The following commentary on Mike Carroll's posting on Taylor & Francis's press
release is intended neither as an endorsement nor as a critique of T&F's (or any
publisher's) gold OA offerings. It is just an attempt to clarify an important
point about about OA needs from the standpoint of researchers, who are both the
providers and the primary intended users of peer-reviewed research articles:
On 2011-12-16, at 9:42 AM, Michael Carroll wrote:
[The T&F]  press release is misleading and should be corrected. Â
You say that T&F is now publishing " fully Open Access journals",
but unless I've misread the licensing arrangements this simply is
not the case. Â
As far as I know, there is no such thing as "fully OA."Â
There is Gratis OA and there is Libre OA:Â
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2008/08/greengold-oa-and-gratislibre-oa.html
T&F are selling Gratis OA. That means (1)Â immediate, permanent online access,
free for all on the Web --Â to peer reviewed research journal articles.Â
(Note that along with free online access, the following also automatically comes
with the territory:Â
(2) clicking,Â
(3) on-screen access,Â
(4) linking,Â
(5) downloading,Â
(6) local storage,Â
(7)Â local print-off of hard copy, andÂ
(8) local data-mining by the user,Â
as well as global harvesting and search by engines like google.)
Mike Carroll is speaking about Libre OA, which means immediate, permanent online
access, free for all on the WebÂ
(i.e., Gratis OA) plus certain further re-use, re-publication and re-mix rights.
(Note that many peer-reviewed journal article authors may not want to allow
others to make and publish re-mixes of their verbatim texts. Journal article
texts are not like music, videos, software or even research data, out of which
creative modifications and remixes can be valuable. All scholars and scientists
desire that their findings and ideas should be accessed, re-used, applied and
built-upon, but not necessarily that their words should be re-mixed or even
re-published -- just accessible free for all online, immediately and
permanently.)
Today, the only peer-reviewed research journal articles to which researchers
have access are those to which their institutions can afford
subscription/licensed access. That means research is losing the uptake and
impact of all those potential users who are denied access to it.
All researchers want free online access to all research they may need to consult
or use, not just the research to which their institutions can afford
subscription access.Â
All researchers want their research to be accessible to all researchers who may
need to consult or use it, not just to those whose institutions can afford
subscription access.
It is not at all it clear, however, that researchers want and need the right to
make and publish re-mixes of other researchers' verbatim texts.
Nor is it clear that all or most researchers want to allow others to make and
publish re-mixes of their verbatim texts.Â
Hence Gratis OA clearly fulfills an important, universal and longstanding
universal need of research and researchers.
But it is not at all clear that this is true of Libre OA -- at least not for the
very special case of the peer-reviewed research journal article texts that are
the primary, specific target content of the OA movement.
Hence it is not at all clear that there is anything T&F need to correct.
A fully open access journal
is one that publishes on the web without delay *and* which gives
readers
the full set of reuse rights conditioned only on the requirement
that
users provide proper attribution.
http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.100
1210
I believe that is not the definition of a fully OA journal but of a Libre OA
journal.
T&F's "Open" program and "Open Select" offer pseudo open access.
Gratis OA is not pseudo open access. It is the difference between night and day
for researchers who are denied access to the publisher's version of record
because their institutions cannot afford access.
And night is the current state of affairs for 80% of research, and has been for
the past 20 years, even though the means to provide Gratis OA (fully) have been
available for at least that long.
Gratis OA can be provided in two different ways:Â
Gold OA journals like the T&F journals offer Gratis Gold OA, for which the
author -- meaning the author's institution or funder -- Â must pay a publication
fee. But most journals are not Gold OA journals, and hence the potential funds
to pay for Gold OA are still locked up in institutional subscriptions to non-OA
journals.
That means that not only can most research not be made OA by publishing it in
Gold OA journals (since most journals are non-OA), but even for the Gold OA
journals, the money to pay the publication fees (of those,like T&F, that charge
a publication fee) is tied up in paying for non-OA subscription journals).
(This is equally true irrespective of whether the Gold OA journals offer Gratis
OA or Libre OA.)
The second way to provide Gratis OA is through Green OA self-archiving (i.e.,
depositing the author's peer-reviewed final draft in the author's Institutional
OA Repository immediately upon acceptance for publication).
Unlike Gold OA, Green OA does not require paying a publication fee. And Green OA
can be provided for all articles, not just articles published in Gold OA
journals.
And, most important, Green OA self-archiving can be mandated by researchers'
institutions and funders, whereas publishing in Gold OA journals cannot be
mandated. (Publishers cannot be compelled to convert to Gold OA; reserchers
cannot be told which journal to publish in; and the money to pay for Gold OA is
locked into journal subscriptions, which cannot be cancelled until and unless
the contents of those subscription journals are otherwise accessible.)
Most Green OA (and Green OA mandates) are Gratis Green OA -- free online access.
But that is still the difference between night and day for researchers.
And Gratis Green OA self-archiving (but not Libre Green OA self-archiving) is
already endorsed by over 60% of journals -- including the top journals in most
fields.
So please let us not belittle Gratis OA as not "fully" OA (and certainly not
before we have it!). Let us provide it, and mandate providing it.
And let us not keep focusing on Gold OA: The fastest, surest and cheapest way to
full OA is for institutions and funders to mandate Gratis Green OA
self-archiving.
(And, as a bonus, that's also the fastest, surest and cheapest way to Gold OA as
well as Libre OA, thereafter.)
