[BOAI] Fostering Bibliodiversity in Scholarly Communications: A Call for Action

[Iryna Kuchma]

[Forwarded message from Kathleen Shearer]

(Apologies for the cross posting)
Dear all,

*Today, my colleagues and I are issuing a “Call for Action!”*

With the publication of this paper, *Fostering Bibliodiversity in Scholarly
Communications: A Call for Action*
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.coar-repositories.org%2Fnews-updates%2Ffostering-bibliodiversity-in-scholarly-communications-a-call-for-action%2F&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cacc6498312f54fb4a05e08d7e15043f9%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=ln7j2ljLVg8oHWnXNY5Sf%2FtSahbhnQ%2BE2whY6hAHgxY%3D&amp;reserved=0>,
we are calling on the community to make concerted efforts to develop
strong, community-governed infrastructures that support diversity in
scholarly communications (referred to as bibliodiversity).

Diversity is an essential characteristic of an optimal scholarly
communications system. Diversity in services and platforms, funding
mechanisms, and evaluation measures will allow the research communications
to accommodate the different workflows, languages, publication outputs, and
research topics that support the needs and epistemic pluralism of different
research communities. In addition, diversity reduces the risk of vendor
lock-in, which inevitably leads to monopoly, monoculture, and high prices.

We are living through unprecedented times, with a global pandemic sweeping
the world, leading to illness, death, and unparalleled economic upheaval.
Although our concerns about bibliodiversity have been growing for years,
the current crisis has exposed the deficiencies in a system that is
increasingly homogenous and prioritizes profits over the public good.

Stories abound about the urgent need for access to the research literature,
as illustrated, for example, by this message by Peter Murray-Rust posted
<http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/pipermail/goal/2020-March/005395.html> to
the GOAL mailing list on March 31, 2020

“My colleague, a software developer, working for free on openVirus
software,  is spending most of his time working making masks in Cambridge
Makespace to ship to Addenbrooke’s hospital. When he goes to the literature
to find literature on masks, their efficacy and use and construction he
finds paywall after paywall after paywall after paywall ….”

For those who were not in favour of open access before, this global crisis
should settle the debate once and for all.

We must move away from a pay-to-read world in which researchers,
practitioners and the public cannot afford to access critical research
materials, or have to wait for embargo periods to lift before they can
develop life saving techniques, methods and vaccines. Access to the
research is simply too important. Yet, pay-to-publish, the open access
model being advanced by many in the commercial sector, is also
inappropriate as it places unacceptable financial barriers on researchers’
abilities to publish.

It is time to reassess some of the basic assumptions related to scholarly
communications, including competition, prestige, and the role of commercial
entities. The same values that underlie our research and education systems
should also guide research communications.

To that end, we are calling on researchers, policy makers, funders, service
providers, universities and libraries from around the world to work
together to address the issue of bibliodiversity in scholarly communication.

The problems we encounter have never been more complex and urgent, nor has
the need for solutions been greater. There is a real danger that new budget
constraints and an increasing proportion of funds directed towards large
commercial entities could lead to greater homogeneity and monopolization,
further hampering the free flow of research needed to address the critical
challenges we face.

Read the blog post here
<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.coar-repositories.org%2Fnews-updates%2Ffostering-bibliodiversity-in-scholarly-communications-a-call-for-action%2F&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cacc6498312f54fb4a05e08d7e15043f9%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=ln7j2ljLVg8oHWnXNY5Sf%2FtSahbhnQ%2BE2whY6hAHgxY%3D&amp;reserved=0>
 and full paper here <http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3752923>

Kathleen Shearer
Executive Director
Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR)
https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coar-repositories.org%2F&amp;data=01%7C01%7Cboai-forum%40ecs.soton.ac.uk%7Cacc6498312f54fb4a05e08d7e15043f9%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=J%2FnecgfrG2jPDm2ArMwLCLnZlrDRBovBtd8L3x7iGTU%3D&amp;reserved=0
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/pipermail/boai-forum/attachments/20200415/e6ea5f31/attachment.html