While it is appropriate to survey scientists to get their opinions, it is also important to survey them in a way that clearly defines what the potential impact of open access might be for them. While they all want free and unfettered access to the scientific literature, something many of them have through their institutional subscriptions, they must recognize that obtaining free access might result in significant cost to their grants and institutions, and in the case of not-for-profit publishers, significant changes in the scientific societies that support the production of the journals, changes that might result in the elimination of the support that societies provide for the next generation of scientists.
If the survey truly provides information that allows for reasoned decisions by the respondents, then a survey is worthwhile, otherwise it will not help any of us in our efforts to provide access as freely as possible within the framework of our existing business and publications models. Martin Frank, Ph.D. Executive Director American Physiological Society 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20814-3991 Tel: 301-634-7118 Fax: 301-634-7242 Email: [email protected] APS Home Page: http://www.The-APS.org/ "...integrating the life sciences from molecule20 to organism" >>> [email protected] 10/23/04 12:22 PM >>> At a meeting last week it was stated that there is no evidence that researchers WANT open access. I'm not sure anyone has actually asked them this, formally, so I am about to carry out an exercise to gather data on the topic. I would like to hear from librarians, open archive administrators and researchers themselves on this issue. In her recent posting to this forum, Paula Callan produced an example of the reactions of a researcher in her institution, including some specific statistics on the usage of his work. This is the sort of information I need - attributable evidence (with empirical data included if it exists) for or against the notion that researchers WANT open access. Does anyone else have similar evidence one way or the other, please? Please - no humble opinions, no unsubstantiated impressions, no speculative thoughts. I need data that will stand up to scrutiny. I am happy to receive responses offline, though this community would probably benefit from hearing them. Final word: I have plenty of statistics about researchers not being AWARE of open access. That is not the same as not WANTING it and I am not interested in uninformed researchers' opinions. What I am after are data that indicate whether, once aware of the issues, researchers do or do not want open access - as authors AND readers. Alma P Swan Key Perspectives Ltd Truro, UK [email protected] ------------------------------------------------------------------ Added by Moderator: Prior Amsci Topic Thread: "Who Needs Open Access, and Why?" http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/3613.html Internet Librarian International 2004. London. 11 October, 2004. http://www.internet-librarian.com/Monday.shtml#OpenAccess Discussion Dialup Video: http://www.streamingmedia.com/internetlibrarian/inetlib3_56.asx Discussion Broadband Video: http://www.streamingmedia.com/internetlibrarian/inetlib3_300.asx
