threat to publishers, professional societies, or research budgets. We should begin to discuss how best to use what open access gives us: the unfettered availability of scholarly literature. The strongest evidence that open access to peer-reviewed articles is here to stay, at least in the life sciences, comes from two developments: the increasing number of agencies and foundations that have begun to require or encourage free online access to publications based on research they have helped finance; and the growing number of journals that allow authors to make their papers freely available....How will the role of the research library change, as open-access scholarly communication becomes more widely practiced? To what extent will librarians be freed from the burdens of subscription management?...How will reduced legal barriers to reusing articles -- a stipulation of most formal definitions of open access -- affect teaching, research, and other scholarly activities?...Will open-access articles enable more researchers from less-developed countries to work on the frontiers of science?...Most important, what kinds of discoveries might result from searchable, open archives of peer-reviewed, full-text scientific literature?...The potential for open access to lead to new discoveries is its single most compelling asset, though one that is frequently overlooked....Open access is no longer just an idea to be deconstructed, analyzed, and reanalyzed. We now have information about how publishers are practicing it and how scholars and researchers are reacting to it. The really intriguing questions about the topic today deal with the reality of open access and its exciting promise.'
Posted by
Peter Suber at 2/14/2005 08:19:00 AM.
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.
