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David Aldous, editor of the forthcoming OA journal, Probability Surveys, has created a website with the initial call for papers, the editorial board, and a running count of submitted and proposed papers. Probability Surveys will be hosted by Project Euclid and will be co-sponsored by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and the Bernoulli Society. Institutional repositories from a library perspective
H. Frank Cervone, The Repository Adventure, Library Journal, June 1, 2004. Excerpt: "The digital repository genesis has been short, beginning in late 2000 when the UK's University of Southampton released a software package called EPrints. Since then, the movement to establish digital repositories has gained momentum....Implementing an institutional repository raises complex questions about organizational resources and strategies, as well as questions about roles and responsibilities. After all, many institutional repository projects are motivated by the desire to change the current model of scholarly communication. This change, if successful, would place the responsibility for publishing material on scholarly institutions, taking the commercial publishers largely out of the picture." (PS: One quick correction. Repositories do not perform peer review, and those who want to use them to change the current model of scholarly communication do not want to bypass or abolish peer review. The goal of those supporting repositories is to complement peer-review providers, like journals, not to replace them.) June issue of the SPARC Open Access Newsletter
I just mailed the June issue of the SPARC Open Access Newsletter. In addition to the usual round-up of news and bibliography from the past month, it takes a close look at Elsevier's new policy to permit postprint archiving, the primacy of authors in the campaign for open access, and a promising new method for providing open access retroactively to important research articles.
Update. One hour later, I'm already getting automated responses from a handful of servers around the world that have blocked the issue for one reason or another. Here's a first: the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal blocked it because triggered the "MONEYSCAM" spam profile. If you are a subscriber and did not receive your copy by email today, then first read it online (all issues are archived online), and second, talk to your ISP about adding SOAN to its spam whitelist.
Eric Lease Morgan's DOAJI Search (first blogged here May 5) was just named nice web site of the month by the June issue of Internet Resources Newsletter. Congratulations Eric! OA to images and image metadata
The W3photo Project is creating photo archives with OA images and OA image metadata. The OA metadata will include semantic-web information designed to make the images "more available to the visually impaired". AKM Adam, Openness, Publication, and Scholarship, AKMA's Random Thoughts, May 28, 2004. AKMA summarizes an ongoing discussion from several theology scholarship blogs on "open source" scholarship. The inaugural issue of BiblioAcid (March 2004) was devoted to La 'crise des périodiques'. It contains the following articles, the first three of which are translations from English originals. More on the value of society publications
Dana Roth, Electrochemical Journals, AIP's Scitation, Cost-Effectiveness, the (sci-tech) Library Question, May 28, 2004. Roth shows how the Electrochemical Society publishes journals of value. First, the ES has joined the AIP's Scitation platform so that its content may be searched, linked and accessed (with subscription) with that of other scientific societies. Second, Roth presents a table of cost-effectiveness comparisons which reflect favorably on the ES compared with commercial journals in the same discipline. He goes on to say that scientific society publishers are not part of the journal cost problem, but then expresses a dim view of OA publishing: OA to critical texts in the history of science
Klaus Graf, Open Access und Edition, Archivalia, May 31, 2004. An online version of Graf's upcoming presentation at the conference Vom Nutzen des Edierens (Vienna, June 3-5, 2004). Graf defends OA not only for journal articles, but also for cultural property [Kulturgut] in archives, libraries, and museums, and to handwritten original manuscripts and scholarly editions of the primary texts of science. (In German.)
More on Google's embrace of OA scholarship
Robin Peek, Googling DSpace, Information Today, June 2004 (not online). I wish I could give you an excerpt but I have no access myself. More on removing OA info from govt web sites for security reasons
Sarita Chourey, Feds map risks of GIS: Guidelines seek balance between security, access, Federal Computer Week, May 31, 2004. Excerpt: "Rand Corp. officials say that open access to geospatial data does not pose much of a national security risk. A recent report from the company found that much of the information available is not sufficiently unique, critical or current to be of much use to terrorists....The library community supports open access to government documents. But Linda Zellmer, who heads Indiana University's geology library and served on the working group, said she is 'not sure it's sensible to have some of this information out.'...However, Zellmer said that some information has been public for such a long time that potential attackers already possess it. 'I don't think taking it down is going to do much good,' she added."
