The UK is losing out on its investment in scientific research to the tune of £1.5bn every year, according to advocates of open access publishing. Professor Stevan Harnad from the University of Southampton argues that because of the tradition of locking the results of publicly funded research away in research journals, the scientific community is not as free to build on and develop ideas as it should be. He calculates that if all published work was self-archived (i.e. made available online, after publication in a journal), the research impact would be the equivalent of a further £1.5bn investment in UK science, every year....In related news, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is to publish a paper recommending that access to publicly funded research must be broadened, both nationally and internationally. It says that R&D and the use of research is important to economic growth, and argues that open access would help maximise the return on investment.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 9/16/2005 09:25:00 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.
