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> From: Marin Dacos <[email protected]> > Subject: [BOAI] Who is afraid of open access ? > Date: 21 March, 2013 4:06:20 AM EDT > > Dear colleagues, > > The French newspaper Le Monde has published a public statement, > signed by sixty members of the academic community (Presidents of > universities, Librarians, Journals, publishers and researchers) under > the title "Who is afraid of open access ?". The original paper is here : > > http://www.lemonde.fr/sciences/article/2013/03/15/qui-a-peur-de-l-open-acces_1848930_1650684.html > > More than 1500 people already signed this statement, calling for > open access as fast as possible and asking for HSS taking leadership > in this direction. It is now available in English : > http://iloveopenaccess.org/arguments-for-open-access/ > > You can sign it : http://iloveopenaccess.org/?page_id=329 > > Best regards, > Marin Dacos > Director - OpenEdition > > > > Arguments for Open Access to Research Results > > In July 2012, the European Commission issued a recommendation on Open Access > (i.e. free for the readers) publication of the results of publicly funded > scientific research. The Commission believes that such a measure is necessary > to increase the visibility of European research before 2020, by gradually > suppressing the barriers between readers and scientific papers, after a > possible embargo period from six to twelve months. Latin America has been > benefiting from this approach for ten years after the development of powerful > platforms for Open Access journals. Scielo and Redalyc, which together host > almost 2000 journals, have considerably increased their visibility thanks to > their Open Access policy: the Brazilian portalScielo now has more traffic > than the US-based JSTOR. Such examples show that Open Access changes the > balance of power in a world dominated by groups which hold thousands of > (mostly English-language) journals: it paves the way to what could be called > a real “bibliodiversity”, since it enables the emergence of a plurality of > viewpoints, modes of publication, scientific paradigms, and languages. > > Some French editors of journals in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) > have expressed their concern with regard to this recommendation, which they > saw as a threat to a vulnerable business model. However, a thorough > assessment of the sector would be required to provide a true cost-benefit > analysis: one should shed light on its funding sources and modes, both direct > and indirect, public and private, and determine the roles the various actors > play in this field, pinpointing the added value brought about by each of them. > > To be afraid of Open Access is, in our eyes, to commit oneself to a narrow – > and in fact erroneous – vision of the future. If the HSS were set aside in a > specific “reservation” today, they would become isolated and would ultimately > become extinct. On the contrary, we think that the HSS can be at the > forefront of this opening movement, precisely because there is an increasing > social demand for their research results (we estimate the overall traffic on > Cairn, OpenEdition, Erudit and Persée to be around 10 million visits per > month!). The fears voiced by our friends and colleagues are largely > groundless in this respect. Not only is the share of sales made outside of > higher education and research institutions very small in the business models > of HSS journals, which remain mostly directly or indirectly funded by public > money, but there exist new business models capable of reinforcing the > position of publishers without having the authors pay, as is demonstrated by > the success of the Freemium programme developed by OpenEdition, a French > initiative. Solutions to finance a high-quality open digital publication > system are being invented and have started to prove their efficiency, as in > the cases of Scielo, the Public Library of Science (PLOS), Redalyc or > OpenEdition. It would be a disaster if the HSS were kept aside from this > powerful and innovative movement which is bound to reshape our scientific > landscape. Far from backing off, they must be among the leading disciplines > in this movement, as they are in the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking > countries. The resistance to this evolution advocated by some of our > colleagues seems to be a short-term strategy neglecting the potential > benefits for science and education, as well as the democratisation of access > to knowledge it will enable. > > According to us, this is not only an economic and commercial problem. > Although the existence of an Elsevier-Springer-Wiley oligopoly exerts heavy > pressure on university budgets and although the funding system of academic > publishing should be rethought, generalised Open Access is first and foremost > a matter of scientific policy. Knowledge cannot be treated as a commodity and > its dissemination is more than ever a vital concern in our societies: we can > work towards a revolutionary democratisation of access to research results. > Knowledge behind barriers, which only the happy few working in the richest > universities can access, is barren knowledge. It is confiscated, though > produced thanks to public funding. In this debate, higher education and > research institutions have akey role to play. The diffusion of knowledge and > research results, their spreading among an audience as large as possible, is > one of the missions of these institutions. Therefore a relevant scientific > policy has to build public digital infrastructures, but also needs to > support innovative publishing policies aimed at fostering cross-disciplinary > exchanges, new forms of writing, multilingualism and the broadest diffusion. > > Who is afraid of Open Access? Private access policies hinder the > dissemination of ideas and is ill-suited to the new paradigms introduced by > digital media. It is high time that we considered the Web as a unique > opportunity in terms of innovation, the diffusion of knowledge and the > emergence of new ideas. > > We are not afraid of Open Access. To take knowledge out of silos and beyond > the boundaries of academic campuses is to open knowledge to everyone, > acknowledge that it has a pivotal role to play in our societies and open up > perspectives for collective growth. > > Do not be afraid of Open Access! It is now possible to establish a new > scientific, publishing and business contract between researchers, publishers, > libraries and readers in order to enter for good a society of shared, > democratic knowledge. >
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