SPARC Europe director also responds to Elsevier CEO
David Prosser, Academic libraries back open access publishing system, Financial Times, May 29, 2004 (accessible only to subscribers). A letter to the editor in response to Arie Jongejan's anti-OA article published on Wednesday. Excerpt: "Arie Jongejan ("The formula works, so don't tinker with it", May 26) describes the current system of scientific publishing as "stable, scaleable and affordable". Unfortunately, his customers do not agree....More researchers are turning to open access journals, more publishers are converting their existing journals to open access (including the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), and funding bodies around the world see the importance of open access to ensure the widest possible dissemination of the research they fund."
More evidence that permission barriers endanger preservation
J. Carlos Fernández-Molina, Contractual and technological approaches for protecting digital works: their relationship with copyright limitations, Online Information Review, 28, 2 (2004) pp. 148-157. Abstract: "To deal with the new circumstances arising in the digital environment, with its particular conditions for the access, distribution and use of intellectual works, three distinct approaches exist: legal (copyright laws are modified to adapt them to the new context), technological (systems designed to control access and use of works), and contractual (through licenses to regulate the conditions of use of the works). The joint use of technological measures and licenses, together with the laws that protect both, are seriously endangering the effectiveness of the limitations to copyright set forth by law to benefit libraries, their users and citizens in general. This represents a strong privatisation of access to information. Using as a point of reference the laws of countries that are on the front lines of this terrain - the USA, the European Union and Australia - some problems created by the new forms of protection of intellectual works are examined."
BMJ editor responds to Elsevier CEO
Tony Delamothe, 'Author pays' model raises hope of freely available research, Financial Times, May 29, 2004. A letter to the editor in response to Arie Jongejan's anti-OA article published on Wednesday. Excerpt: "From a company making margins of 34 per cent from publishing scientific research, Elsevier's Arie Jongejan understandably cannot resist the temptations of the status quo. But those of us who are less conflicted applaud Wellcome Trust's endorsement of the 'author pays' business model for underwriting the costs of scientific publishing, and its illuminating analyses of the peculiar economics of this market." (PS: In fairness, "author pays" is a misleading way to describe this business model, whether the phrase is used by friends or foes. In most cases the fee will be paid by the author's research grant or be waived. Many OA journals charge no processing fee at all.)
new OA math journal coming -- Probability Surveys
Project Euclid has announced that it will host a new, open access, digital journal from the Institute of Mathematical Statistics: Probability Surveys, with UC Berkeley's David Aldous as editor. Probability Surveys is a peer-reviewed e-journal which publishes survey articles in theoretical and applied probability. The first articles are scheduled to be available in early July.
