[GOAL] Meaning of OA Libre

[Peter Murray-Rust]

On Tue, May 8, 2012 at 10:25 PM, Stevan Harnad <amsciforum at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> On Tue, May 8, 2012 at 3:23 PM, Jan Velterop <velterop at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> JV> So by all means, let legal measures play a role, but not at the
> expense of lowering the bar to 'gratis' OA. If one believes in mandates,
> then there is no reason why BOAI-compliant OA ('libre' in your [SH] lingo)
> should not be mandated.
>
> I'd like to suggest that the term "libre OA" be dropped. "Gratis OA"
implies freedom for anyone to read the manuscript somewhere. "Libre OA"
imlies the "removal of some permission barriers" but neither says which or
how many. Since Gratis OA has already required the removal of one
permission barrier (the permission being granted to post on the web,
permanently) it can be argued that all Gratis OA is ipso facto Libre OA.

This renders the term Unnecessary and confusiing, and allows many people
and organizations to imply they are granting rights and permissions beyond
GratisOA when they are not. If there are current examples where the use of
"libreOA" plays a useful role it would be useful to see them.

The only terms that make operational sense and are clear are Gratis OA and
BOAI-compliant OA . It is a pity that the latter is a long phrase and maybe
its usage will contract the phrase.

I would be grateful for clear discourse on these definitions and the
suggestion of retiring "libreOA".

P.

-- 
Peter Murray-Rust
Reader in Molecular Informatics
Unilever Centre, Dep. Of Chemistry
University of Cambridge
CB2 1EW, UK
+44-1223-763069
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