[GOAL] Re: Speech by Dutch junior minister in Berlin

[Stevan Harnad]

On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 2:56 PM, Jeroen Bosman <jeroensbox at gmail.com> wrote:

...Dutch junior education minister Sander Dekker gave a speech at APE2014
> in Berlin....
> http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/regering/bewindspersonen/sander-dekker/toespraken/2014/01/28/open-acess-going-for-gold.html
>
> Although his drive for OA can be applauded, there is *[1]* *nothing new
> in his talk*, except his  *[2]** intention to invite all EU ministers to
> try and align OA policy*. And the way he* [3] dismisses green OA is
> regrettable*.
>
> Dekker reiterated that *[4]* *Green OA is cumbersome to find* (he
> probably never uses Google Scholar) and he even suggested  that* [5]
> Green OA is not peer reviewed.*
>

In response to this, On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 6:09 PM, Armbruster, Chris <
Chris.Armbruster at eui.eu> wrote:

Dekker's speech was *remarkable for being clear and concise*. It is a *long
> time since someone made the case so well*.
>

I would tend to agree with Jeroen Bosman:

(*1)* Dekker has said exactly the same things before;
(*2*) the rest of the EU (with the exception of the UK's Finch committee)
and all the rest of the world sees things differently, and Dekker is trying
to persuade them to see things his way;
(*3*) Dekker's way is to prefer a policy of providing open access to
Netherlands peer-reviewed journal articles through paying extra to publish
them in Gold OA journals rather than a policy of providing open access to
Netherlands peer-reviewed journal articles at no extra cost through Green
OA self-archiving while the publication costs for all uncancellable
subscription journals are still being paid in full by Netherlands and the
rest of the world;
(*4*) Dekker apparently misunderstands how peer-reviewed journal articles
that are on the internet are searched and found;
(*5*) Dekker apparently misunderstands that all peer-reviewed journal
articles are peer-reviewed, whether Gold or Green.


Dekker does, however, understands the lobbying of peer-reviewed journal
publishers -- most of whom happen to be located in his country, the
Netherlands, and the UK -- to the effect that Green OA is a threat to the
sustainability of subscriptions, and  therefore, *to ensure that publishing
revenues are sustained at their current levels*, the Netherlands should
double-pay pre-emptively for both subscriptions and Fool's Gold OA, rather
than mandating Green OA with the risk that it may eventually force
publishers to convert to Fair Gold OA at an affordable, sustainable price.

All of this is not only predictable, given the concentration of publishing
interests in the Netherlands, but it has been said before -- and responded
to before. See: *The Journal Publisher Lobby in the UK & Netherlands: Part
I*<http://openaccess.eprints.org/index.php?/archives/1073-The-Journal-Publisher-Lobby-in-the-UK-Netherlands-Part-I.html>
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