from SPARC E-News April/May 2004 More on the CERN decision to sign the Berlin Declaration
Richard Sietmann, CERN unterstützt Open Access, Heise Online, May 24, 2004. On CERN's support for OA and decision to sign the Berlin Declaration on Open Access at the recent Berlin 2 meeting (Geneva, May 12-13). (Thanks to Klaus Graf.) Intro to OA issues for German readers
Christian Flatz, Wandel im Publikationswesen? A note (in German) on the news page of the Medizinische Universität Innsbruck, briefly surveying the serials pricing crisis and OA as a potential solution. (Thanks to Klaus Graf.) George Porter writes an extensive commentary at the (sci-tech) Library Question on the fleeting nature of online journals, citing several horrific examples of when a journal ceases publication and the publisher does not deign to maintain the electronic archive (he also mentions a few instances of publishers following good practice and maintaining backfiles if a journal has ceased or changed publishers, etc.) He also highlights the LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe) project, praises the libraries and publishers who are participating, and chides the holdouts for their fecklessness. Another contribution to the Nature OA debate
Daniel Greenstein, Not so quiet on a Western front, Nature, May 28, 2004. Excerpt: "I believe that the business model of commercial publishing, which once served the academy's information needs, now threatens fundamentally to undermine and pervert the course of research and teaching. Put bluntly, the model is economically unsustainable for us. If business as usual continues, it will deny scholars both access to the information they need and the ability to distribute their work to the worldwide audience it deserves....Will author charges sustain high-quality peer reviewed [open-access] publications? Perhaps not. But surely the combination of uncertainty and hope associated with this unproven model is vastly superior to the certainty and hopelessness that surrounds the current and failed commercial one....In this regard, is it not more appropriate to view the current Open Access business model as a starting point and catalyst for change rather than as a static form? Will the model work outside a small number of scientific disciplines? It may not, but should we not be encouraging various approaches, so long as each meets a range of agreed criteria concerning, for example, quality (peer review), price, facility of production, accessibility, interoperability and persistence?"
Nicholas R. Cozzarelli, An open access option for PNAS, PNAS Early Edition, May 27, 2004. Following up on PNAS's announcement of its open access option for authors (see earlier posting by Peter Suber,) Cozzarelli uses an editorial to explain the journal's approach to OA and their rationale. He lists current initiatives such as PNAS making all (except the latest) content available through PubMedCentral - including, by the end of this year, the complete backfile to 1915; extending free access to the developing world; and loosening copyright and reprint restrictions for authors, for example enabling them to post articles on their websites. However, the editor points out that PNAS is not supported by the National Academies or any other funding body, functioning "as a non-profit, break-even operation." His concern is financial support for OA: "Although I have no doubt that open access will be made to work for much of the scientific literature, I am not sure how." PNAS sees the open access option as a "compromise" and an "experiment," based on discussions of the editorial board and taking into account a survey of authors on OA's desirability. While not willing to take "substantial financial risk," Cozzarelli acknowledges that this interim step will keep PNAS in the OA picture: "Open access resonates particularly with young scientists. We do not want to lose the opportunity of publishing the important work of these researchers ..." He concludes by stating that the author-payment model may not work in the long term and that "the critical step is gaining institutional support" for OA. UC policy on cataloging OA resources
The University of California Libraries have adopted a policy (May 13, 2004) for the cataloging, linking, and management of OA resources. The policy includes criteria for what counts as an OA resource (based primarily on the BOAI) and procedures for nominating and approving OA resources for cataloging. Faculty who want a certain OA resource to be catalogued may fill out an online request form.
