Dramatic Growth of Open Access: Revised Update

sThe following update has been revised, based on helpful comments from a fellow open access advocate. In the spirit of open peer review, both the original and the revised update will continue to be available. Comments on the open peer review aspect can be found at the end of this update.

As further evidence of the Dramatic Growth of Open Access, following is an update on some of the figures presented in my peer-reviewed preprint, written early February 2005. In brief, the Directory of Open Access Journals continues to add new open access journals to its list at an average rate of about one title per day. OAIster figures suggest growth in both repositories, and articles contained therein. Highwire Free figures indicate that a related trend, free back issues, is having a noticeable impact as well.

In the author's opinion, there is no authoritative information available on the exact numbers of either open access journals or open access articles at the present time. These, or any other figures, can be interpreted at best as general and somewhat indirect indications of the extent of open access. The author concludes that there is sufficient evidence to prove that there is dramatic growth in open access, even though the precise figures have not been determined at this point in time.

The author cautions that, while is sufficient data to illustrate a dramatic growth in open access, strongly suggesting a very strong interest amongst academics in making their own work openly accessible, the vast majority of peer-reviewed articles still are not openly accessible.

In the author's opinion, it is not necessary or desirable to invest much time in determining precise figures at this point in time. That is, open access is at a stage where a great many academics, research funders, journal publishers, and others, are considering policies, economic models, and new means of publishing. The important question is not how much open access there is, but rather how to implement open access.

Following are the data as presented in the original article, gathered in early February 2005, and current data as of August 19, 2005. Some of the factors which make it impossible to extrapolate precise figures are listed below each section:

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
Early February 2005:

over 1,400 journals

63 titles added in past 30 days (Feb. 9)

349 journal searchable at article level
August 19, 2005:

1,683 journals

43 titles added in the past 30 days Note: this is August - if the number of titles added is slightly less in August than in January, summer vacations are likely the reason

414 journals searchable at the article level

76,422 articles included in DOAJ service (no comparison figure for Feb.; included for future reference)
Note: journals are listed in DOAJ after they are discovered, and have passed a vetting process meant to ensure that all titles are fully open access, and peer reviewed.
Some factors to consider when interpreting DOAJ figures:

DOAJ figures can only reflect OA journals which have been reported to DOAJ, or discovered by DOAJ. The electronic medium, the internet, and open source publishing software such as Open Journal Systems, make it very easy for researchers to start up their own independent journals, anywhere in the world with an internet connection. In some cases, the development of open access journals is highly coordinated, as with the Scielo group, facilitating discovery. In other cases, the new OA journal appears to have been developed quite independently, as is the case with The Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching.

To illustrate what the author sees as a very high probability that DOAJ significantly understates the total number of open access journals, consider the list of thousands of OA journals compiled by Jan Sczepanski, as reported by John Kelljberg to the SPARC Open Access Forum. This European-based list alone includes a very great many journals not reflect in DOAJ (or perhaps, not yet reflected in DOAJ? DOAJ is run by human beings, after all, who, like the rest of us, only have so much time at their disposal. Plus, with OA journals springing up around the world, perhaps the small DOAJ staff are not perfectly fluent in each and every one of the languages of the world?

As an illustration of the complexities of determining open access journal numbers, consider the case of the open source Open Journal Systems. On the OJS web site, there is a list of a sample of users of this software at Open Journal Systems sample OJS users - 40 participants as of August 20, 2005, (including the 210 titles in the African Journals Online project). This list represents only a sample of OJS users. For example, almost all of the 40 OJS users listed publish in English, whereas in 2003, it was reported that OJS "is being translated into Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Turkish by contributors to this open source software in Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Canada and Turkey." Anyone can download and use the open source software, and create their own support community. Reporting either to OJS, or to DOAJ, is optional. It is likely that many journals have not yet reported. Then, too, there is a strong tendency for most of the OJS users to pursue full open access, however this is not required. Even journals which fully intend to move towards open access may not yet be fully online. For example, many of the journals in the African Journals Online project only have abstracts online so far. There are OJS journals which are not open access at all, and at least one commercial, traditional subscription-style publisher is using the software. You could do research to find out whether OJS users plan to make their journals open access; however, this may not be timely, as it is quite likely that many journals are in the process of exploring models for making their work accessible in the electronic environment.

There are variations in the definition of open access, so that a determination of what constitutes an open access journal or article can vary depending on the definition. As one example, if a journal's articles are free to read on the journal's web site, but the author cannot post to an institutional repository, the journal will be considered open access by some observers, and not others.

There are variations in what is characterised as peer review, which makes it difficult to assess with any certainty the total number of peer-reviewed journals, whether open access or not. For example, there are many journals which review articles through an editorial rather than peer review process, but may self-identify as peer review.

OAIster records:

3.7 million records - Nov. 15, 2004

over 5 million records - early February, 2005

5.7 million records - August 18, 2005
OAIster institutions:

405 institutions - early February 2005

523 institutions - August 18, 2005
Factors to consider in interpreting OAIster data
OAIster includes all data and institutions using the Open Archives Initiative protocol. OAI is a standard designed to facilitate metadata harvesting that is frequently, but not necessarily, associated with open access scholarly articles.

OAIster data does not include self-archived items which are not deposited in a OAI-compliant repository - for example, articles posted on author's web sites.

While the increase in the number of records retrieved through an OAIster search cannot be directly related to open access articles, the author's experience strongly suggests that at least some of the growth in OAIster records arises from articles in institutional repositories. For example, in Canada, the Canadian Association of Research Libraries has an Institutional Repository program underway, with each university library proceeding independently. Many repositories are in early stages - some still in discussion stages, others in pilot project phase, still others fairly recently released publicly, and just beginning to fill. The number of institutional repositories, and articles contained therein, has increased in a pattern consistent with the OAIster increase in numbers.

Country Update on Institutional Repositories
Detailed information on institutional repositories, articles, and other information, from 13 countries. Illustrates the international nature of the IR movement. Provides data that will likely be useful in determining OA growth in the future.
This paragraph added August 22, 2005. Thanks to the SPARC OA News written by Peter Suber for the tip.

Free back issues from Highwire Press: not open access, but definitely related:

over 800,000 free full-text articles in January 2005

940,830 free full-text articles as of 8/18/05

OA News growth from specific publishers
My apologies to all the other OA publishers not listed here, whose collections are also growing rapidly, such as India's Medknow Publications, not addressed in detail below. The purpose of this update is to illustrate that open access continues to grow dramatically; it is not meant to list all of the important open access initiatives currently underway.

BioMedCentral
Note: this paragraph added August 22, 2005, based on data supplied by Matt Cockerill at BMC.
As of today, BMC has 139 journals that are fully OA in terms of research, although some journals feature subscriptions for non-research content. Many more journals are in the pipeline. This contrasts with the "over 100" journals I reported in early February. Although I do not have the exact figure at that time, I do not underreport open access journals, so it is likely that this meant "just over 100 journals". My figures from early February for BioMedCentral were from the CUFTS knowledgebase, which may not always equal BMC numbers due to CUFTS updating procedures (usually monthly). As an indication of the likely accuracy of CUFTS figures, the CUFTS journal count for BMC today is 138, as compared to the 139 reported by Matt Cockerill at BMC.

George Porter's OA Journal Announcements
Caltech's George Porter frequently posts updates on new and converted-to-OA journals. You can find these message at the SPARC Open Access Forum Archives. To find the full list, search for George Porter by name, look up his e-mail address and search again. You should find a total of 319 messages (as of August 22), mostly OA journal announcements. Close to 50 of these announcements are dated February 2005 or later. One example is the latest update to the Public Library of Science collection.

African Journals Online Update
Details about the dramatic growth of the African Journals Online project have been published in the INASP Newsletter No. 29: July 2005. Highlights:

1998: pilot project - 10 journals with tables of contents online

end of 2000: 50 English language journals with tables of contents, document delivery service added

end of 2003: 175 journals from 21 African journals
Comment: according to the INASP article, this is "slow". Makes you wonder: what does "fast" look like, from an INASP perspective?

