I read the recent post by Scientific Journals International on this mailing list with interest, but I am puzzled about the company's claims that I have "misrepresented the facts and suppressed the truth", since the message I posted (https://arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/4498.html) was - given Professor Ahmed's refusal to speak to me (despite my making a number of separate requests, and calling him by telephone) - as accurate a description of facts and events as it was possible for me to give. The questions I asked are questions that the wider research community is asking. And since public money is involved it is in the public interest to ask the questions.
What I can now say is that I have learned that SJI does send papers out for review. However, I have still to locate anyone who can confirm that they have actually reviewed a paper, since those members of the SJI editorial board who have responded to me have invariably said that the papers sent to them were not within their area of speciality or interest, or "too generic to be considered scientific", and so declined to review any of them. One also commented that not enough time is offered to reviewers to review papers properly. I welcome the offer in the SJI post to speak to me, but I note that it is a conditional offer. I am not clear what "libelous statements" I am being asked to apologise for, or retract, in order for Professor Ahmed to consent to an interview. Indeed, if anyone is guilty of libel here it is undoubtedly the author of SJI's post, which suggests that I am a racist, and an opponent of Open Access. It is entirely unclear to me how my post (or the emails I exchanged with Professor Ahmed) could possibly be held up as evidence of racism. It is also strange that - in claiming that the business model of OA publishers like BMC and PLoS is unsustainable - the SJI post supports its argument by linking to commentary by Walt Crawford (http://pln.palinet.org/wiki/index.php/Open_access_controversies) in which Crawford cites a blog posting of mine (http://poynder.blogspot.com/2008/06/open-access-doing-numbers.html). SJI's post even uses the figures I published in that blog post in order to make its point. If it is true that I have no understanding of the open-access publishing world, why would SJI cite my arguments (as an authority) in order to make its case? As I say, I would welcome a conversation with Professor Ahmed, and I look forward to arranging a date and time of mutual convenience. Richard Poynder www.richardpoynder.co.uk [ Part 2: "Attached Text" ] ========== This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to The SPARC Open Access Forum. To post, send your message to <[email protected]>. To unsubscribe, email to <[email protected]>. To switch to digest mode, email to <[email protected]>. To switch to index mode, email to <[email protected]>. Send administrative queries to <[email protected]>.