Elsevier permits postprint archiving
Elsevier now permits important kinds of postprint archiving. Authors may post the final editions of their full-text Elsevier articles to their personal web sites or their institutional repositories, but not to repositories elsewhere. The OA edition must be author-made, not Elsevier's PDF or HTML, and must include a link either to the journal's home page or the article's DOI. Stevan Harnad announced the good news to multiple listservs, based on an email from Karen Hunter, Elsevier's Senior VP for Strategy. (PS: This is a breakthrough. Permission for postprint archiving is all that authors need to provide OA to the final, peer-reviewed editions of their own work. Elsevier deserves our thanks for adopting this most helpful policy. Elsevier authors --past, present, and future-- should take advantage of the new policy without delay. Other publishers should imitate it. Universities that haven't already done so should accommodate it by launching institutional repositories.) The Neuroscience Database Gateway is a pilot project of the Society for Neuroscience's Brain Information Group. The gateway provides links to 76 disparately-hosted databases, accessible from one page, or browsable by category (e.g. experimental data sites, knowledge bases, sites with software and related tools.) The Brain Information Group was "charged with evaluating the current status of neuroscience databases; assessing future directions of neuroscience data management, data sharing, and database interoperability; and promoting enhanced awareness of the potential for databases to benefit the neuroscience community." Surveys of members of the neuroscience committee helped identify the need for a centralized gateway. (Source: Science Netwatch, Science 304, 1221 (28 May 2004.)) 3 more BMC OA journals mirrored by PMC
PubMed Central mirrors all of the BioMed Central OA material. The newest PMC archives are for:
Harm Reduction Journal
Fulltext v1+ (2004+)
http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/tocrender.fcgi?action=archive&journal;=242
http://biomedcentral.com/1477-7517/
Online ISSN: 1477-7517
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition & Physical Activity
Fulltext v1+ (2004+)
http://pubmedcentral.gov/tocrender.fcgi?action=archive&journal;=243
http://biomedcentral.com/1479-5868/
Online ISSN: 1479-5868
Retrovirology
Fulltext v1+ (2004+)
http://pubmedcentral.com/tocrender.fcgi?action=archive&journal;=244
http://biomedcentral.com/1742-4690/
Online ISSN: 1742-4690 Elsevier CEO criticizes OA journals
Arie Jongejan, The formula works, so don't tinker with it, Financial Times, May 26, 2004. Elsevier's Science and Technology CEO defends the status quo and criticizes OA publishing. Despite the title, there's a lot more of the latter in this article than the former. His criticisms of the OA journal business model will be familiar to anyone who has been following the debate. (PS: Jongejan's chief criticism is based on the misunderstanding that OA journals charge authors, rather than author-sponsors, and holds that the OA journal business model will exclude the poor. I've replied to this objection elsewhere. Jongejan offers no criticism of OA through archiving, and no defense against the mounting criticism, from universities and financial analysts, that the Elsevier business model is unsustainable.) Barbara E. Kirsop, Leslie Chan, Subbiah Arunachalam, Open Access Archives for the global distribution of research publications, BMJ, May 26, 2004. A letter to the editor in response to Srinivasa Katikireddi's article about HINARI published on May 15. Excerpt: "The recent review of the HINARI project was timely and highlighted the great imbalance between access to essential research information. In this programme, collaborating publishers have agreed to make material available where it will not adversely affect their commercial interests. While this is a valuable development of immediate importance, it does not seem to us that this is the best policy in terms of sustainability....Those of us working to establish mechanisms to improve access to research information believe that OAA provides enormous and sustainable benefits. The establishment of institutional archives brings greatly increased visibility to the research output of institutions and is already showing a three- to five-fold increase on the research impact of articles archived in this way. This policy can therefore lead to immediate benefit, and is low-cost, equitable and highly appropriate as a means of levelling the playing field for access to information."
Protest against treasury department prohibitions
Kenneth R. Foster, Call for action to protect free exchange of ideas, Nature 429, 343 (27 May 2004). (Access restricted to subscribers.) Foster takes issue with the recent US Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ruling, which, even though it reversed an earlier decision preventing the IEEE and others from editing papers from authors in embargoed countries, "the same ruling 'would consider a prohibited exportation of services to occur when a collaborative interaction takes place between an author in a Sanctioned Country and one or more US scholars resulting in co-authorship or the equivalent thereof'." the writer points out how this ruling hurts scientific collaboration with foreign nationals; "scientists and engineers in Iran and other embargoed countries are just the sort of people to whom Western democracies should reach out." He concludes his letter calling upon scientific societies in the U.S. and elsewhere to protest the ruling.
