On May 19, the Scholarly Communications Task Force at Oregon State University submitted a resolution endorsing open access to the Faculty Senate. From an unsigned news story in OSU This Week for May 19, 2005: 'The cost to buy journals for the OSU Libraries is continuing to skyrocket, which is causing a decline in the number of serial titles purchased and made available for faculty and student use, according to a report of the Scholarly Communications Task Force. The report, as well as a resolution, will be presented at today’s Faculty Senate meeting by Taskforce chairperson, Patricia Wheeler, College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences...."For years, the problem of the escalating costs of serials was protested by the library community," said task force member Ken Winograd of the College of Education. "It is only in the past several years that professors and researchers have come to understand that this is a problem for the whole university. At stake is the open and affordable access to knowledge as well as the question of ownership." Technology has enabled a variety of alternatives to the high priced commercial publications that weren’t possible in the paper environment. Among those alternatives are open access journals (peer reviewed journals that are freely available via the web) and pre-print archives. A key element of these alternatives is that the author maintains copyright and control of their work....The task force recommends that professional societies should maintain control of journal pricing and access policies; researchers/authors should choose outlets for their publications with an awareness of fair pricing and open access; faculty as participants in the university peer review system should support non-profit society publications and open access publications; and university faculty are encouraged to not participate as reviewers for high-priced commercial journals. The task force is recommending the Senate pass a resolution on the matter. The resolution states:
That the Senate supports the principle of open access to scholarly research;
That the Senate urges the university to advance new models for scholarly publishing and electronic dissemination of scholarly works that will promote open access, helping to reshape the marketplace in which scholarly ideas circulate, in a way that is consistent with standards of peer review and scholarly excellence;
That the Senate urges the university to monitor and resist efforts to impose digital rights management regimes and technologies that obstruct or limit open access, except as necessary to secure rights of privacy;
That the Senate urges the scholars of Oregon State University to play a part in these open-access and affordable-access endeavors in their various capacities as authors, readers, editors, referees and members of scientific boards and learned associations, (a) by encouraging and collaborating with publishers' efforts to advance open access, (b) by retaining intellectual property rights in their own work where this will help it become more widely available, and (c) by remaining alert to efforts by publishers to impose barriers on access to the fruits of scholarly research.'
(PS: The minutes of the meeting are not yet online. I'm trying to find out whether the Faculty Senate approved the resolution.)
Update. I just learned from Patricia Wheeler, chairperson of the OSU Scholarly Communications Task Force, that the Faculty Senate approved the resolution yesterday, June 9, "by a great majority, only one dissenting vote."
Posted by
Peter Suber at 6/10/2005 06:18:00 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.