July 2005: over 1,500 tables of contents, over 18,000 articles on the site

July 2005: ability to add own content introduced for journals over the past year

July 2005: readers around the world have signed up for alerts service to individual titles; 10 of the journals have over 200 alerts subscribers, one has over 300
Comment: demonstrates - yet again, in another way - the OA impact advantages
This paragraph added August 22, 2005. Thanks to the SPARC OA News, written by Peter Suber, for the tip.

Notes on open peer review
The author's original update was revised, based on helpful comments from a fellow open access advocate. These were presented as comments, rather than peer review, at the request of the person making the comments. While this individual is widely considered to have academic expertise in the area of open access, in the individual's own view, numeric analysis of open access is outside their area of expertise - an area where the individual feels competent to comment, but not peer review. From the author's point of view, these comments were particularly helpful in identifying the need to articulate some of the limitations to be considered in interpreting this data, which were no doubt much more obvious to the author than they would be for many readers.

Note: this post, originally posted August 20, 2005, has been updated August 22, 2005, with new information. Three times. Feb. 26, 2007 - this is now a quarterly series.

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.

Dramatic Growth of Open Access: An Update

Please see the Revised Update. This original update continues to be available, as an illustration of an approach to Open Peer Review.

As further evidence of the Dramatic Growth of Open Access, here is an update on some of the figures presented in my peer-reviewed preprint, written early February 2005. In brief, there continues to be a dramatic increase in the numbers of fully open access, peer reviewed journals, articles in repositories and repositories per se as illustrated by OAIster numbers, and free articles in back issues of journals, as shown by the Highwire Free program.

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
Early February 2005:

over 1,400 journals

63 titles added in past 30 days (Feb. 9)

349 journal searchable at article level
August 19, 2005:

1,683 journals

43 titles added in the past 30 days Note: this is August - if the number of titles added is slightly less in August than in January, summer vacations are likely the reason

414 journals searchable at the article level

76,422 articles included in DOAJ service (no comparison figure for Feb.; included for future reference)
Note: journals are listed in DOAJ after they are discovered, and found to meet stringent criteria for open access and peer review. It is highly likely that DOAJ numbers underestimate the true number of open access journals, particularly independent start-ups.

OAIster records:

3.7 million records - Nov. 15, 2004

over 5 million records - early February, 2005

5.7 million records - August 18, 2005
OAIster institutions:

405 institutions - early February 2005

523 institutions - August 18, 2005

Free back issues from Highwire Press: not open access, but definitely related:

over 800,000 free full-text articles in January 2005

940,830 free full-text articles as of 8/18/05

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.

The Institutional Repository as Boon for the Print Disabled

Many publishers will only allow authors to post the author's own version in the institutional repository, not the final pdf. Since pdfs are not always accessible to the print disabled, I wondered whether institutional repositories filled with word documents and the like, just might, by happenstance, also greatly enhance accessibility to the scholarly literature for the print disabled. Here are the comments of local expert, CILS Librarian Stephen Blaeser, on the subject (quoted with permission):

"The creation of institutional repositories could be a potential boon for accessible material for the print disabled. Especially, if the file format which they are produced in are accessible. PDFs may or may not be accessible depending on how they are scanned/created. At CILS, we sometimes run image only PDFs through OCR software to make them accessible. I think it would be nice to have some kind of documentation available to the institution creating these repositories so they can get the most bang for their buck.

Those institutions who do not want to make their documents available except in PDF should take a look at the Adobe Accessibility information
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/solutionsacc.html
http://www.adobe.com/enterprise/accessibility/main.html"

and:
"Also, I should mention that universal design also plays an important part in making information accessible. You may have a
perfectly accessible document but if you are unable to find it easily it can be very difficult and frustrating for a print disabled users to find and thus access it (or anyone else for that matter). A few resources about universal design can be viewed at

http://trace.wisc.edu/world/
http://template.bsd.uchicago.edu/accessibility.html
http://www.cast.org/"

About CILS: " CILS is a library service for students and instructors with special needs at publicly funded colleges and institutes in British Columbia. Our clients are people who cannot use conventional print because of visual, learning or physical disabilities. "

Yet another reason to create and fill those institutional repositories!

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.

Open Peer Review: A Model & An Invitation

This is one model for an open peer review system. The idea is to automate a great deal of the coordination of peer review, make much of it transparent, and allow peer-reviewers to take credit for their work. This model could fit well with either an institutional repository / peer review overlay approach, or a traditional journal approach for either OA or non-OA journals, or any combination thereof. Readers are welcome to comment, peer-review, and/or experiment with software approaches based on this model, which is under the Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics' Attribution-NonCommercial-Share and Share Alike License.

The idea of open peer review is not new. While this post will not include a full review of related literature, as one example, Stevan Harnad talks about one approach to open peer review as early as 1996, in Implementing Peer Review on the Net: Scientific Quality Control in Scholarly Electronic Journals.

The goals of this model are:

transparent peer review: unlike blind peer review, readers can see the peer review process in action. Rather than accepting an assessment of certification based on a closed system, readers can judge the peer review process per se, for themselves. This model could accomodate a combination of open and blind peer review - that is, a peer reviewer could publish a signed peer review, or provide comments confidentially, depending on the preferences of authors or the discretion of editors. As an example of the latter, when reviewing opinion pieces in an emotionally heated area, some blind review might be seen as preferable to open peer review.
increased science literacy: it is assumed that a transparent peer review process will facilitate science literacy teaching, as more people will be able to see the peer review process in action
better peer review: exposing the peer review process per se will allow for thoughtful reflection on peer review per se, and facilitate research. This will allow for the development of better and more efficient peer review.
peer-reviewer credit: peer review is an important task, which a great many academics undertake on a voluntary basis. A portfolio of signed peer reviews can be added to the author's c.v. The best peer-reviewers, those who are thorough, considerate, and respond quickly, can be recognised for their work.
automate coordination of peer review: it should be possible to establish databases of peer reviewers, most likely distributed databases with central harvesting of key metadata (similar to institutional repositories & OAI), interoperable with other relevant software programs such as publishing software and calendaring systems, to automate much of the coordination of peer review.
peer review improvements through automation: the efficiencies of automation may make it possible to enhance peer review in ways that are not feasible with a system relying largely on one-on-one contact between editor and peer review. For example, there are many good reasons why it might be desirable to seek out an international peer review panel. An automated system would make it possible to easily identify experts in far-away countries, that the editor is unlikely to know personally. It is also possible to think about peer reviewers checking bits of an article, rather than the whole thing. That is, one paragraph of an article may refer to a completely separate area of expertise from the speciality of the author and main peer reviewers; there could be opportunities to ask a specialist to check just the one paragraph, rather than the whole article.
facilitate and recognise author controlled peer review: There are advantages and disadvantages to author-controlled peer review, where the author takes responsibility to seek out peer reviewers. While this is not presently recognised as peer review, it is widely practiced. In the author's view, an article which has been peer reviewed and edited accordingly prior to submission for publication, is likely to be a better article. Authors who seek out comments from colleagues, and peer reviewers who are sought out by authors, are both demonstrating an openness to collaboration and willingness to listen to critique - both important elements in conducting scholarly research. Author controlled peer review could be used to supplement editor-coordinated peer review (a pre-peer-reviewed article might need only one outside peer reviewer, for example, while an unreviewed work might need two or three).

In some cases, author controlled peer review could be an alternative to editor-coordinated peer review. It would be desirable to develop a set of criteria outlining the optimum for peer review (peer reviewer meets certain criteria, is not a former student, teacher, co-researcher or co-author, at least one peer reviewer from a different cultural background - more important in social than hard sciences - and so forth). Authors should explain whether and how they have met these criteria; this could be accomplished by an automated list, where the relevant criteria are checked off. Some of this could be be automated, as well - for example, a database of the author's works will reveal former co-authors, and automated comparison of the c.v.'s of author and peer reviewer will reveal common affiliations.

