[BOAI] Re: Open Access Week 2010 declared for October 18 to 24--Researchers challenged to demonstrate the impact ofOpenAccess on research and scholarship

Stevan Harnad harnad at ecs.soton.ac.uk
Sat May 1 13:22:46 BST 2010 

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On 2010-04-30, at 5:05 PM, Allen Kleiman wrote:

> Unsigned:
> Are you an attorney? Under the Fair Use and other provisions of the US Copyright law I can send anything I want for use by students. Furthermore my publishers have given me permission to send copies of scholarly works whenever I have asked. I am going to attach one but do not know if the Moderator will allow it. This whole agony over open access is just a self-aggrandizing agenda of a few people. Why  MIT with whom I am affiliated, among others,  makes so much in science and technology available as to satisfy most inquisitors without any prompting by open access organizations. Furthermore most of the scholarly work of any merit is kept secret in order to obtain a competitive advantage either for tenure or other financial gain.
> Most research and scholarly publications are read by 'insiders' who for the most part have open access through libraries and Fair Use. I am a researcher and scholar and have access to anything published in the world. So what's the point?

Dear Allen Kleiman 

I think you may have misunderstood the nature and purpose of open access (and possibly also the nature and purpose of research publishing):

(1) Emailing eprints on request is not Open Access (OA) and far from being good enough to meet the usage needs of scholars, scientists, students, teachers and the tax-paying public in the online era. When published research findings can be visible and accessible free online with one click, it should no longer be necessary to try to email the author and wait and hope that the request will eventually be fulfilled.

(2) Emailing eprints semi-automatically is "Almost-OA," and provides a useful supplement to OA for those papers that have been deposited in the author's Institutional Repository as "Closed Access" because the author wishes to comply with a publisher access embargo. Almost-OA will help institutions adopt OA mandates (like the 157 mandates in ROARMAP http://www.eprints.org/openaccess/policysignup/ ) and it will help tide over research  and researcher needs during publisher access embargoes, and eventually put an end to them, but on no account is it good enough, or a substitute for OA.

(3) It might be a useful exercise (and we would be happy if you posted your results!), if you were to test your hypothesis that "I am a researcher and scholar and have access to anything published in the world" by going to PubMed in nursing -- which I infer is your field http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FSW/is_3_25/ai_n27284264/pg_7/  -- finding a sample of, say, 50 current articles in nursing journals for 2009, and reporting to this list what percentage of them was (i) OA (meaning anyone could access them immediately with one click), (ii) Almost-OA (meaning you could sem-automatically request an eprint from the author with one click) -- and what percentage of those responded with an eprint (and how soon), (iii) neither OA nor almost-OA, but one could find the author's email address and email for and eprint (and how soon) -- and what percentage of those responded with an eprint (and how soon), and (iv) what percentage did not even have an email address for the author.

I hope you will agree that it is systematic random sampling as in (3), field by field, that can reveal the objective state of research access today, not the subjective impression of one researcher in one field. Do it, and you will see "what's the point."

Sale, A., Couture, M., Rodrigues, E., Carr, L. and Harnad, S. (2010) Open Access Mandates and the "Fair Dealing" Button. In: Dynamic Fair Dealing: Creating Canadian Culture Online (Rosemary J. Coombe & Darren Wershler, Eds.)  http://eprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/18511/

