[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #287: News from the open access struggle

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4Cast #287: News from the open access struggle
June 20th, 2012

<http://www.oplin.org/4cast/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/grad-cap-sm.png>At the 
end of 2010, the /4cast/ took a look at open access 
<http://www.oplin.org/4cast/?p=1542> to scholarly information. While 
news on this topic may not be as frequent as news about ebooks, for 
example, or other more popular topics, there have been some significant, 
if gradual, developments in this area over the last year and a half. The 
whole discussion of open access may seem simply academic wishful 
thinking to some people, but the fact that the latest news all seems to 
concern practical things like money and politics might indicate that 
open access to research finally is approaching reality.

  * Open access victory in successful Access2Research petition
    <https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/06/open-access-victory-successful-access2research-petition>
    (Electronic Frontier Foundation/Parker Higgins) "Earlier this year,
    we saw the resounding defeat of the misguided Research Works Act,
    which would have severely restricted the amount of research that
    could be released under open access conditions. A group of
    researchers launched the 'Cost of Knowledge
    <http://thecostofknowledge.com/>' campaign responding to the
    proposal, and allowed other academics to publicly boycott the bill's
    primary supporter, the publishing behemoth Elsevier. In response to
    that boycott and other pressure, Elsevier withdrew its support for
    the Research Works Act in February
    <http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/intro.cws_home/newmessagerwa>,
    effectively killing the bill."
  * MLA shift on copyright
    <http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/06/06/mla-embraces-open-access-writer-agreements-journals>
    (Inside Higher Education/Scott Jaschik) "Rosemary G. Feal, executive
    director of the MLA [Modern Language Association], said that the
    association's new policy 'was not responding at all' to the
    legislation and regulations. Rather, she said, 'we see that
    publishing needs are changing, and our members are telling us that
    they want to place their scholarship in repositories, and to
    disseminate work on blogs.' Professors want to produce articles that
    'circulate freely,' she said, and that reach as many people as
    possible."
  * Open access to research is inevitable, says Nature editor-in-chief
    <http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jun/08/open-access-research-inevitable-nature-editor>
    (Guardian/Alok Jha) "Philip Campbell said that the experience for
    readers and researchers of having research freely available is 'very
    compelling'. But other academic publishers said that any large-scale
    transition to making research freely available had to take into
    account the value and investments they added to the scientific process."
  * Pay (less) to publish: ambitious journal aims to disrupt scholarly
    publishing
    <http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/06/new-open-access-journal-aims-to-disrupt-scholarly-publishing/>
    (Ars Technica/John Timmer) "Publishers that offer open access
    options need to recoup their costs without subscription fees,
    however, and had researchers pay for their publications with charges
    that are generally over $1,000. Now, a new open access journal is
    being launched that aims to turn the finances on their head.
    Researchers will only have to pay a one-time fee of $259 to gain
    lifetime publishing privileges in the journal, which will focus on
    biology research."

*/Library subscription fact:/*

A May report 
<http://www.publishers.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2260> 
commissioned by The Publishers Association and the Association of 
Learned and Professional Society Publishers found that, if open access 
became mandatory, 46% of libraries would cut back their subscriptions to 
scientific journals and 65% would drop subscriptions to humanities 
journals.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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