The model

Peer Reviewer Profiles
An academic who is willing to participate in peer review process creates a profile, which could be stored in the institutional repository. Elements of the profile could include:

• author name
  
• affiliation
  
• title / position
  
• areas of expertise (ideal might be using a standard list)
  
• qualifying notes to each area of expertise - e.g., research specialist, practitioner expert
  
• links to author's own works
  
• links to samples of work - open, signed peer reviews
  
• comments from authors and/or editors
  
• comments from recognised experts on the peer-reviewer's expertise / ability to peer review in a particular area
  
• author's availability - time and number of peer-review requests the author is willing to accept at any given time.
  The time element could potentially be integrated with calendaring systems, e.g. no or fewer requests at particular times
  
• author preferences for peer review - e.g. open access and/or fully green journals preferred, professional researchers only, researchers from developing countries welcome, students welcome (in limited numbers, perhaps?)
  
• mutuality - in areas of controversy, authors might elect to publish critical reviews from peers with different perspectives, on the condition that their peer mutually publishes the author's own peer review. This could provide readers with a good service, in alerting them to the existence of alternate viewpoints.
  

At the Institutional Repository

• hosting or linking to author profiles and peer review
  
• flexibility to accomodate clusters of versions. For example, lead readers first to the final peer-reviewed version, when available, but also make it easy for readers to find the original draft and peer reviewers' comments.
  

Publishing software

• links to author profiles
  
• links to peer reviews
  
• means of matching available peer reviewers with authors, editors, journals, or other certifying bodies
  

Comments or peer reviews can be sent to heather dot m at eln dot bc dot ca. Any comments or reviews may be incorporated in future versions of this model. Please indicate if you are willing to allow your comments or review to be posted on this blog.

Comments

Peter Suber, August 18, 2005:

Note: Peter wants me to make clear that he does *not* believe that OA depends on peer-review reform, that OA has to wait for peer-review reform, or that OA is valuable primarily for its contribution to peer-review reform. OA is compatible with every kind of peer review and we should pursue it regardless of our position on peer review. (I completely agree, by the way!)

"Just for the record, I believe that peer-review definitely needs improvement and that many promising reforms have exciting synergies with OA. One of my pet ideas (which I wrote about more in the early days than recently) is retroactive peer review. Put the preprint in an OA repository as soon as it's ready, then apply for review from a journal or free-floating editorial board. If approved, with or without revision, the approved version is also put in the repository with a citation and metadata showing its approved status. So far, this is just an overlay journal. What's most exciting is the prospect of multiple editorial boards reviewing the same work, say, from different methodological or disciplinary perspectives, with the possibility of each giving (or withholding) its approval, creating something like a market in endorsements and tools that can search and sort by endorsement."

E-LIS already has many of the components needed
by: Heather Morrison
E-LIS, the open archive for Library and Information Science, already has many of the components that would be needed for an open peer review system. One can already add comments to articles already in the archive - a reviewer could indicate if a comment is intended as a peer review, and link to a Peer Reviewer Profile. All that is needed is some editorial oversight, and communication with the author, and we're almost there!

An illustration
An illustration of open peer review in action can be found in my Dramatic Growth of Open Access: Revised Update. This illustrates how an update to a peer-reviewed article can be improved, based on helpful constructive criticism on invitation from a friend.

Head and Neck Medicine
Head and Neck Medicine, a new Open Access Journal from BioMedCentral, is planning to follow an open peer review approach. Thanks to Open Access News, Aug. 30.

See also
Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) Editorial 1978 on Open Peer Commentary Thanks to Stevan Harnad.

Last updated September 26, 2005.

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.

Open Access and peer review: time and cost savings

OA, particularly widely practiced OA, has many side-benefits, in addition to the obvious: increased access and impact.

One such benefit is that widely practiced OA can reduce the time and costs of peer review. How?

Peer-reviewers need to check the facts - the resources cited.

As things stand now, the peer-reviewer generally has to look up each reference. At best (the item is immediately available), this is extra work for a peer-reviewer, taking away time from the peer-reviewer's own research.

Often, the item is not available, so the peer-reviewer needs to obtain the item through interlibrary loan. This can increase the time required for peer review, stretching out the time from submission to publication - delaying impact.

Interlibrary loans are not free - there are staffing costs, not trivial for universities, and often hard dollar costs to obtain items.

Picture the OA-widely-practiced-scenario: all the articles cited are OA, and the author has provided a clickable link to each. This is a very efficient scenario indeed - no delay in access for the peer-reviewer, no delay in publication, no cost to the peer-reviewer's university.

Perhaps one day soon publishers, and/or peer reviewers, will begin to ask for reference lists with those clickable links. Knowing what is possible, I have no doubts about my preference as a peer-reviewer!

Final thought: are universities subsidizing publishers when they provide interlibrary loans that are needed for peer review purposes? Could be something to think about for those publishers who are reluctant to provide interlibrary loans rights in licenses...some of those you'd prefer not to give such rights to are actually working for you.

cheers,

Heather G. Morrison

The value we add as librarians does not depend on whether we purchase the information we provide. Anonymous.

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.

The Institutional Repository, the Author & the Academy

As an author, I just love my institutional repository!

Here are my thoughts on some of the benefits for the author, and what I believe the institutional repository will one day do for departments, universities, and the academy in general.

A few weeks ago, I placed a peer-reviewed preprint in SFU's D-Space called The Dramatic Growth of Open Access: Implications and Opportunities for Resource Sharing and sent a note about the article to a few of the listservs I participate in. Within a couple of days, there were references to my article on a couple of blogs (at least one with very high traffic). Several people wrote to thank me for the article. One person specifically thanked me for self-archiving the article, because their library cannot afford to purchase journals in library and information science. Someone else mentioned that they would be putting some of the resources mentioned on their web site as a result of reading my article. At least two people are using ideas from this article in conference planning.

To me, this illustrates several of the benefits of D-Space:

Timeliness: by archiving a preprint, I am able to reach potential readers in a much more timely fashion.

Impact: by sharing the article openly, more people are reading it, and acting on the ideas. Others have demonstrated the academic impact advantage of open access (increased citations) through research. This is real world impact - most likely to be relevant for faculty in the professional programs. This makes professional practice informed by research possible, illustrated by the trend towards evidence-based medicine.

Access: people whose libraries do not have subscriptions are much more likely to read the article.

Prestige: for those who do write and present a fair bit, this is a way to show off. This is not (entirely) self-serving; read on...

There are other advantages to the author, in terms of convenience. Self-archiving my work in D-Space creates a "one place to look" for my work. I can refer to all of my recent writings and presentations with one URL: http://tinyurl.com/autqd. One example of how this can be used is the link to my "Publications and Presentations", on this blog, The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics. Or, if I'm referring to one of my works in an e-mail, I can add a statement, if you're interested in reading the rest of my work, click here.

This is more convenient for me than having my work on my own desktop. It's easier to find - only the final versions are there, and all are together. It's easier to access - I can reach my work from anyplace with an internet connection.

These conveniences will apply to departments as well as individuals. Once the D-Space is full, if a professor is at a conference and wants to refer someone to the work of a colleague, this will be easy to do, without having to remember any of the bibliographic information.

Prestige: Once departmental communities are filled, it will be easy to show the value that the department contributes to the university and society, by browsing the department community.

A great deal of creative and interesting research is done at universities like SFU. Filling a university's institutional repository will provide an easy means to showcase this work and illustrate the worth of the university. This will make it easier for administrators to demonstrate the value that the university brings to the communtiy, and help to ensure ongoing support for the university. For example, alumni will be able to follow the research of their professors, and keep up in their fields. Local journalists and writers will have a ready means of learning about the research of local experts; their works will provide a means for the university's research to further enrich the community.

