Dear Heather, I agree with them to a great extent. Open Access and the arguments in its favour were quickly focused on quanities and output (access rates, impact, economic aspects), but not on qualitative aspects such as participation or free speech. When it comes to participation, I am not only thinking of the North-South, poor-rich line, but also of gender justice. Open Science has very little interest in women's access to scientific careers.
Best regards, Ulrich ----- Am 8. Aug 2019 um 19:55 schrieb Heather Morrison heather.morri...@uottawa.ca: hi Yvonne, The vision of the 2002 Budapest Open Access Initiative states: " The public good... is the world-wide electronic distribution of the peer-reviewed journal literature and completely free and unrestricted access to it by all scientists, scholars, teachers, students, and other curious minds. Removing access barriers to this literature will accelerate research, enrich education, share the learning of the rich with the poor and the poor with the rich, make this literature as useful as it can be, and lay the foundation for uniting humanity in a common intellectual conversation and quest for knowledge". (from [ https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read | https://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read ] ) That was 2002. Since then, OA has moved beyond just peer-reviewed journal literature to include books, data, and other open research approaches. I am arguing that it is time to move beyond what is published to consider the question of what scholars are able to research and share at all (academic freedom). This is essential to "uniting humanity in a common intellectual conversation and question for knowledge" (the goal of Sustaining the Knowledge Commons). I argue that this is timely for two reasons: 1) the global knowledge commons must include scholars at risk and their works and 2) the OA movement has tended to be dominated by those who pay for scholarly publishing, policy-makers, and publishers, and needs to engage the people who do the work of research, academics and organizations that represent academics (faculty associations, unions, and scholarly societies). Attacks on academic freedom are not limited to Egypt. As Reisberg pointed out in a 2017 article in Inside Higher Ed: " And then there is the United States. For decades, we have prided ourselves for taking “the high road” in matters of academic freedom, judging other countries harshly where free speech and unrestricted scholarship are not guaranteed... We now have a president who undermines science at every turn. In this administration, ideology “trumps” science when public research funds are distributed. Influence may also accompany financial gifts that come from organizations like the Charles Koch Foundation." (the Kochs are conservative libertarians and oil industry billionaires). from: [ https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/world-view/academic-freedom-reconsidered | https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/world-view/academic-freedom-reconsidered ] This is very similar to what has been happening in Canada in the past decade. T his 2018 piece from Democracy Watch is a good intro to the muzzling of government scientists, a problem that began with our previous government but has not been entirely addressed - 53% of government scientists still feel muzzled: [ https://democracywatch.ca/former-information-commissioner-legault-rules-harper-conservatives-violated-policy-by-muzzling-government-scientists-and-trudeau-liberals-ignoring-recommendations-needed-to-stop-muzzling/ | https://democracywatch.ca/former-information-commissioner-legault-rules-harper-conservatives-violated-policy-by-muzzling-government-scientists-and-trudeau-liberals-ignoring-recommendations-needed-to-stop-muzzling/ ] The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) was very helpful in raising awareness about the muzzling of government scientists in Canada. The OA movement has tended to see transition of scholarly society publishing as simply a matter of transitioning the works and has not to date (in my opinion) acknowledged the importance of the work of societies and addressed the question of economic support for societies in a transition to open access. Loss of independent scholarly societies, in my opinion, is loss of an important potential source of support for academic freedom at a time when the need for this support may be increasing. It is time to bring this into the conversation. The Canadian Association of University Teachers maintains a website on our ongoing fight for academic freedom by university teachers in my country: [ https://www.caut.ca/latest/publications/academic-freedom | https://www.caut.ca/latest/publications/academic-freedom ] If authors' governments engagement in human rights violation and suppression of information about such violation means that authors' works cannot be shared, an honest approach would significantly limit sharing of our knowledge. Canada is often critical of human rights violations in other countries, but has only recently acknowledged our own genocide of First Nations peoples, and even today our First Nations peoples often need to speak to the United Nations to get attention to ongoing human rights violations at home. best, Dr. Heather Morrison Associate Professor, School of Information Studies, University of Ottawa Professeur Agrégé, École des Sciences de l'Information, Université d'Ottawa Principal Investigator, Sustaining the Knowledge Commons, a SSHRC Insight Project sustainingknowledgecommons.org heather.morri...@uottawa.ca [ https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/?lang=en#/members/706 | https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/?lang=en#/members/706 ] From: goal-boun...