[GOAL] Heather Morrison response to Canadian tricouncil open access policy

[Heather Morrison]

My response to the Canadian tricouncil's draft open access policy has been posted on my blog:
http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.ca/2013/10/canadas-tricouncil-draft-open-access.html

In brief, this is a good policy which can be considered a model for other funders. A key strength is that open access publishing is an option, with researchers able to use grant funding to cover article processing fees if desired, but not required. This allows for the operation of market forces.

A key area needing correction is that deposit in a Canadian based open access archive is not required. This leaves the future of Canadian scholarship in the hands of journals. Because journals are not covered by funding agency policy, journals could change business models or ownership with subsequent owners changing business models. If Canadian scholarship is only deposited in a foreign country, future access may in some situations be based on factors beyond the control of the country as a whole.

best,

-- 
Dr. Heather Morrison
Assistant Professor
École des sciences de l'information / School of Information Studies
University of Ottawa

http://www.sis.uottawa.ca/faculty/hmorrison.html
Heather.Morrison at uottawa.ca