[BOAI] Fwd: [SOAF] PRESS RELEASE Knowledge Exchange: Benefits of Open Access clearly outweigh costs in three European Countries

[Iryna Kuchma]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Peter Suber <peters at earlham.edu>
Date: 30 черв. 2009 18:19
Subject: [SOAF] PRESS RELEASE Knowledge Exchange: Benefits of Open
Access  clearly outweigh costs in three European Countries
To: SPARC Open Access Forum <SPARC-OAForum at arl.org>

[Forwarding from Knowledge Exchange.  --Peter Suber.]


*Dear Madam, Sir

PRESS RELEASE
22 June 2009

Benefits of Open Access clearly outweigh costs in three European Countries

*For Denmark, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands free access to
scholarly materials could offer significant benefits not only to research
and higher education but also to society as a whole. This has been
calculated by Australian economist Professor John Houghton in studies which
have taken place in these three countries on the costs and benefits of
scholarly communication. He has now summarised these findings in a report
commissioned by Knowledge Exchange, which is a partnership of the IT bodies
from Denmark (DEFF), the United Kingdom (JISC), the Netherlands
(SURFfoundation) and Germany (DFG).

At present universities pay millions of Euros every year for access to
scientific and scholarly publications. Businesses, smaller educational
institutes, and other organisations often cannot afford the expensive
licences needed for access. If the "Open Access" model were to be applied
globally, this would allow for increased access to research results for both
researchers and the public at large.

In the three national studies the costs and benefits of scholarly
communication were compared based on three different publication models. The
modelling revealed that the greatest advantage would be offered by the Open
Access model, which means that the research institution or the party
financing the research pays for publication and the article is then freely
accessible. Adopting this model could lead to annual savings of around EUR
70 million in Denmark, EUR 133 million in The Netherlands and EUR 480 in the
UK. The report concludes that the advantages would not just be in the long
term; in the transitional phase too, more open access to research results
would have positive effects. In this case the benefits would also outweigh
the costs.

The findings from this modelling suggest that open access alternatives are
likely to be more cost-effective mechanisms for scholarly publishing in a
wide range of countries (both large and small).

Given the potential benefits, it does seem worth while to ensure that there
is a level playing field between alternative publishing models. This will
reduce the barriers to innovation in scholarly publishing.

The full text of the study can be downloaded from the address:

http://www.knowledge-exchange.info/Default.aspx?ID=316

Title: Open Access - What are the economic benefits? A comparison of the
United Kingdom, Netherlands and Denmark.
Author: John Houghton, Centre for Strategic Economic Studies, Victoria
University, Melbourne, Australia

*About Knowledge Exchange

*Knowledge Exchange is a co-operative effort that supports the use and
development of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT)
infrastructure for higher education and research. The European partners of
Knowledge Exchange, DFG (Germany), JISC (UK), DEFF (Denmark) and
SURFfoundation (The Netherlands), share a common vision based on their four
national strategies. That vision is: To make a layer of scholarly and
scientific content openly available on the Internet. In order to realise
this goal, the partners work on supporting existing and new programmes on
national and international levels, co-ordinating efforts on building an
integrated repository infrastructure, exploring new developments in the
future of publishing, facilitating integrated management services within
education and research institutions and supporting libraries in the digital
age.

*For further information*: www.knowledge-exchange.info

*Please contact*: Keith Russell (Knowledge Exchange Office) on +31 30
2346600
or kru at knowledge-exchange.info

*DFG - The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft* (German Research Foundation) is
the central, self-governing research funding organisation that promotes
research at universities and other publicly financed research institutions
in Germany. The DFG serves all branches of science and the humanities by
funding research projects and facilitating cooperation among researchers.
www.dfg.de

*JISC* - the Joint Information Systems Committee - is a joint committee of
the UK further and higher education funding bodies and is responsible for
supporting the innovative use of information and communication technology
(ICT) to support learning, teaching, and research. It is best known for
providing the JANET network, a range of support, content and advisory
services, and a portfolio of high-quality resources.
www.jisc.ac.uk

*DEFF - Denmark's Electronic Research Library* is an organisational and
technological partnership between research libraries co-financed by the
Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, the Ministry of Culture and
the Ministry of Education. DEFF's purpose is to advance the development of a
network of electronic research libraries that make available their
electronic and other information resources to the patrons in a coherent and
simple way. This is obtained partly through government funding and partly by
joint purchase of licenses. The Danish Agency for Libraries and Media runs
the secretariat of the partnership.
www.deff.dk

*SURF* is the collaborative organisation for higher education institutions
and research institutes aimed at breakthrough innovations in ICT. SURF
provides the foundation for the excellence of higher education and research
in the Netherlands. SURF comprises three partners: SURFfoundation, SURFnet
and SURFdiensten (SURFservices).
www.surf.nl

On behalf of the Knowledge Exchange partners,

*Anne Maja Wad, Secretary
Knowledge Exchange
Danish Agency for Libraries and Media,*  *H.C. Andersens Blvd. 2,*  *DK-1553
Copenhagen V,*  *Denmark
Direct telephone: (+45) 33 73 33 15
Email: amw at knowledge-exchange.info
Web: www.knowledge-exchange.info
*
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