@eprints.org <goal-boun...@eprints.org> on behalf of Yvonne Nobis <yn...@cam.ac.uk> Sent: Thursday, August 8, 2019 11:47:13 AM To: Global Open Access List (Successor of AmSci) <goal@eprints.org> Subject: Re: [GOAL] SpringerOpen, Egypt and academic freedom Attention : courriel externe | external email Dear All, Surely the problem is not an Open Access problem but one of whether research sponsored by the Egyptian Government should be published at all? Or am I missing something? Yvonne From: goal-boun...@eprints.org <goal-boun...@eprints.org> on behalf of Heather Morrison <heather.morri...@uottawa.ca> Sent: 08 August 2019 16:16:51 To: Global Open Access List (Successor of AmSci) <goal@eprints.org> Subject: Re: [GOAL] SpringerOpen, Egypt and academic freedom This may help to explain the problem: DOAJ lists the journals published by SpringerOpen that are sponsored by the Government of Egypt. We have reason to believe that this government actively interferes with academic research and in particular suppresses critique. This means that people who rely on DOAJ for research on matters pertaining to Egypt will be exposed to government approved research and no indication that critique is suppressed. If we do not acknowledge and address this, we are in effect unwittingly collaborating with a repressive, censoring government. DOAJ is not at fault. SpringerNature faces similar dilemmas to other commercial companies working in non-democratic countries. This is a difficult problem, but an important one and we can start by acknowledging that the problem exists. Dr. Heather Morrison From: goal-boun...@eprints.org <goal-boun...@eprints.org> on behalf of Heather Morrison <heather.morri...@uottawa.ca> Sent: Thursday, August 8, 2019 10:26:00 AM To: Global Open Access List (Successor of AmSci) <goal@eprints.org> Subject: Re: [GOAL] SpringerOpen, Egypt and academic freedom As a reminder, SpringerOpen publishes journals in partnership with the Government of Egypt, a government that represses and sometimes even kills its scholars. Should we boycott SpringerOpen? My main point is that academic freedom is essential to open access. The OA movement has been around for more than two decades, I argue it is time for more nuanced discussion. A white list of journals based on meeting technical requirements can mask much greater problems than it solves. I do not have a quick fix to protect scholars who might be targeted, rather I raise this an important question for discussion and note that attribution, generally desirable in scholarship, can sometimes be problematic. best, Dr. Heather Morrison Associate Professor, School of Information Studies, University of Ottawa Professeur Agrégé, École des Sciences de l'Information, Université d'Ottawa Principal Investigator, Sustaining the Knowledge Commons, a SSHRC Insight Project sustainingknowledgecommons.org heather.morri...@uottawa.ca https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/?lang=en#/members/706 From: goal-boun...@eprints.org <goal-boun...@eprints.org> on behalf of David Prosser <david.pros...@rluk.ac.uk> Sent: Thursday, August 8, 2019 9:26:34 AM To: Global Open Access List (Successor of AmSci) <goal@eprints.org> Subject: Re: [GOAL] SpringerOpen, Egypt and academic freedom Attention : courriel externe | external email Heather You specifically raised CC-BY in this context. Do you believe that a researcher making a piece of research public under CC-BY is potentially at more risk of harm than if they made it public under a different CC licence or even under full All Rights Reserved? David On 8 Aug 2019, at 14:07, Heather Morrison < [ mailto:heather.morri...@uottawa.ca | heather.morri...@uottawa.ca ] > wrote: Reader caution: discussion of matters like attacks on academic freedom as found in this thread may upset some people. This is a response to David Prosser's comments. Comment: I am sorry that David is not feeling well. If others feel sick about what is happening to academics in Egypt, I understand. That's how I feel about this, too. There are many things that happen in the world that I find disturbing. My approach, with respect to events that intersect my areas of expertise, is to think about such events, ask questions and propose potential solutions to make the world a better place. In this spirit, I repeat the specific question that David alludes to. Question: is attribution necessarily desirable for scholars? This is part of the larger question of the relationship between academic freedom and open access. My argument is that academic freedom is essential to open access. We live in a world where academics can be targeted for what they study or what they say about what they study. This doesn't only happen in countries like Egypt. Governments in North America have recently begun taking exception to climate change research. In Canada, under the former Conservative government, government scientists were muzzled. In the U.S., I have heard about a professor's watchlist targeting liberal professors. No academics have killed in North America that I know of, but otherwise there is some similarity with what is happening in Egypt today. This is important in the context of scholarly publishing because some of the latest technological developments appear to assume that matters such as attribution are neutral or beneficial. best, Dr. Heather Morrison Associate Professor, School of Information Studies, University of Ottawa Professeur Agrégé, École des Sciences de l'Information, Université d'Ottawa Principal Investigator, Sustaining the Knowledge Commons, a SSHRC Insight Project [ http://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/ | sustainingknowledgecommons.org ] [ mailto:heather.morri...