Once all of our universities have their institutional repositories up and running, it will be easier to demonstrate the value of academe to society as a whole. This will build the connections between town and gown that create the climate for true lifelong learning - around the globe.

If you publish or present: please consider self-archiving. No library can afford to subscribe to all the journals, not even in fields like library and information science where most of the journals are not that expensive. Outside the developed world - there aren't even many libraries - at least, not yet.

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.

U. of Guyana Library Flood Relief / Open Access Analysis

In January this year, the Library at the University of Guyana was inundated with a flood. In spite of heroic efforts by staff to place materials out of harm's way in the midst of the record rainfall, a great many materials were lost. To read about the flood, and help out by purchasing the latest edition of books identified as needed, go to: http://www.uog.edu.gy/ormp/ugflood.htm.

There is another way for scholarly authors to help out. This method will not only help the University of Guyana library right now; it will help any other university in similar circumstances in the future, whether we are aware of their distress or not.

This is a very simple method, that only takes a few minutes. Make your own work openly accessible, whether through self-archiving, or publishing in an open access journal.

Your work may well have been included in one of those books that was destroyed in the flood. Access may or may not be restored in time, through the relief efforts. If your work was in a book no longer available for purchase in print, it won't be. If your work is openly accessible, then it is available to the faculty and students at University of Guyana to read it as soon as their internet connectivity is available.

This illustrates a concept I talked about in my post about open access as a factor that moves us in the direction of global economic stability, and equity, which can be found at: http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/2005/08/open-access-model-with-potential-to.html.

While the library is being rebuilt, think of all the wonderful open access resources that are already immediately available; the 1,670 journals that can be found through the Directory of Open Access Journals, the millions of self-archived articles that can be found through either google or an OAIster search. Aren't you glad these resources are there? I know I am!

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.

An open access model with potential to facilitate global economic stability and equity

The present system of scholarly communications is largely based on purchases by, or on behalf of, the reader.

There are many possible methods of producing and funding an open access scholarly communications system, some of which retain the element of purchase by (or on behalf of) readers.

This article addresses a model involving funding and publishing production that is closely tied to where the research is produced. It is assumed that open access is happening globally, a trend which the author sees as inevitable, and already unfolding, for reasons to be addressed another day. This is - deliberately - a very broad, and very theoretical overview, to illustrate the potential overall effects.

One example of such a model would be a variant of the disaggregated journal model, with articles placed in a university's institutional repository and peer-review arranged separately, but locally.

Another example would be a locally produced, more traditional style open access journal.

One of the advantages of such a model, is that there is some relationship between requirement to pay and ability to pay. That is, if a university, region or country can afford to do research, it seems reasonable to assume that some of the available funding could be used for publication.

On the other hand, if a university, region, or country, is experiencing financial devastation for whatever reason - currency fluctuations, environmental catastrophe, war, or terrorist action - then there is no obligation to pay for publishing, but access remains the same. That is, if all else is lost, the collective knowledge of mankind is still readily available, making a quick rebound possible. In other words, open access via this model can act as an economic stabilizing factor, at all levels from the individual institution to the global level.

Another advantage is that there will likely be a correlation between cost and ability to pay. That is, those in wealthier countries will likely pay more, reflecting higher wages / higher cost of living and doing business. Those in developing countries will pay less, reflecting lower costs in their area. There are economic benefits for the developing country; electronic academic publishing generates good jobs (technology development and support, editing, etc.). In other words, open access via this model increases equity. There is a direct relationship between cost and ability to pay.

End of original post. Added comments:

In the real world...
For a real-world picture of how open access can work for a library devasted by flood, see U. of Guyana Library Flood Relief / Open Access Analysis Aug. 7, 2005

Open access as a factor towards stability and equity is simple from a policy perspective, and easy from an adminstrative perspective
Open access as a factor that works towards global economic stability and equity has one tremendous advantage: from a policy and administrative perspective, it is simple and easy.

All that is needed from a policy perspective is a simple mandate. All that universities, regions, funding agencies, and governments need to do is to tell those they fund and/or employ, to make their works openly accessible. Links to examples of policies can be found on Stevan Harnad's Open Access Archivangelism blog.

This policy is likely to need a very great deal less monitoring than other policy initiatives, because open access is in the researcher's best interests too. It is the best way for the researcher to achieve maximum impact, which enhances their status and career prospects. Details and links to the research illustrating the citation impact advantage of open access can be found at http://opcit.eprints.org/oacitation-biblio.html.

To illustrate why this is easy from a policy perspective, and simple to adminster, think about how much is already available on the internet, and how people have been using it as a primary search tool for some time. We librarians know just how hard it is to explain to people that not everything is actually freely available there yet, including some important resources they probably should be aware of. It is my belief that any researcher in the future who does not make their work openly accessible is likely to be ignored - not deliberately at all, but simply because there is so much information openly available on any topic, that few will take the extra effort to read works distributed through restricted-access channels.

In my personal world, this is happening already. Some of my friends have done topnotch research and written articles on matters I consider extremely important. I'd love to be able to point to these works - but if they are published in journals meant for print distribution, available to few, I am very reluctant to mention them, out of concern for readers who would feel frustrated and left out if I did so.

The main reason this is administratively simple is because the tendency towards stability and equity is completely automatic. Once works are openly accessible, researchers and others in a devasted region have instant access, as soon as their internet connectivity is up and running. There are no special measures we need to take. Indeed, open access helps out in situations we are not even aware of.

All that policy makers need to do is to set the direction, the mandate for open access. The rest looks after itself.
added August 7, 2005.

Publisher Best Practices for Self-Archiving Authors: 4.5 Stars for Haworth Press

March 12, 2007 update:

Note: Haworth Press now has a policy requiring authors to transfer copyright before peer review. In my view, Haworth is no longer considered a role model for publisher best practices. For details and tips on where to publish, please see my March 12 post.

Haworth Press has developed some good language to accomodate self-archiving authors. Note that authors are allowed to post both preprints and postprints, no delay is imposed, and authors retain as much of their rights as is consistent with ensuring Haworth has the rights it needs to publish. The following is excerpted from the Haworth Manuscript Submission & Limited Copyright Transfer Form, August 2005. http://www.haworthpress.com/journals/copytrans.asp?sku=J474. All rights reserved. 4.5 of a possible 5 stars - congrats Haworth!

1. AUTHOR RE-USE OF WORK: Both as a professional courtesy and in recognition of contemporary needs of authors/researchers/information providers and users in a globally connected information cybersystem, copyright transfer is limited to the extent that the author(s) or the author(s)’ employer (if applicable):

a) retain PROPRIETARY RIGHTS, other than copyright, such as patent rights in any procedure, process, or means of manufacture depicted in the contribution;

b) retain ORAL PRESENTATION RIGHTS;

c) retain PREPRINT DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS, including posting as electronic files on the contributor’s own Web site for personal or professional use, or on the contributor’s internal university/corporate intranet or network, or other external Web site at the contributor’s university or institution, but not for either commercial (for-profit) or systematic third party sales or dissemination, by which is meant any interlibrary loan or document delivery systems. The contributor may update the preprint with the final version of the article after review and revision by the journal’s editor(s) and/or editorial/peer-review board;

d) retain PHOTOCOPYING, ONLINE TRANSMITTAL, OR DOWNLOADING RIGHTS to any colleagues for the advancement of scientific research (with the exception of systematic distribution as described in section 1c);

e) retain REPUBLICATION RIGHTS in any book written or edited by the contributor himself or herself, in any edited work for which the contributor is the sole editor or senior editor, or teaching coursepak [coursepack] prepared or written by the contributor.

For any of these uses, no further permission is necessary in writing from The Haworth Press, Inc., nor will the Press require fees of any kind for the reprinting. However, we do require that the following conditions be met when re-using the material:

1) Include a standard copyright line: copyright date, publisher’s name, city and state, journal and article title, volume, issue, and page number(s);

2) Include the following information: Article copies available from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: ;

3) If reprinted electronically, include a hyperlink/hot link to The Haworth Press, Inc. home page. Our URL is http://www.HaworthPress.com;

4) If reprinted electronically, there must be no charge for viewing the article.

