Let's get this straight.
The Finch Report and the G8 statement are in agreement insofar as the
desirability of open
access (OA) is concerned.
But then all funder and institutional OA policies worldwide today agree on that.
When it comes to how to go about mandating, monitoring and providing that OA,
however,
Finch has done several flips, first insisting on Gold OA over Green OA whenever
both are
offered (hybrid), then backing down in the face of an uproar from OA advocates,
researchers and
institutions alike, and now leaving authors free to choose whether to provide
Green or Gold.
The transition period is ambiguous depending on whether one is referring to
the transition:
1. to embargoed OA (whether Green or Gold)
2. to immediate OA (whether Green or Gold)
3. to permissively licensed OA (whether Green or Gold)
4. to Gold OA
The first priorities (for OA) are obviously 1 and then 2. The fastest, surest,
and cheapest
way to provide 1 and then 2 is via Green OA.
In backing down on Gold (good), Finch/RCUK, nevertheless failed to provide any
monitoring mechanism for ensuring compliance with Green (bad). It only monitors
how Gold money is spent.
Finch/RCUK also backed down on monitoring OA embargoes (which is bad, but
not as bad as not monitoring and ensuring immediate deposit.)
HEFCE has since proposed a fix to ensure immediate-deposit: without it, a paper
is not eligible for REF.
G8 says nothing for or against any of this, because it says nothing about
implementation details at all. But G8 certainly has not echoed Finch's
preference
for Gold. It simply agrees (with everyone) that OA (1), immediate OA (2),
permissively licenced OA (3) and Gold OA (4) are all desirable, eventually.
Now the rest of the world can take its cue from the EU, the US and HEFCE,
and adopt a sensible, effective OA mandate that will generate 1, then transition
to 2, and then transition to 3 and 4 without ever having to abrogate authors'
free choice of journals or force authors to pay to publish if they do not wish
to,
or cannot.
Stevan Harnad
On 2013-06-16, at 3:30 PM, Graham Triggs grahamtri...@gmail.com wrote:
Hi,
I would draw your attention to the implementation section of the Finch Report
(http://www.researchinfonet.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Finch-Group-report-FINAL-VERSION.pdf):
9.3. A shift in policy towards the support of publication in open access or
hybrid
journals is at the heart of our recommendations. Nevertheless, for the
reasons we
have set out in this report, we believe that at least for the short to medium
term, the
Government, the Research Councils and the Higher Education Funding Councils
should seek increases in access through all three mechanisms – open access
journals, extensions to licensing , and repositories.
The report is not geared towards gold OA (and hybrid journals) at the
exclusion of green and repositories
(and if they are as free as is suggested, there is no reason to have a
repository holding copies of gold OA
material, to have your own assurance of preservation, access, internal
reporting / compliance, etc.).
And yet, I'm sure most of us can see the value not just in free access at
some point, but timely access to
permissively licensed material. Whilst the Finch report recognises this as
the ultimate goal, it acknowledges
that there has to be a transition period.
Further, I'll also draw your attention to the G8 Science Ministers statement,
and immediately above point 4. IV -
which you quoted - it states:
We recognise the potential benefits of immediate global access to and
unrestricted use of published peer-reviewed,
publicly funded research results in line with the necessity of IP protection.
Just like Finch, the G8 statement recognises the value of immediate access
under a permissive licence.
imho, the Finch report and the G8 statement are in agreement.
Regards,
G
On 14 June 2013 23:11, Friend, Fred f.fri...@ucl.ac.uk wrote:
The statement from the G8 Science Ministers is very welcome, not least
because it does NOT follow the Finch Report/UK Government clear policy
direction... towards support for publication in open access or hybrid
journals, funded by APCs, as the main vehicle for the publication of
research, but rather follows the policies adopted by Governments all over
the world in recognising that there are different routes to open access
(green, gold and other innovative models) which need to be explored and
potentially developed in a complementary way. It will be interesting to see
whether the UK Government will now follow the G8 Statement it has hosted and
support the development of green open access in parallel with its support for
APC-paid gold open access. Such a commitment would do a great deal to heal
the damage caused by the Government's hasty response to the Finch Report.
The G8 Statement is also welcome for its commitment to open scientific
research