@uottawa.ca | heather.morri...@uottawa.ca ] [ https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/?lang=en#/members/706 | https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/?lang=en#/members/706 ] From: [ mailto:goal-boun...@eprints.org | goal-boun...@eprints.org ] < [ mailto:goal-boun...@eprints.org | goal-boun...@eprints.org ] > on behalf of David Prosser < [ mailto:david.pros...@rluk.ac.uk | david.pros...@rluk.ac.uk ] > Sent: Thursday, August 8, 2019 5:20:24 AM To: Global Open Access List (Successor of AmSci) < [ mailto:goal@eprints.org | goal@eprints.org ] > Cc: [ mailto:radicalopenacc...@jiscmail.ac.uk | radicalopenacc...@jiscmail.ac.uk ] < [ mailto:radicalopenacc...@jiscmail.ac.uk | radicalopenacc...@jiscmail.ac.uk ] > Subject: Re: [GOAL] SpringerOpen, Egypt and academic freedom Attention : courriel externe | external email Dr Morrison’s arguments against the CC-BY licence are well known to readers of this list and I acknowledge her sincerely held, and consistent, views on this. But I’m afraid that I find using the murder of students to further, however tangentially, that argument quite sickening. David On 7 Aug 2019, at 23:01, Heather Morrison < [ mailto:heather.morri...@uottawa.ca | heather.morri...@uottawa.ca ] > wrote: SpringerOpen is currently publishing 13 journals sponsored by the Government of Egypt. This is an opportunity to discuss some issues of relevance to the goals and sustainability of open access, starting with academic freedom. As described by Holmes and Aziz (2019) there are very serious problems with academic freedom in Egypt, ranging from tight government control over what is studied and published to extrajudicial killings of 21 students in the last few years. The University of Liverpool considered, then rejected, a lucrative offer to set up a campus in Egypt due to concerns about reputational damage. This raises some interesting questions. Academic freedom is critical to any kind of meaningful open access. Nothing could possibly be more in opposite to open access than a dead student whose research was destroyed because of what was studied. Why is SpringerOpen partnering with the Government of Egypt? Should academics boycott SpringerOpen because of this partnership? What, if anything, can academics do to support academic freedom in a country like Egypt? Some believe that the Creative Commons license CC-BY (attribution only) is the best for open access (I don’t agree, but this is a separate topic). If your research could get you killed, attribution might not be a good idea. Today, some of us might assume that these kinds of problems would never happen in our own countries; but times change, and it has happened that places that enjoyed freedom at one point in time came under the control of a dictator. Following is the list of titles which state on the SpringerOpen site that they are supported by the “Specialized Presidential Council for Education and Scientific Research (Government of Egypt), so author-payable article-processing charges do not apply”. Journals supported by the Government of Egypt published by SpringerOpen as of July 2019 Ain Shams Journal of Anesthesiology Bulletin of the National Research Centre Egyptian Journal of Biological Pest Control Egyptian Journal of Forensic Sciences Egyptian Journal of Medical Human Genetics Egyptian Journal of Neurosurgery Egyptian Journal of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine Egyptian Pediatric Association Gazette Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association Middle East Current Psychiatry The Cardiothoracic Surgeon The Egyptian Heart Journal The Egyptian Journal of Neurology, Psychiatry and Neurosurgery Holmes, A. & Aziz, A. (2019). Egypt’s lost academic freedom. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace . Retrieved August 9, 2019 from [ https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/78210 | https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/78210 ] This is the full text of the post - here is the link in case anyone would like to comment on the blog: [ https://wordpress.com/post/sustainingknowledgecommons.org/3522 | https://wordpress.com/post/sustainingknowledgecommons.org/3522 ] Dr. Heather Morrison Associate Professor, School of Information Studies, University of Ottawa Professeur Agrégé, École des Sciences de l'Information, Université d'Ottawa Principal Investigator, Sustaining the Knowledge Commons, a SSHRC Insight Project [ http://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/ | sustainingknowledgecommons.org ] [ mailto:heather.morri...@uottawa.ca | heather.morri...@uottawa.ca ] [ https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/?lang=en#/members/706 | https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/?lang=en#/members/706 ] _______________________________________________ GOAL mailing list [ mailto:GOAL@eprints.org | GOAL@eprints.org ] [ http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal | http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal ] _______________________________________________ GOAL mailing list [ mailto:GOAL@eprints.org | GOAL@eprints.org ] [ http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal | http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal ] _______________________________________________ GOAL mailing list GOAL@eprints.org http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal -- Dr. Ulrich Herb Saarländische Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Referent für elektronisches Publizieren und Open Access, Drittmittel-Projekte http://www.sulb.uni-saarland.de/ Brief: Postfach 15 11 41 D-66041 Saarbrücken Paket: Universität des Saarlandes Gebäude B1 1, Zi. 10.07. 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