This statement is intended to provide full description for the limitation of copyright transferred to The Haworth Press, Inc., and to set forth the support by the Publisher for dissemination in a modern Internet and cyber-connected society.

2. LIMITED COPYRIGHT TRANSFER: In consideration for publication and dissemination of our work, if accepted and published by the journal noted on the Limited Copyright Transfer Form, the Author(s) agree to transfer copyright of the Work to The Haworth Press, Inc., including full and exclusive rights to publication in all media now known or later developed, including but not limited to electronic databases and microfilm/microform, electronic journal format, anthologies of any kind, single-copy distribution through a distribution system, and as part of any aggregate (i.e., multiple journals distributed together as a package) print or electronic subscription or publication of any kind, and in any format now known or later developed with exceptions and limitations noted in AUTHOR RE-USE OF WORK listed above in paragraph #1. (NOTE TO U.S. GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES: SEE YOUR EXEMPTION, PARAGRAPH #5 BELOW.)

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.

Publisher Best Practices for Self-Archiving Authors

Many publishers are in the process of reviewing their authors' instructions, to accomodate desires and requirements for self-archiving. This message is meant primarily to help publishers identify really good examples, but it may also be of interest to authors to help identify what to look for.

From a policy perspective, the very best allow authors to retain as much of their rights as possible - for example, to self-archive pre-prints, and replace with the final peer-reviewed version as soon as possible, generally before publication. Authors should be allowed to retain copyright to the greatest extent possible. A recent study funded by JISC/SURF, Towards good practices of copyright in Open Access Journals by Esther Hoorn and Maurits van der Graaf, found, among other things, that a large majority (71%) of authors want to keep their copyright (thanks to Peter Suber's Open Access News). Restrictions on duplicate publishing for commercial purposes at about the same time as original publication are reasonable. Allowing either author or publisher to re-use the work for future commercial purposes is a good idea as well.

From a procedural perspective, the best author's instructions are simple, brief, easy to read, and easy to locate on the publishers' website. The ideal is to actively encourage authors to self-archive, and to automate deposit in the author's institutional repository where possible.

The rating system is a five-star system, with one representing the lowest score and 5 the highest. The ratings are not meant to be taken too seriously. Every publisher mentioned is included as a role model. Charleston Advisor is very generous in allowing authors to retain rights. The ACRL instructions are a model for brevity and clarity.

BioMedCentral, however, deserves special mention. After receiving the highest score to date, and the highest score possible (5 stars), BMC responded to comments about the imperfect of their author instructions by working hard to improve their procedures! BMC does automate deposit in the author's institutional repository (with the cooperation of the IR, of course). BMC is also a role model for vendor responsiveness to suggestions for improvement, in my opinion.

Kudos to the American Diabetes Assocation

ACRL's College and Research Libraries / College and Research Libraries News

Charleston Advisor

4.5 Stars for Haworth Press

BioMedCentral: ratings and discussion messages
5 stars for BMC Indeed!

BMC: Bernd-Christoph Kaemper March 19, 2005

BMC: by Matthew Cockerill, March 18 (2)

BMC: Matthew Cockerill, March 18 (1)

5 stars for BMC

BMC: Bernd-Christoph Kaemper

BMC: Brian Simboli

5 stars for BMC?

Initial invitation to discussion

Last updated September 1, 2005.

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.

Promoting Open Access

Sherif Masoud has some terrific ideas - and resources - on promoting open access. A great way for librarians to get involved!

Check out Sherif's Open Access Trade Page:
http://www.geocities.com/sxm418/oa.htm

Sherif is inviting OA advocates to direct more efforts towards promoting OA resources - see his post to the SPARC Open Access Forum, at:
https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/2160.html

and my reply:
https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/2161.html

To join the discussion, sign up for the SPARC Open Access Forum!

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.

Is poetic economics catching on?

Charles Bailey's The Economics of Free, Scholar-Produced E-Journals
http://www.escholarlypub.com/digitalkoans/2005/08/04/the-economics-of-free-scholar-produced-e-journals/
presents some very interesting history of open access, which I hadn't heard before but would love to hear more of, as well as a vision of the economics of e-journals that suggests I may not be the only poetic economist around! Here is an excerpt on the estimate of the costs of such journals:

"the costs are so low and the functions so integral to scholarship that they are easily absorbed into ongoing operational costs of universities. Even if they weren’t and scholars had to do it all on their own, server hosting solutions are so ubiquitous and cheap, free open source software is so functional and pervasive, and commercial PC software is so powerful and cheap (especially at academic discounts) that these minor costs would act as no real barrier to the production of scholar-produced e-journals."

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.

Librarians and Open Access

The purpose of this post is to gather thoughts on what librarians need to do to make open access a reality, as well as how open access will transform libraries and librarianship. For starters:

Question from SSHRC:
Canada's Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council is in the midst of a consultation process, designed to transform Canada's major research funder in these areas. The help of librarians has been requested - please see http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/2005/06/question-from-sshrc.html. Further comments, questions, and suggestions, would be most welcome.

Promoting Open Access Resources
It makes perfect sense for libraries to be promoting open access resources, just as we do other resources, whether subscriptions or collections we have paid for, or free print materials we have been responsible for. There are enough resources out there, that these resources are very significant supplements already, for smaller libraries. For more info, see:
http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/2005/08/promoting-open-access.html
To illustrate just how significant OA resources already are, look at the library and information OA journals collection in the Directory of Open Access Journals, at http://www.doaj.org/ljbs?cpid=129 (39 journals as of August 5, 2005), and the E-LIS, E-Prints in Library and Information Science, at http://eprints.rclis.org/ (over 2,700 articles as of August 5, 2005). These two resources are already a much more substantial collection than any but the largest research libraries, or universities with library schools, would have enjoyed until very recently. There are more resources, too, of course - the library association journals that are going open access, and the articles librarians have placed in their institutional repositories.


Changing Roles of Librarians
This summarizes some very thoughtful discussion by SCHOLCOMM participants on what the future (and, in some cases, the present) roles of librarians might look like, in an open access work.

Nancy Sanchez Tarrago has written a very interesting article on new roles of librarians in education - see:
SANCHEZ TARRAGO, Nancy. THE INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL WITHIN THE EDUCATIVE CONTEXT IN THE LEARNING SOCIETY: SPACES AND COMPETENCES. ACIMED. [online]. Mar.-Apr. 2005, vol.13, no.2 [cited 30 August 2005], p.1-1. ISSN 1024-9435.


Last updated August 30, 2005

Our Homes Are Bleeding Digital Collection / Collection numérique Nos foyers saignent

Our Homes Are Bleeding Digital Collection / Collection numérique Nos foyers saignent

The Union of BC Indian Chiefs has just released their open access digital collection, including maps, photos, narratives, and audio clips, available in English and French, at:
http://www.ubcic.bc.ca/Resources/ourhomesare/

Many thanks to Kim Lawson, UBCIC's archivist / librarian, for the tip, and to Kim and Jenn Cole for their work on this project. Kim would like to connect with other Open Source people about this project.

warm regards,

Heather G. Morrison

The value we add as librarians does not depend on whether we purchase the information we provide. Anonymous.

This message has been posted to the BCLA list, BIBCANLIB-L, the SPARC Open Access Forum, and ERIL-L.

Mediation as an intellectual freedom issue

One of the arguments used against open access is the idea that people are not able to read and understand the research literature, but that rather they need mediation, for example consumer health literature. While creating and sharing information that translates the complexities of research literature into material that is easier to understand is absolutely laudable, taking away the right of the individual to make their own choice is censorship. This is a very basic intellectual freedom issue - it is the right of the individual to decide what they want to read. This applies just as much to the level of reading material, as it does to the topic.

