[GOAL] Re: The open access movement slips into closed mode

Thu Dec 31 15:20:42 GMT 2015

A movement is not the same as an organisation. Large movements that cross national boundaries and/or sectors of necessity involve a great many different groups and individuals. The environmental movement of the past few decades is a good case study. There is a common overall goal, but progress is made by many different groups and individuals pursuing different sub-goals (limit climate change, climate justice, fight pollution), often using different methods. Sometimes groups split due to differences in focus or approach, but still see themselves as part of a global environmental movement.

It is in this sense that I argue that there is a global open access movement, and further that it would be helpful to understand that some diversity within the overall movement is likely necessary and healthy, so that groups and individuals can be more effective in their own areas or spheres. There are ways that actors in a large umbrella movement can work to support each other through networks while respecting diversity and autonomy.

Keck and Sikkink wrote a book on transnational activists networks is useful reading for OA advocacy strategy. Unfortunately this book is not OA (on the top of my wish list for books to unglue). They present several case studies of effective movements (including human rights - anti-slavery and the environmental movement), and analysis of what made the movements effective (eg information sharing, using the leverage of groups with power to support the powerless).

best,

Heather

On Dec 31, 2015, at 7:02 AM, "Velterop" <velterop at gmail.com<mailto:velterop at gmail.com>> wrote:

The mistake is to think of open access as a 'movement' with coherent and coordinated policies and providing solutions. It isn't and it won't. Individual advocates may propose (partial) solutions, propose compromises, propose different interpretations of the idea, et cetera, but they are individuals, not 'the OA movement'.

Open access is much more akin to an emerging zeigeist, detected and recognised early by some, who deemed it worth while to define, propagate, and advocate the idea, which is gradually, albeit slowly, finding wider support. Different OA enthusiasts have different ideas as to what it is, have different expectations, see different opportunities or purposes, even have different definitions. Some see it as a way to reduce costs, others as a way to change business model and even increase income, yet others as a way to reform the entire publishing system, and some even primarily as a way to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of scientific communication.

I myself see open access as the prelude to a much needed but much wider reform of the way scientific knowledge is recorded, published, promulgated and used, even including the way peer review is organised and carried out (I favour methods such as this one: http://about.scienceopen.com/peer-review-by-endorsement-pre/), in order to make the most, world-wide, in society at large and not just in academic circles, of the scientific knowledge that is generated and of insights that are gained. Open access is the first, necessary, step, but by no means the final goal.

"Some may think that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one" as John Lennon famously sang. I hope I'm not the only one, anyway.

Jan Velterop

On 31/12/2015 08:16, Richard Poynder wrote:
I don’t think it matters whether or not it is a rubbish argument. If that is what politicians believe, or how they want to justify their decisions, then the strength or weakness of the argument is not the key factor. And as            Andrew Odlyzko points out, it may be more a case of protecting jobs than tax receipts. Certainly the UK has talked in terms of supporting the publishing industry, and The Netherlands will (as you say) have that in mind. Both these countries are in the vanguard of pushing for national deals with publishers, and both are seeking to persuade other countries to do the same — as was doubtless what the UK sought to do in 2013 when it had G8 Presidency: <https://www.gov.uk/government/news/g8-science-ministers-statement> https://www.gov.uk/government/news/g8-science-ministers-statement.

That said, this CNI presentation argues that the US and Europe could be moving in different directions with OA: <https://www.cni.org/topics/e-journals/is-gold-open-access-sustainable-update-from-the-uc-pay-it-forward-project> https://www.cni.org/topics/e-journals/is-gold-open-access-sustainable-update-from-the-uc-pay-it-forward-project. But even if that is true today, for how long will they drift apart?

The fact is that the OA movement has spent the last 13 years arguing with itself. During that time it has convinced governments and research funders that OA is desirable. What is has not done is shown how it can be achieved effectively. In such situations, at some point governments inevitably step in and make the decisions. And that is how Dutch Minister Sander Dekker expressed it last year: “[W]hy are we not much farther advanced in open access in 2014? The world has definitely not stood still in the last ten years. How can it be that the scientific world – which has always been a frontrunner in innovation - has made so little progress on this? Why are most scientific journals still hidden away behind paywalls?” https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten/toespraken/2014/01/28/open-acess-going-for-gold

In the absence of unity in the OA movement, who better for governments to work with in order to achieve OA than with publishers, either directly, or by instructing national research funders to get on with it (as the UK did with RCUK).

This suggests to me that the OA is set to slip into closed mode, with behind-closed-doors meetings and negotiations. As Andrew points out, “Secret national-level negotiations with commercial entities about pricing are not uncommon.”

Richard Poynder

From: goal-bounces at eprints.org<mailto:goal-bounces at eprints.org> [mailto:goal-bounces at eprints.org] On Behalf Of Velterop
Sent: 30 December 2015 16:05
To: Global Open Access List (Successor of AmSci) <goal at eprints.org><mailto:goal at eprints.org>
Subject: [GOAL] Re: The open access movement slips into closed mode

What a rubbish argument! This can only be true of a small country with a disproportionally massive commercial scholarly publishing sector (that isn't avoiding taxes via some small island tax haven).

The Netherlands? Perhaps Britain? That's it.

Jan Velterop
On 30/12/2015 12:25, Richard Poynder wrote:
As Keith Jeffery puts it, “We all know why the BOAI principles have been progressively de-railed. One explanation given to me at an appropriate political level was that the tax-take from commercial publishers was greater than the cost of research libraries.” http://bit.ly/1OslVFW.

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