Stevan Harnad


>  
> Good luck,
>  
>  
>  
> Allen
>  
> 
> From: boai-forum-bounces at ecs.soton.ac.uk [mailto:boai-forum-bounces at ecs.soton.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Carolina Rossini
> Sent: Friday, April 30, 2010 4:05 PM
> To: boai-forum at ecs.soton.ac.uk
> Subject: [BOAI] Re: Open Access Week 2010 declared for October 18 to 24--Researchers challenged to demonstrate the impact ofOpenAccess on research and scholarship
> 
> That is against copyright and library rules....plus what you do fosters a club culture that does not solve the issue of lack of access from developing countries. 
> 
> On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 8:25 AM, Allen Kleiman <allenk at panix.com> wrote:
> What I try to do, upon request,  is to e-mail any of my papers to other countries and any others I have available from my library.Of course what you are describing is not entirely or even partly due to the open access project -- it is because your libraries are not funded properly. I am not qualified to discuss that problem however.
>  
> Allen
>  
>  
>  
> 
> From: boai-forum-bounces at ecs.soton.ac.uk [mailto:boai-forum-bounces at ecs.soton.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Françoise Salager-Meyer
> Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2010 9:50 AM
> To: boai-forum at ecs.soton.ac.uk
> Subject: [BOAI] Re: Open Access Week 2010 declared for October 18 to 24 --Researchers challenged to demonstrate the impact of OpenAccess on research and scholarship
> Importance: High
> 
>> Not so in developing countries, Mr. Kleiman, where it is extremely difficult to have access to the materials we need to conduct our research because our libraries are almost empty (only subscribe to a few journals and not the top-notch ones ... and no books).
> Françoise Salager-Meyer
> (Universidad de Los Andes. Mérida. Venezuela)
> 
> ********
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> Most research and scholarly publications are read by 'insiders' who for the most part have open access through libraries and Fair Use. I am a researcher and scholar and have access to anything published in the world. So what's the point?
>>  
>> Second your practice of moderating e-mails is contrary to your stated goal of open access.
>>  
>> Allen Kleiman
>>  
>> 
>> From: boai-forum-bounces at ecs.soton.ac.uk [mailto:boai-forum-bounces at ecs.soton.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Iryna Kuchma
>> Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2010 3:22 AM
>> To: boai-forum
>> Subject: [BOAI] Open Access Week 2010 declared for October 18 to 24 --Researchers challenged to demonstrate the impact of OpenAccess on research and scholarship
>> [Forwarded message from Jennifer McLennan]
>> 
>> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>> April 28, 2010
>> 
>> For more information, contact:
>> Jennifer McLennan
>> (202) 296-2296 ext. 121
>> jennifer [at] arl [dot] org
>> 
>> Open Access Week 2010 declared for October 18 to 24
>> Researchers challenged to demonstrate the impact of Open Access on research and scholarship
>> 
>> (Washington, DC) Open Access Week, the global event to promote free, immediate, online access to research now entering its fourth year, has been declared for October 18 to 24, 2010. Open Access Week is an opportunity for the worldwide academic and research community to continue to learn about the potential benefits of Open Access (OA), to share what they've learned with colleagues, and to inspire wider participation in helping to make Open Access a new norm in scholarship and research.
>> 
>> "Open Access Week has evolved from a one-day student event on a dozen campuses to a truly global phenomenon," said Jennifer McLennan, Open Access Week program director at SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition). "We've seen participation expand to include hundreds of university and college campuses, research institutes, funding agencies, libraries, and think tanks - all connecting the fast-growing global momentum toward openness with the advancement of policy changes on the local level." In 2009, Open Access Week spurred the announcement of actions including expanded open-access publication funds, the adoption of institution-wide open-access policies, and the release of new reports on the societal and economic benefits of OA.
>> 
>> This year's OA Week preparations kick off with a challenge to researchers from Dr. Philip E. Bourne, Professor of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California San Diego and Founding Editor-in-Chief of PLoS Computational Biology. In a video posted to the OA Week Web site, Bourne calls upon scholars to think beyond free and ready access to the literature - made possible by Open Access - and consider how technology may be deployed to advance research, to truly mine the increasing amount of available literature.
>> 
>> He says, "What I think ultimately will be the main success of Open Access, is that you have the full text of the literature in an XML format that can be analyzed and used by computer. The idea that we'll be able to keep up with [the volume of literature being published] is just untenable. To actually make full use of the literature, we're going to require tools to help us." He challenges his peers in the research community to surface efforts like SciVee (a new type of learning experience that mashes up journal articles with rich media) and UCSD's BioLit (an initiative to integrate database identifiers and rich meta-data from open-access articles with biological databases) - both of which "would not be possible without unbridled and free access to the literature."
>> 
>> Challenges like Dr. Bourne's, and responses to them - experiences and projects that demonstrate the power of Open Access to enable the Web and advance discovery - will be highlighted across global efforts in conjunction with the Week. Details may be posted or linked on the Open Access Week Web site by October 10, 2010.
>> 
>> The new Open Access Week Web site, at http://www.openaccessweek.org, details how participants across sectors - from research funders and producers to students and libraries - have taken advantage of the event to advance Open Access, and offers ideas for 2010.
>> 
>> "There are a multitude of ways to participate in OA Week," said Alma Swan, program adviser. "It can be as simple as wearing a bright orange shirt or as complex as introducing a new OA policy. OA Week may also be the chance to let your imagination have full rein and come up with something ambitious, wacky, or fun."
>> 
>> Organizations and individuals planning to participate or interested in more information about Open Access Week 2010 should register now on the Web site for access to regional and global contacts and resources.
>> 
>> Open Access Week is organized by SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), with expert guidance from an international panel of Open Access leaders. Program advisers include: Subbiah Arunachalam (Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore), Leslie Chan (University of Toronto, Scarborough, OASIS), Melissa Hagemann (Open Society Institute), Thomas Hickerson (University of Calgary), Heather Joseph (SPARC), Iryna Kuchma (eIFL.net), Li Lin (National Science Library, CAS), Donna Okubo (Public Library of Science), Robin Peek (Open Access Directory, Simmons College), Carolina Rossini (Berkman Center), Nick Shockey (Right to Research Coalition), Peter Suber (Berkman Center, Earlham College, SPARC), Alma Swan (Key Perspectives Ltd, OASIS), Ikuko Tsuchide (Digital Repository Federation, Japan), Xiaolin Zhang (National Science Library, CAS).
>> 
>> For more information, visit the Open Access Week Web site at http://www.openaccessweek.org.
>> 
>> ##
>> 
>> SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), with SPARC Europe and SPARC Japan, is an international alliance of more than 800 academic and research libraries working to create a more open system of scholarly communication. SPARC's advocacy, educational, and publisher partnership programs encourage expanded dissemination of research. SPARC is on the Web at http://www.arl.org/sparc.
>> 
>> -------------------------------------
>> Jennifer McLennan
>> Director of Programs & Operations
>> SPARC
>> jennifer at arl.org
>> (202) 296-2296 x121
>> Fax: (202) 872-0884
>> *******************************
>> SPARC 2010 Digital Repositories Meeting
>> November 8 & 9 - Baltimore, MD
>> http://www.arl.org/sparc/media/09-0223.shtml
>> *******************************
>> Open Access Week 2010
>> October 18 - 24. Everywhere.
>> http://www.openaccessweek.org
>> *******************************
>> 
>> 
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