On Wed, 10 Dec 2003, Les Carr wrote: > It was very interesting to see some publishers' reactions to OA 1 & 2 > at a meeting I attended recently. The discussion I was present for came > down clearly on the side of Open Archives as a preferable (and stable) > way forward, even describing it as a "safety valve" on an overheated > system. My impression was that it may 'buy enough time' to allow > publishing practices and business models to adapt (and compete!) on a > more realistic time scale than those dictated by artificial solutions > from funding organisations.
But that is *precisely* what the "green" road (BOAI-1) is! A safety-valve on an overheated system: open-access is needed *right now*, but 24,000 journals are certainly not ready or able to go "golden" (BOAI-2) right now (nor is anyone in a position to subsidise their doing so, right now). The green road can provide that open access (100%) right now -- with the help, right now, of the publishers, who are certainly in a better position to go green than to go gold! This leaves publishers time to adapt -- while at the same time providing immediate open access for researchers, right now. And as publishers adapt (rethink what "added-values" are still worth adding, and what costs are better worth cutting), it is possible that publisher toll-revenue losses -- and corresponding university toll-savings -- *might* (I repeat, *might*) begin to occur and grow, thereby simultaneously (1) providing the publishers with the impetus to downsize and convert to gold in order to keep meeting costs *and* (2) providing the institutions with the revenue out of which to pay those costs! http://www.nature.com/nature/debates/e-access/Articles/harnad.html#B1 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmsctech/399/399we152.htm It is neither a coincidence nor a capitulation (on either side) that publishers are looking more favorably on BOAI-1. It is part of the natural logic and pragmatics of the situation: http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Temp/self-archiving_files/Slide0028.gif "Open Access by Peaceful Evolution" International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers "Universal Access: By Evolution or Revolution?" Amsterdam, 15-16 May 2003. http://www.stm-assoc.org/infosharing/springconference-prog.html [URL apparently dead: there may still be a cached one somewhere!] http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2003_12_07_fosblogarchive.html#a107089736737848156 > There was also discussion about librarians and academics changing their > assumptions and expectations, and whether institutional librarians may > have to relinquish collections management in the serials world. Eventually, perhaps, digital librarianship will no longer be about buy-in collections and collection-management (at least insofar as peer-reviewed journals are concerned). But for now, whilst they are still paying the tolls, it's still about managing digital journal collections. "Rethinking 'Collections' and Selection in the PostGutenberg Age http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/1796.html If libraries want to help in the creation and curation of open-access archives for their own institutional output of published peer-reviewed-journal articles, they can and should. But to do that it is not enough for them to create archives and fret about preservation: They have to realize that content-provision by their institute's researchers is what is needed, that it will only be provided for the sake of the researcher's own impact, and that the carrot/stick of publish-or-perish will probably be needed (from university administrators and government research-funders) in order to induce researchers to do it. http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Temp/self-archiving_files/Slide0022.gif Stevan Harnad NOTE: A complete archive of the ongoing discussion of providing open access to the peer-reviewed research literature online is available at the American Scientist Open Access Forum (98 & 99 & 00 & 01 & 02 & 03): http://amsci-forum.amsci.org/archives/American-Scientist-Open-Access-Forum.html http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/index.html Post discussion to: american-scientist-open-access-fo...@amsci.org Dual Open-Access-Provision Policy: BOAI-2 ("gold"): Publish your article in a suitable open-access journal whenever one exists. BOAI-1 ("green"): Otherwise, publish your article in a suitable toll-access journal and also self-archive it. http://www.soros.org/openaccess/read.shtml http://www.eprints.org/signup/sign.php http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Temp/self-archiving_files/Slide0026.gif http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Temp/self-archiving_files/Slide0021.gif http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Temp/self-archiving_files/Slide0024.gif http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Temp/self-archiving_files/Slide0028.gif ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/IHFolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: bmanifesto-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/