I Do Not Want an Initiative, I Want Open Access
This guest post comes from Angelica Tavella, a senior at UC Berkeley.PLOS The Student's Blog.
Tag Archives: Open Access
Open Access Perspectives in the Humanities and Social Sciences
In conjunction with the Open Access Futures event, the Impact blog put together its first eCollection –Open Access Perspectives in the Humanities and Social Sciences. The collection delves deeper into many of the issues discussed at the event, as well as provides additional space for topics we may not have been able to suitably cover during the event. The panel sessions were video recorded and are available to watch here. Download the PDF of the eCollection.
Michelle Willmers on the state of Open Access: Where are we, what still needs to be done?
One of a series exploring the current state of Open Access (OA), the Q&A below is with Michelle Willmers, Project Manager of the OpenUCT Initiative at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa.Richard Poynder's Blog.
A Case Study in Closed Access
But the problems don't stop there. In the digital age, it is absurd that ordinary members of the public, such as healthcare professional and their patients, cannot access and compare the latest research quickly and cheaply in order to take better care of themselves and others.
Live Chat: The future of open access research and publishing
Panel of experts Friday 25 October from 12-2pm BST debates peer review, pay models, quality control and corruption. Join in via chat.In this online discussion, we want to discuss the impact open access is having across the board in the higher education and publishing sectors, from researchers to universities, from libraries to the publishing giants. Here's what we're looking to discuss: • Quality control and peer review • Cost and corruption • Access and knowledge • "Publish or perish" attitude • Where now and what next?
The Netherlands: Publishing in Open Access increases usage and has no effect on book sales
OAPEN-NL’s final report, published yesterday, gives recommendations for research funders, libraries, publishers and authors. (...) In total 50 academic books were published in Open Access with subsidy from NWO. (...) OAPEN-NL also gathered data of all 50 books to get an insight in the costs related to publishing academic books. Based on this research, publishing a monograph in the Netherlands costs an average of € 12,000. Roughly half of these costs are for the Open Access edition. Remaining costs regard printing and disseminating the paper version. These results are important for the funding of Open Access monographs in the Netherlands.
Wellcome Library Open Access Fund
The Wellcome Trust opens up new funds for Wellcome Library research.The Wellcome Library has made funds available to pay the open access publishing costs for research papers, monographs and book chapters that result from research based on the Wellcome Library's collections. In this video the Head of Library, Simon Chaplin, explains why the Fund has been created and what the benefits are for the Library and its users.See also this post.
More on “10 years open access”
Timothy Vollmer, manager of data and policy for creativecommons.org, gives a short but precise overview of the last decade's achievements in open access.Open Access 10 years on. Can we say “This is for everyone”?
Peter Murray-Rust comments the open access movement since the BOAI 10 years ago, critically asks his own role as open access advocate and calls for trust in future challenges.Open access: six myths to put to rest
Open access to research is still held back by misunderstandings repeated by people who should know better, says Peter Suber
The Guardian, Higher Education Network.
Jack Andraka on the scourge of paywalls for scientific journals
"When the richest academic institution in the world can't afford its research articles, how do you expect a teenager to do that?"
Open and Networked Initiatives and the Digital Transformation of Academic Publishing in China
A rare insight to academic publishing in China.Many aspects of China's academic publishing system differ from the systems found in liberal market based economies of the United States, Western Europe and Australia. A high level of government intervention in both the publishing industry and academia and the challenges associated with attempting to make a transition from a centrally controlled towards a more market based publishing industry are two notable differences; however, as in other countries, academic communities and publishers are being transformed by digital technologies. This research explores the complex yet dynamic digital transformation of academic publishing in China, with a specific focus of the open and networked initiatives inspired by Web 2.0 and social media. The thesis draws on two case studies: Science Paper Online, a government-operated online preprint platform and open access mandate; and New Science, a social reference management website operated by a group of young PhD students. Its analysis of the innovations, business models, operating strategies, influences, and difficulties faced by these two initiatives highlights important characteristics and trends in digital publishing experiments in China.
Open access to scientific knowledge has reached its tipping point
This blog post analyses the success of open access strategies in relation to market pressures.But just how much pressure is there for academic research to become open access? One source of pressure causing trends toward open access is boycotting, most notably and recently involving Elsevier, the largest scientific publishing company in the world.
Open access author survey 2013
Mind the Gap: Publisher Wiley deployed a survey in May 2013 to 107,000 corresponding authors of Wiley journal articles.Key findings include:
- The number of open access authors has grown significantly.
- Quality and profile of open access publications remains a concern.
- There are indications of author confusion around funder mandates.
- Respondents overwhelmingly preferred the more permissive licenses.
- Considerable differences emerge between early career professionals and more established colleagues when comparing funding and payments for APCs.
Open access for images
With the launch of NGA Images, the National Gallery of Art implements an open access policy for digital images of works of art that the Gallery believes to be in the public domain. Images of these works are now available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial. Users do not need to contact the Gallery for authorization to use these images. They are available for download at the NGA Images website (images.nga.gov). See Policy Details below for specific instructions and notes for users.
Open access publishing hoax: what Science magazine got wrong
The sting operation on publishers doesn't point to the real crisis, says Curt Rice – the meltdown of the peer review system The Guardian.See also some responses here, here (in German) and here. And for where it all started: 'Who's Afraid of Peer Review?'.
The Rise of Open Access
The accelerating pace of scientific publishing and the rise of open access, as depicted by xkcd.com cartoonist Randall Munroe.
Optimal Pricing and Quality of Academic Journals and the Ambiguous Welfare Effects of Forced Open Access
A RatSWD working paper on the quality of a monopolistic journal and the optimality of open access in a two-sided model.
Open access: MPs slam research policy
Academia's best bet is a green open access route to a gold future, says Stephen Curry, in his digest of latest BIS (UK Department of Business, Innovation and Skills) report.The Guardian Blog: The Higher Education. See Stephen Curry's Blog here and an Euroscientists-Interview with Stephen Curry here.
Open Access in der Wissenschaft Urheber an der Leine
A German article on the state of the art in Open Access in Germany. DER TAGESSPIEGELUK’s open access policies have global consequences
A report released recently has highlighted how out of step the UK has become with the rest of the world on open access policies. The UK has sought to be a leader in making publicly-funded research openly available but has taken a very different approach to Australia and even the European Commission. The problem is, scientific publishing is a global business, so the consequences of the UK’s decisions are felt far beyond its borders.
Self-archive your e-prints
and provide it as open access.UK open-access route too costly, report says
The route to open-access publishing endorsed by the British government puts unacceptable strains on research budgets at a time of funding shortages, says a parliamentary report released today. The report also argues for more transparency and competition in the costs of publishing research.
Nature News.
Publishing research without data is simply advertising, not science
The following post is by Graham Steel. It is an adaptation of a five minute lightning talk given at Glasgow’s 1st Open Knowledge Foundation meet-up.
Where to find funds for publishing in Gold Open Access?
Numerous research institutions and universities worldwide offer special funds for publishing in OA, and governments and international organizations follow the suit, by introducing mandatory policies for publishing in this model. To cut a long story short: money has finally appeared in the system. The funds are scarce but they are there. It is worth to look for funds. Just where to find them?