Harnad, S. (2007)Â The Green Road to Open Access: A Leveraged
Transition. In:Â The Culture of Periodicals from the Perspective of
the Electronic Age, pp. 99-105, L'Harmattan.
Harnad, S. (2010)Â The Immediate Practical Implication of the Houghton
Report: Provide Green Open Access Now. Prometheus, 28 (1). pp. 55-59.
Harnad, S. (2010)Â No-Fault Peer Review Charges: The Price of Selectivity
Need Not Be Access Denied or Delayed. D-Lib Magazine, 16 (7/8).
Could you please explain why T&F needs to reserve substantial reuse
rights after the author or her funder has paid for the costs of
publication?
This question is valid -- but it is beside the point for the first and most
important objective of the OA movement (still not reached in over a decade of
trying), namely, immediate, permanent online access, free for all on the Web
(i.e., Gratis OA).
T&F's Gratis Gold OA would provide that; but even if T&F provided Libre Gold OA,
that would not be the fastest, surest or cheapest way to reach full OA -- by
which I mean free online access to all 2.5 million articles published annually
in the planet's 25,000 peer-reviewed journals. See the growth curves in Richard
Poynder's "Open Access By
Numbers":Â http://poynder.blogspot.com/2011/06/open-access-by-numbers.html
Free online access is what research and researchers need most. Mandating Gratis
Green OA self-archiving will provide just that -- and Gold OA, and as much Libre
OA as researchers actually need and want -- will be not far behind.
But not if we keep over-reaching for Libre OA or Gold OA instead of providing
and mandating Gratis Green OA.
If your response is that the article processing charge does not
represent the full cost of publication, what charge would? Â Why
aren't
authors given the option to purchase full open access?
Even the money to pay for Gratis Gold OA is still tied up in subscriptions,
while subscriptions are still being paid for (and thereby paying for publication
costs in full).Â
And mandating Gratis Green OA can provide free access at no extra cost, while
subscriptions are still being paid for (and thereby paying for publication
costs
in full).
So why think about paying even more for Libre Gold OA today, when it's not at
all clear that researchers want or need it -- whereas it's certain that they
want and need Gratis OA (and they don't yet have it)?
Stevan Harnad
Thanks,
Mike
Michael W. Carroll
Professor of Law and Director,
Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property
American University, Washington College of Law
4801 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20016
(202) 274-4047 (voice)
(202) 730-4756 (fax)
vcard: http://www..wcl.american.edu/faculty/mcarroll/vcard.vcf
Research papers: http://works.bepress.com/michael_carroll/
http://ssrn.com/author=330326
blog: http://www.carrollogos.org/
See also www.creativecommons.org
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On
Behalf Of McMillan, Jennifer
Sent: Friday, December 16, 2011 5:46 AM
Subject: [GOAL] Taylor & Francis Opens Access with new OA Program!
Taylor & Francis Opens Access with new OA Program!
Oxford, 16th December 2011
The New Year sees the launch of an exciting range of Open Access
options
from Taylor & Francis via the Taylor & Francis Open program. This
new
initiative is designed to give authors and their sponsors
flexibility
and variety when they choose to publish research with Taylor &
Francis.
The Taylor & Francis Open program is a suite of fully Open Access
journals consisting of brand new titles, dynamic titles from T&F's
existing portfolio which are converting to OA, and titles published
on
behalf of the Royal Society of New Zealand and the Human Sciences
Research Council, South Africa. Â Many of the titles in this program
will
collaborate with leading journals within T&F's existing portfolio,
providing input and support from learned societies and
internationally-acclaimed editors to ensure their calibre.
Taylor & Francis Open journals will have affordable article
publication
fees, with discounts or fee waivers for emergent countries. Authors
will
benefit from rapid online publication, rigorous peer review and the
high
levels of customer care Taylor & Francis provides to all authors.
 Their
finished article will be showcased on Taylor & Francis Online,
helping
them to gain recognition and esteem for their contribution to their
field.
Taylor & Francis can confirm the following titles will be included
in
Taylor & Francis Open, with more to join in the New Year:
Complex Metals
Green Chemistry Letters and Reviews
International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials
Journal of Biological Dynamics
Journal of Organic Semiconductors
Kotuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online - published
on
behalf of the Royal Society of New Zealand
Nanoscience Methods
SAHARA-J: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS - published on
behalf of
the Human Sciences Research Council
Systems Science & Control Engineering
Dr David Green, Global Journals Publishing Director, sums up Taylor
&
Francis' new approaches to Open Access, "Taylor & Francis is
committed
to producing high-calibre journals that showcase quality global
research. We believe that this content should be widely disseminated
and
are now exploring various Open Access models to enable universal
access
in ways that are sustainable and meet the needs of the academic and
research communities. Â Over the past three years society journals
have
been partnering with Taylor & Francis Group at the rate of more than
one
per week, and, if required, we are now able to offer a potential
partner
a range of Open Access models".
Taylor & Francis will also continue to offer Taylor & Francis Open
Select, which is a hybrid program giving authors the choice to
publish
on an Open Access basis in over 500 titles from across Taylor &
Francis
Group's extensive portfolio.
For more information please contact:
Jennifer McMillan, Head of Library Marketing & Communication, Taylor
&
Francis Group Journals
email: [email protected]
[ Part 2: "Attached Text" ]
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