Following is a message I posted to liblicense, which appeared on July 31. For the full discussion, see liblicense-l "Health Information Needs". Better yet - if you believe in intellectual freedom - join in, and help out!

To further support Kent Mulliner's point that mediation of health information should not be required:

The idea that the public needs mediation is not new. This idea, rather, was one of the obstacles to be overcome in order for literacy for the general population to be considered as a possibility. There was a time, in the history of even the most free of nations today, when the written word was considered fit only for the clergy, who would interpet for the masses. Even in much, more more recent times, there have been those who have adhered to just such a view. Witness, for example, the impact of the Taliban on the education of women in Afghanistan.

When people were illiterate, mediation was indeed necessary for the masses. Most people had no access to the literature, or to education; their only access to information was through mediation. As we have seen, once information and education become accessible, the vast majority are able to read.

As research literature becomes more accessible, the number of people who are able to make use of it will increase. Not that everyone will want to read at a research level, of course - it's just that, as Kent says, it is their right to do so, if they so choose. For that matter, open access will mean access to the educational system,, which could make it possible to advance the average scientific and information literacy skills of the population as a whole.

To me, this is a very fundamental intellectual freedom issue. Intellectual freedom means that the individual chooses for themselves what they will read. This includes not only topics, but reading level as well.

This is not to say that mediation cannot sometimes be helpful, and desired. At a recent conference in B.C., one of the librarians at Vancouver Public Library talked about their new role as "information counsellors". I can easily see a librarian taking on this role in the area of health information. It's not hard to imagine explaining to a person with an illness (or a family member) what their options are: consumer health, ranging from the simplest of brochures with the absolute
basics to more in-depth consumer health info, all the way to exploring the research literature. People should feel completely comfortable with whatever decision they make about the material they read: this is where the counselling aspect comes in.

cheers,

Heather Morrison

Chemistry and Open Access

My writings on open access and chemistry encompass four themes, so far. Here are links to my main writings on the topic, by theme.

Chemistry and the Public Interest http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/2005/05/chemistry-and-public-interest.html
Open Access: Transformative Change. An Open Letter to the President and Members of the American Chemical Society

Chemistry, OA, and the economics of publishing

Imaginary Journal of High End Chemistry (this is more about publishing than about chemistry) http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/2005/07/imaginary-journal-of-high-end.html

Chemistry, Open Access, and the Corporate Sector https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/1947.html

Funding ideas for open access chemistry

Two very simple and obvious efficiencies - decreasing the salaries of a very few top executives at the American Chemical Society - to merely much higher than average levels - and focusing on publishing, rather than lobbying, could release funding for about 15 - 40 average sized journals (with the total number depending on efficiency).
https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/1974.html

Another tip for the ACS: sell the bars and real estate, put the money into an endowment fund for open access. (Thanks to Richard Poynder for pointing out the Information World article). https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/1993.html. Other interesting discussion about the business practices of the American Chemical Society can be found in the SPARC Open Access Forum / Open Access News, June 2005.

Chemistry as a discipline and OA

In a nutshell, different disciplines are at various stages of implementing open access. Among the hard sciences, physicists were self-archiving since the early '90's; some areas of physics, such as high-energy physics, have a 100% self-archiving rate. The rate for chemists is - er - rather closer to 0%, than 100%. Never mind, though, if the chemists are behind on the green route to OA. There is still plenty of room for leadership on the gold road!

Chemistry, Alchemy, and the Gold Road https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/1944.html

Note: The Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry, an open access, pure gold chemistry journal, was launched August 28, 2005. Thanks to SPARC Open Access Forum / BioMedCentral,

Chemists Without Borders? https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/1945.html

Note: there is a real Chemists Without Borders group, at http://chemistswithoutborders.blogspot.com/

OA and the discplinary differential http://www.library.yale.edu/~llicense/ListArchives/0408/msg00069.html

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.

Imaginary Journal of High-End Chemistry

The Imaginary Journal of High-End Chemistry is an ad hoc thought experiment, designed to answer the question, what is the ballpark cost of producing an electronic-only, stricly open access journal article, in the priciest high-end STM market? The Imaginary Journal is a response to a challenge from academic publisher Lisa Diettrich of Academic Medicine for us poetic visionary OA types to address "the nitty gritty of how we pay for it all". As it happens, if there is anything this particular OA advocate enjoys more than poetic visioning, it is economic modelling. The Imaginary Journal begins to explore a few other poetic economic concepts, such as Work Less, and creative globalization for the good of all, themes which I hope to delve into in more depth in The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics.

Issues of Imaginary Journal can be found on the SPARC Open Access Forum Archive (search for Imaginary Journal). Here are links to each issue:

Introductory Issue: https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/1148.html

Oct 2004: 2 https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/1163.html

Oct 2004: 3 https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/1203.html

Oct 2004: 4 https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/1228.html

Nov 2004: 1 https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/1310.html

Interlude Issue (Dec 2004) https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/1373.html

Many thanks to those who participated in this collaborative experiment, including leaders in the publishing industry (both on and off list - liblicense-l as well as the SPARC Open Access Forum), and chemists.

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.

OA & Collaborative Research & Writing

There is more - a great deal more - to open access than the most obvious benefit, a tremendous increase in accessibility and impact.

One of the new potentials unleashed by OA is new means for collaboratively working on research and writing. A couple of recent postings from Peter Suber's Open Access News http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/fosblog.html illustrate some of this potential:

Arti K. Rai, Open and Collaborative Research: A New Model for Biomedicine. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=574863, a preprint forthcoming in Robert Hahn (ed.), Intellectual Property Rights inFrontier Industries: Software and Biotech, AEI-Brookings Press.(thanks to David Bollier)

Copyright, http://www.copyrightjournal.org/index.php/Copyright. A new OA journal edited by Lawrence Lessig and Michael Geist, among others, is intended to be both a traditional, peer-reviewed journal and a novel, collaborative approach to journal creation. Scholarly communications and open access are among the topics to be covered -perhaps a publishing opportunity for readers of this list?

In my opinion, this more formal approach to collaboration is a natural outgrowth of the greatly enhanced opportunities for informal collaboration made possible by the electronic medium and the world wide web. Scholars have always communicated informally as well as formally - by talking at metings, conferences, etc. - it's just that e-mail, listservs, blogs, wikis, etc., have expanded the potential for this kind of cooperation.

Could this be a more major change in scholarly communications than either the shift from print to electronic, or from closed to open access?

thoughts?

Heather G. Morrison

Originally posted to the SPARC Open Access Forum, SCHOLCOMM, and ERIL-L, July 30, 2005.

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.

About The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics

Update October 7, 2012 (why blog comments are not encouraged)

The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics began as a place to gather some of my writings, both formal and informal, on the topic of open access, at the request of friends.

The main focus of this blog is open access, and scholarly communications in general. The concept of poetic economics, however, can be applied to any field of endeavour. This idea is to think of economics as a means to strive for the best we can achieve on this earth; to begin with poetic vision, and use our knowledge of how things work as a poet uses words, to create beauty and meaning.

As of 2004 when this blog started, most of my writings on this subject were originally listserv postings. Only some of these writings have been gathered. More can be found in the  listserv discussions, on the SPARC Open Access Forum, SCHOLCOMM, ERIL-L, Liblicense-L, the American Scientist Open Access Forum and its successor GOAL.  What I have liked about the lists is the interactivity, the opportunity to discuss and debate, particularly with those who do not necessarily share my views.

As of 2012, I find that I participate much less in listserv discussions, and am not convinced of the usefulness of discussions via blog commenting. For this reason, while commenting on IJPE is sometimes turned on, I do not encourage it.

cheers,

Heather Morrison

In Lieu of Flowers: An Open Letter to the American Association of Cancer Research

Dear Margaret Foti, CEO, American Association of Cancer Research,

In Lieu of Flowers: An Open Letter to the American Association of Cancer Research

According to the SPARC Open Access News of July 13, AACR is one of a group that has signed a letter on July 7 to Senator Arlen Specter, expressing "significant concerns about the National Institutes of Health duplicating private sector on-line publishing".

