<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>On 13-Nov-09, at 4:18 AM, Talat Chaudhri wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div>Presuming that all EU citizens can sign the petition, there is the slight difficulty that those that cannot read German, like me, will find it hard to know how to do so. The English translation in the link provided by Prof Hilf only provides translation of the text itself. I'd appreciate guidance on where to click on the German web site, from anyone who does read German. A small matter, I know - but an important one!<br></div></blockquote><div><br></div>Yes, citizens of other countries can sign, and fortunately Professor Hilf has provided the instructions (apologies for not having included it with his original posting):</div><div><br></div><div>How to vote (sorry, it is a little clumsy):</div><div><br>1. register: call the link <a href="https://epetitionen.bundestag.de/">https://epetitionen.bundestag.de</a> <br>and go for the second line 'registrieren' and register.<br>[and enter your Country at the line 'Land').</div><div><br>2. you get an email with your permanent Username (Benutzername)<br>which should be the word 'Nutzer' together with a 6-decimal <br>number.</div><div><br>3. you go back to the serverpage and login:<br>[enter the Username) and the emailed-to-you password.</div><div><br>4. you find the petition 'Wissenschaft und Forschung - <br>Kostenloser Erwerb wissenschaftlicher Publikationen'<br>by either scrolling to page two or three or by <br>using the 'detailed search' button. I typed in 'Kostenloser Erwerb'.</div><div><br>5. vote by clicking on the title and then in the fourth column<br>you can vote by clicking on 'Petition mitzeichnen' <br>[zeichnen means signing]</div><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div><br>Thanks,<br><br><br>Talat<br><br>Stevan Harnad wrote:<br><blockquote type="cite">** Apologies for Cross-Posting **<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Professor Eberhard Hilf is inviting the German and international<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">scholarly and scientific community to sign a petition to mandate Open<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Access in Germany.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><a href="http://www.zugang-zum-wissen.de/journal/archives/105-Open-Access-Petition-to-the-German-Parliament.html">http://www.zugang-zum-wissen.de/journal/archives/105-Open-Access-Petition-to-the-German-Parliament.html</a><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Professor Hilf writes:<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">A Petition to the German Parliament (Deutscher Bundestag) for Open<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Access of documents in science and research has been launched by Lars<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Fischer, see the English version of the Petition:<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><a href="http://www.zugang-zum-wissen.de/oa-petition-german-parliament.html">http://www.zugang-zum-wissen.de/oa-petition-german-parliament.html</a><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">It can be signed online at Signing the petition:<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><a href="https://epetitionen.bundestag.de/index.php?action=petition;sa=details;petition=7922">https://epetitionen.bundestag.de/index.php?action=petition;sa=details;petition=7922</a><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">The large and renowned Science Organisations in Germany and the<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Coalition for Action "Copyright for Education and Research" are<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">calling all persons, active in science and academic education,<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">students and staff, librarians, scientists, to sign the petition, SEE<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">[Press Release in German].<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><a href="http://www.urheberrechtsbuendnis.de/pressemitteilung1209.html.en">http://www.urheberrechtsbuendnis.de/pressemitteilung1209.html.en</a><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Reference:<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Statement of the Workgroup Open Access of the Alliance of the German<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Science Organisations (Allianz der Wissenschaften): Open Access:<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">positions. processes, perspectives; (in German): Open Access:<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Positionen, Prozesse, Perspektiven; Arbeitsgruppe Open Access in der<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Allianz der deutschen Wissenschaftsorganisationen.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><a href="http://www.allianz-initiative.de/fileadmin/openaccess.pdf">http://www.allianz-initiative.de/fileadmin/openaccess.pdf</a><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">COMMENT BY STEVAN HARNAD:<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Lars Fischer's statement is vague and thereby poses some risk of<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">having no practical effect unless it is made clear exactly what the<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Bundestag is being asked to do, why, and how.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Fortunately, it can be stated very clearly exactly what the petition<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">is for, and why, and if this clarification can be coupled with the<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">text sufficiently prominently, the outcome will be a coherent and<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">positive one:<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">WHAT IS OPEN ACCESS? Free online access to all peer-reviewed research<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">articles (2.5 million annual articles published in 25,000<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">peer-reviewed journals, in all fields of science, social science and<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">humanities, worldwide).<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">WHY OPEN ACCESS? To ensure that research findings are accessible to<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">all their potential users worldwide, so as to maximize research<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">uptake, usage, applications, impact, productivity and process, by<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">making it accessible to all its potential users worldwide, and not<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">just to those whose institutional libraries can afford a subscription<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">to the journal in which it happened to be published.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">HOW OPEN ACCESS? All universities and research institutions, and all<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">funders of research, need to mandate that the final, peer-reviewed<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">draft of all their research output must be deposited in an Open Access<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Repository (Institutional or, optionally, Central) immediately upon<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">acceptance for publication, making it immediately accessible online,<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">free for all: <a href="http://www.eprints.org/openaccess/policysignup/">http://www.eprints.org/openaccess/policysignup/</a><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">If these three points could be made, the petition will be precise,<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">comprehensible, and focussed.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Here is the petition:<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Petition to the German Bundestag, the National Parliament<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Lars Fischer has created a petition to the Deutscher Bundestag to<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">support Open Access as an amendment to the pending legislation.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Signatures are now invited.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Petition<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">The German National Parliament (Deutscher Bundestag) should decree<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">that scientific publications that result from public funding, should<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">be openly accessible. Those institutions that are autonomous should be<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">called upon by the Bundestag to set up and enforce suitable<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">regulations and to install suitable technical preconditions to ensure<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">that this is the case.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Comment<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">The Government supports research and development -- according to the<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">German Ministery for Education and Research in the amount of about 12<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Billion Euro annually. The results of this research are published, but<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">mostly in toll-access journals. It is not acceptable that the taxpayer<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">should have to pay for research results for whose creation he has<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">already paid.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Because of the large costs and the multitude of scientific journals,<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">research results are accessible only in a few libraries. Most citizens<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">are thus de facto excluded from access to scientific results for which<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">they have paid.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">To exclude citizens from science is not only harmful, but unnecessary.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Other countries have already implemented what is being proposed here.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) is requiring that all<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">publications that it has funded should be openly accessible within 12<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">months at a central server. The general structure of the scientific<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">publication system is not affected by this petition.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"> <br></blockquote><br>-- <br>Dr Talat Chaudhri<br>------------------------------------------------------------<br>Research Officer<br>UKOLN, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, Great Britain<br>Telephone: +44 (0)1225 385105 Fax: +44 (0)1225 386838<br>E-mail: <a href="mailto:t.chaudhri@ukoln.ac.uk">t.chaudhri@ukoln.ac.uk</a> Skype: talat.chaudhri<br>Web: <a href="http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/ukoln/staff/t.chaudhri/">http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/ukoln/staff/t.chaudhri/</a><br>------------------------------------------------------------<br></div></blockquote></div><br></body></html>