Anti-trust action against publishing monolopies
Mary Case, Information Access Alliance: Challenging anticompetitive behavior in academic publishing, College & Research Libraries News, June 2004. Excerpt: "While mergers and acquisitions in publishing reflect a general global trend, librarians have been concerned with the growing concentration within scholarly publishing, especially as it has affected scientific, technical, and medical (STM) journals and legal serials publications. Enhanced revenue, improved efficiencies, and reduced costs are often mentioned by companies as the justification for mergers. Within scholarly publishing, however, librarians have watched the number of companies shrink while prices rise and service declines....All members of IAA are devoted to finding alternative models of scholarly communication. All are promoting efforts to move to an open access environment. But we all also know that it may be several years before the current systems are transformed. In the meantime, Taylor and Francis continues its aggressive acquisitions campaign, and Candover and Cinven have indicated their desire to purchase a third scholarly publisher. If our efforts can stop or even slow the pace of mergers of STM and legal publishers, we can perhaps constrain price increases in some small measure and allow libraries to allocate resources to support new models of scholarly publishing." US research chief wants to improve research access for practicing physicians
John Marburger, Creating the Infrastructure to Improve the Public's Health, OSTP, May 20, 2004. Marburger is the Director of the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). In this public lecture, he outlines some reforms for the management of federally funded research. He does not endorse or even mention OA, but he does say the following: "Most 'structured' output from federally sponsored research is in the form of peer-reviewed scientific publications. For clinical research, this is not an ideal form. Unfortunately, such publications are the coin of the realm in research universities, and efforts to change them tend to encounter obstacles at the institutional level. Some of the same cultural biases regarding appropriate research outputs may exist in the peer review process for evaluating clinical grant proposals. I am not sure what the cure is, but one symptom that needs to be addressed is the relatively lower impact of clinical research papers on clinical practice compared with the impact of basic science research papers on the course of scientific research. This is an important issue. Agencies can certainly encourage 'use of research' either by directly requiring it in the grant agreements, by establishing grant programs specifically for 'use' activities, or by less direct means. NIH, the Agency for Healthcare Quality Research, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Veterans Affairs all have a responsibility to transfer knowledge across the health research and health care spectrum -- to identify bottlenecks and address them effectively." (PS: If the problem Marburger is describing here is that clinicians don't have subscriptions or institutional access to most peer-reviewed journals, then OA is part of the solution.) Harvard Open Collections Project
The Harvard University Library Open Collections Project released a prototype of its first collection, Women Working, 1870-1930. Eventually, the website will provide access to thousands of digitized books, manuscripts and images. Recently digitized items may be browsed at the website. The Open Collections Project describes itself thusly: "The goal of the Harvard Libraries Open Collections Program is to increase the availability and use of textual and visual historical resources for teaching, learning, and research by selecting resources from the Harvard Libraries in broad topic areas, putting them in digital format, and providing access to them through the World Wide Web and the Harvard Library catalogs." (Source: Peter Scott's Library Blog) Mathematics Journals - food for thought
'Mathematics Journals - food for thought and links' is the title of a recently added segment on Stephen Wills' Journals - pricing rant and useful links. Wills is a mathematics lecturer at University College Cork. Wills notes the Knuth/JoA/ACM TALG situation and Rob Kirby's 1997 open letter and 2000 math journal price surveys, among other math-specific issues. He cites the Barschall case as a cautionary tale. In addition, he maintains an excellent set of free and Open Access math journal links. Jeanne Galvin, The Next Step in Scholarly Communication: Is the Traditional Journal Dead?, Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship, v.5 no.1 (Spring 2004). Galvin reviews the development of electronic journals and the open access movement and considers the acceptance of both by scholarly communities. She points out disadvantages of traditional journals and how these are countered by e-publication, OA and institutional repositories. Furthermore, Galvin discusses new concepts in scholarly publishing: "David Rodgers has suggested that the structure of publication will change from one marked by discrete milestones, such as peer review and acceptance, to a continuum more closely resembling the scholarly process. He proposes that the unit of transaction should be the idea, rather than the article. Smith recommends a 'deconstructed journal' which does not need a publisher and is based on subject focal points." However, combatting academic inertia is viewed as the biggest obstacle to changes in publishing. (Source: Peter Scott's Library Blog)
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