[BOAI] Re: The affordability problem vs. the accessibility problem

[Stevan Harnad]

On Sun, 6 Nov 2011, Allen Kleiman wrote:

> Is there a difference between 'access to information 'and 'access to the
> publishers copy'?

Yes, a lot:

(1) "Information" can mean any information: published,
confidential, public, royalty-seeking, non-royalty-seeking, author
give-away, non-author-giveaway.

(2) The primary target information of the OA movement is refereed research
journal articles, all of which, without exception, are written exclusively
for research uptake, usage and impact, not for royalty revenues.

(3) The restrictions (embargoes) that publishers place on OA self-archiving
of the author's refereed, corrected, accepted final draft are far fewer
than the restrictions on the publisher's version-or-record. (The publishers
of over 60% of journals, including almost all the top journals in each
field, already endorse OA self-archiving of the author's final draft -- but
not the publisher's version-of-record -- immediately upon publication.
These are called "green" publishers, and OA self-archiving is called "green
OA.")

The OA movement is not -- and cannot be -- the movement for open access to
all "information."

It is the movement for open access to refereed research journal articles.

The author's refereed, corrected, accepted final draft is the refereed
journal article.

Access to the author's refereed, corrected, accepted final draft of a
refereed journal article is the difference between night and day for all
would-be users whose institutions cannot afford subscription access to the
publisher's version of record.

This is why the first and most urgent priority of the OA movement is to
ensure that all research institutions and funders mandate (require) the
deposit of the author's refereed, corrected, accepted final draft of every
refereed journal article in their institutional repository immediately upon
publication (with access to the deposit immediately set as Open Access for
at least 60% of the deposits from green journals, and the repository's
semi-automated "email eprint request" Button providing "Almost OA" to the
remaining 40% for individuals requesting access for research
purposes.semi-automatically with two key-presses, at the discretion of the
author).

Stevan Harnad
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