The banner at the top of your website this morning does not say: defending the interests of the private sector in the publishing industry.

What your banner says is quite different. It is "Saving Lives Through Research".

This is a noble reason for the existence of your association. My request is that AACR review its mission, and reconsider its position on the NIH Public Access Policy. I cannot see how such a review could possibly come to any other conclusion than that your mission compels you to fully support and participate in Public Access.

Change is difficult for anyone, and I have no doubt that the small changes needed for Public Access will be a little bit uncomfortable for your association. I urge you, however, to consider how many families, not only in the U.S. but throughout the world - have asked for donations to cancer research in lieu of flowers. How many have wanted to set aside their own comforts in bereavement to speed the research, so that others would be spared the agony that they and their loved ones went through. When so many are seeing the need to speed the research and placing it above their own comfort, surely your association can, too.

Surely you realize that the best way to "accelerate the dissemination of new research findings" - to borrow a phrase from your mission statement - is for cancer researchers to share their findings as openly as possible, as soon as possible. The ideal is to post the findings openly on the web, just as soon as the quality control process (peer review) is complete - generally before publication. Imposing any delay, or any restrictions on dissemination, is contrary to your mission statement.

Your mission also says that you will "advance the understanding of cancer etiology, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment throughout the world." Outside the wealthy nations, there are many universities with no journal subscriptions at all; and, many places where lack of funds to purchase resources is a deterring factor to education, period. Participating in the NIH Public Access program clearly advances your mission. Lack of access is a factor in the U.S. too, of course; not all states are equally wealthy, and not all can afford all the journals for their university libraries.

Please share this message with your Board, and your members. If your basic mission has changed from saving lives to private sector profits, your mission statement needs updating. If your mission continues to be to accelerate cancer research, then you need to reverse your stance on the NIH's Public Access Policy, from opposition to enthusiastic support and participation.

To facilitate dissemination and encourage other associations to consider their missions when thinking about open access, this is an open letter, copied to the SPARC Open Access Forum.

I congratulate the U.S. National Institute of Health and the U.S. Senate for their support for Public Access. This is one policy area where many, myself included, see the United States as providing an example of visionary leadership, which other nations would be well advised to follow.

best wishes,

Heather G. Morrison

cc: Senator Arlen Specter, SPARC Open Access Forum

Mission and Purposes
The mission of the Association is to prevent and cure cancer through research, education, and communication. The purposes are to foster research in cancer and related biomedical science; accelerate the dissemination of new research findings among scientists and others dedicated to the conquest of cancer; promote science education and training; and advance the understanding of cancer etiology, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment throughout the world.
from: American Association of Cancer Research website, July 17, 2005
http://www.aacr.org/page3831.aspx

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/ca/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford, California 94305, US

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.

Tip for publishers: author's final copy

There are two reasons why it is in the publishers' best interests to provide the author with a final, peer-reviewed, proof-read copy for the institutional repository (which need not be the final pdf). First and most important, this will ensure that readers are not confused and potentially misled by different versions - the formatting might be different, but the content will be just as authoritative.

Secondly, this makes it possible for publishers to include a link to the journal in the authors' final copy, which, I would suggest, is in the publishers' best interest. Authors will be pointing people to their institutional repository and/or other open access copies, simply because this is more convenient.

For example, if I want to point people to all my recent works, I can do so with one link to the SFU Institutional Repository, at:
http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/handle/1892/79/items-by-author?author=Morrison%2C+Heather

This is much more convenient for the author than assembling a list of links to a variety of publisher and conference websites. It's no wonder that the authors who publish the most are the first to move to self-archiving, as Dr. Swan's recent research has uncovered.

If a publisher were to provide me with a final proof-read copy, complete with bibliographic citation information and a link to the journal, that would be very convenient for me, and I would be very much inclined to submit this version to the IR.

cheers,

Heather G. Morrison

They hang the man and flog the woman
That steal the goose from off the common.
But let the greater villain loose
That steals the common from the goose.
-Folk poem, circa 1764
from: David Bollier. Reclaiming the American Commons.
http://www.bollier.org/reclaim.htm

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/ca/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford, California 94305, USA.

Originally posted to the SPARC Open Access Forum, July 12, 2005.

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.

Resources & Tips For publishers

Announcing the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association

Competing in an open access environment: will the smalls have the advantage?. The relatively low costs per quality, particularly of the small, not-for-profit society publisher, suggest that such publishers could have the advantage in an open access environment.

Springer to acquired BioMedCentral. One of the really big STM publishers acquires a major open access publisher, as a smart business move.

Open Access Service Charges: Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. This journal charges according to the work required; authors can save money by submitting in the optimal format (Latex), and by following the technical specifications for either Latex or Word.

The Society for Reproduction and Fertility has developed a Free Access policy which is noteworthy for publishers considering a transition to open access. Highlights include re-use rights on payment of the Free Access fee, and an embargo of only 6 months for authors making use of the free self-archiving option.

Innovations at OA Publishers: Institutional Memberships, PLoS, and Hindawi

Copyright remains yours - Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers, 2000.
The copyright statement from the ALPSP, part of their Learned Publishing License to Publish, could stand as a role model for publishers today (2008). This statement clarifies authors' rights to reuse their own work, including posting on public servers such as institutional and disciplinary repositories, and clarifies the publisher's right to defend the intellectual property rights of authors.

Kudos to Oxford: Transitioning to Open Access. Oxford continues to lead the way for traditional publishers to transition to open access, providing discounts to authors of subscribing institutions, a new consortial author discount program, and fee adjustments reflecting open access charges revenue for the third year in a row.

Kudos: Nature Self-Archiving on Behalf of Authors

Nature Publishing Group has announced that they will archive for open access (with a 6-month embargo) on behalf of authors, to institutional or disciplinary repositories.


Publisher Best Practices for Self-Archiving Authors

Tip for publishers: author's final copy

Last updated August 5, 2005

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.

Creative Globalization

Blogposts with links on interesting projects, and Heather's own writings, relating to Creative Globalization:

• Widget generation for searching Canadian aid data (the DFATD development data widget generator). Developed at the Citizen Attache aid data hackathon, Ottawa, August 24-25, 2013.

• Who Knows Where the Next Great Idea will come from? Why open access to the world's knowledge is a great boon in tough times. A modicum of curiosity and free access to the world's knowledge provide the means for anyone to learn to their heart's content; out of such learning will come some of the great ideas that are needed to kickstart new businesses for a new, green, knowledge-based economy.
  
• An Open Net Means Open Opportunity. Access to the internet plus net neutrality means that anyone has the means to set up a business with a potential global reach.
  
• WIPO Launches New Agenda on IP and Development
  At the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), developing nations have taken the lead on restoring balance in intellectual property law, including a draft Access to Knowledge (A2K) treaty that includes open access provisions. Library associations, including the International Federation of Library Associations and the Association of Research Libraries, among others, have supported the development agenda.
  
• People's Open Access Education Initiative. Links to an initiative developed by and for people in developing countries, to overcome barriers to education using open source and open access philosophies and resources. It is hoped that this will be a first step towards a People's Open Access University.
  
• E-LIS: the Open Archive for Library and Information Science. E-LIS is not only the world's largest archive for library and information science: it is also a global collaboration of volunteers from over 40 countries. Searching E-LIS first is highly recommended, not only for high quality of searching and results, but because an E-LIS search yields a result with a far greater breadth of perspective than our traditional search resources.
  
• Canada: let's focus on sharing. In our trade relationships with others, let's think about more than our own economic interests. When it comes to intellectual property, let's encourage the same balance of rights between users and creators we want in our own intellectual property, and let us also think about traditional knowledge rights, too. When working with developing countries, let us consider not only what is in our own economic interests, but what is best for them, too. Why talk only about free trade, and not fair trade too?
  
• Chemists Without Borders Open Chemistry Position Statement.
  The Chemists Without Borders statement illustrates why open access and open source science should be priority for every "without borders" group. In the short term, let us help the developing world; in the long term, let us make sure everyone has access to all of the world's knowledge. Who knows, perhaps someday those are poor now, will be in a position to help us.
  
  
• Necessity is the mother of invention: open access, the developing world, and the cost-efficient solution.
  Yet another reason for wealthy (and poor) countries alike to be sure to read the works of those in the developing world: those without means have more incentive to find cost-efficient solutions, than those with means.
  
• A non-US non-UK Perspective on OA (Open Access). Presentation. Open Access is a global phenomenon. If anything, the barriers are highest in the US and the UK. Without a profitable scholarly publishing industry, there is nothing to lose - and everything to gain - from open access.
  
  
• U. of Guyana Library Flood Relief / Open Access Analysis
  Want to share books and journals with colleagues affected by floods and other disasters? Self-archive! As soon as computer and internet access are back, your work will be available.
  
  
• An open access model with potential to faciliate global economic stability and equity.
  An open access model focusing on local (or highly distributed) publishing could be an effective means to facilitate global economic stability and equity. The costs of publication are always borne in one's own currency. The correlation between ability to do research and obligation to pay for publishing is direct and linear. All that is needed is simple policy; the rest takes care of itself. An elegant, poetic model to move us all forward towards equity.
  
  
• The Imaginary Journal of High End Chemistry - see October 2004: 4, and November 2004
• OA & a Global Circle of Scholars
• Open Access, Terrorism, and the Nonviolent Example
• Open Access: for Maximum Value, Share with All

Elsewhere:

OA and Global Science

Access to Knowledge (A2K) / WIPO Development Agenda
Internationally, the most creative globalization initiative I'm aware of is the Access to Knowledge (A2K) Treaty. The goal of A2K is "access to knowledge for all people".

In 2004, Brazil and Argentina led an initiative to move the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in the direction of a development agenda. The WIPO development agenda is supported by many countries and organizations. To find out what is going on, and how to support A2K as the world prepares for the fall 2005 WIPO General Assembly, go to the Access to Knowledge web page.

The Association of Research Libraries has posted Library Related Principles for the International Development Agenda of the World Intellectual Property Organization, a statement which has been endorsed by many library associations.

Thanks to Peter Suber's Open Access News for ongoing updates on the WIPO Development Agenda and A2K.

The African Commons Encyclopedia is a wiki-based "living conceptual map of the people, projects and processes that contribute to the development of shared, networked knowledge across the African continent." Thanks to Peter Suber's Open Access News, Sept. 1, 2005.

International cooperation & digital libraries
Sridhar, V., interview with David S. Magier. We need libraries more than ever Frontline, Volume 22 - Issue 17, Aug 13 - 26, 2005.
Excerpt: "The digital medium, particularly the Internet, offers new possibilities for scholars and library professionals. But this hinges crucially on international cooperation in preserving, conserving and organising library collections so that they can be shared by users globally. The Centre for South Asian Libraries (CSAL) is an example of such a collaborative venture. Unlike the colonial model, which resulted in collections being carted away from India, it works on the principle that by using digital technologies, material can be accessed by Western scholars without having to appropriate them physically. Sharing is thus a key word in this model.". Thanks to Peter Suber's Open Access News , Monday, August 15, 2005.

Transforming eScience to Inclusive Science: Open Access is the Key
Keynote by Subbiah Arunachalam, Creating the Information Commons for e-Science: Toward Institutional Policies and Guidelines for Action, Paris, Sept. 2005.

Global Scan on Open (Collaborative) Content Projects
Thanks to Peter Suber's Open Access News, Friday, Sept. 9, 2005.

Last updated October 15, 2006

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.

Question from SSHRC

The following question is from SSHRC, Canada's Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. SSHRC is in a process of consultation to transform its processes, particularly in regards to scholarly communications. Any suggestions on how to answer this question, on or off list, would be most appreciated. The question refers to a summary of comments on "Changing Roles of Librarians", a discussion on the SCHOLCOMM list, which can be found at:
https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/1766.html

One question for you: following from the comments by Elaine Toms and others, how do we actually build functional bridges between researchers and research librarians? I'm looking for real practical measures that can be taken by all the players in the academic world -- researchers, institutional managers, librarians, associations such as CARL and ARL, funding agencies and governments -- and not just a list of what can be done, what services can be provided, but rather how to make the collaborations real, how to get them in place.

cheers,

Heather Morrison

The value we add as librarians does not depend on whether we purchase the information we provide. Anonymous.

Originally posted to the SPARC Open Access Forum and CACUL-L June 23, 2005.

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.

Peer Review

Beyond Peer Review: Collaboration

The Religion of Peer Review. Liblicense-l, February 21, 2006.

Peer Review, Research Funders, and - When?

Peer Review: Not for the Peers?

Peer Review and Replication: A Tale of Two Experiments

Open Peer Review: A Model & An Invitation


Open Access and peer review: time and cost savings

See also:
Marko RodriguezAn OAI-Centric-Peer-Review-Model

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.

Chemistry and the Public Interest

The public interest in chemistry might not, at first glance, be as obvious as is the case with medicine. After all, a fair bit of chemical information is used by industries for primarily economic reasons.

More in depth analysis will reveal the public interest not only in the minute fraction of chemical information that is relevant to medicine - the realm of PubChem - but rather in all matters chemical, in my opinion.

Aside from medicine, an area of pressing concern throughout the world is fixing our damaged environment and warming climate. Even the chemical information developed exclusively for the for profit, commercial sector is now needed by peoples and governments at all levels throughout the world, to understand what we are dealing with.

A municipal government somewhere in the developing world is, or will be, left with the task of cleaning up some of these chemicals and their byproducts, left behind by industry. They need to be have access to information about the chemicals. They need to be able to hire experts, at rates they can afford. This means that they need to be able to afford to
provide educational programs in chemistry; to do this, they need access to the chemical literature.

This scenario is not limited to the developing world, of course; it it playing out in our own backyards as well, and in the backyards of the poorer states and provinces, not just the backyards of the wealthiest areas with the research libraries that can afford to purchase the largest portion of the chemical literature.

There are answers within chemistry to clean up our environment, and find new and more sustainable forms of energy. The need is urgent; the most efficient means of progress is open sharing of our information; in other words, open access.

Public funding goes into chemistry research, just as it does in medicine. There is funding through granting agencies, and the indirect funding that comes through support of academic institutions and their authors.

Even in the corporate sector, corporations get tax breaks for research and development, right? (This is a complex topic I'll talk about another day. For now, suffice it to say that in this case, delayed publication might be justified, IMHO. Note: even this is not restricted publication; a company does not wish its competitors to pay subscription fees; rather, they wish to keep their secrets for as long as necessary to gain competitive advantage).

The taxpayer has a right not only to view the results of publicly funded research, but also to expect the most effective use of tax dollars.

If people in a faraway land can make use of our taxpayer funded chemical research to eliminate local pollution and restore ecosystems, we, our children and grandchildren will all quite literally breathe easier.

Advocating for PubChem is extremely reasonable. PubChem is outside the core of the chemistry publishing industry; it gives this industry plenty of time to address the more fundamental change that needs to happen.

That is, ultimately all of chemistry needs to be open access. There was a time when publishing in print and distributing to the research libraries that could afford subscriptions was the best means of distributing chemical information. This is no longer true. Electronic, open access is now the best means. The industry needs to adjust to serve the needs of the creators of chemical information, the researchers, readers and the public alike; not the other way around.

cheers,

Heather G. Morrison

Flash: no one every died from copyright circumvention. Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture, 2004.
Open Access version: www.free-culture.cc/freeculture.pd

Originally posted to the SPARC Open Access Forum & other lists on May 24, 2005, in the context of the fight for PubChem against efforts by the American Chemical Society to close it down.

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.