On Sun, Oct 7, 2012 at 9:18 AM, Sally Morris <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:sally@morris-assocs.demon.co.uk" target="_blank">sally@morris-assocs.demon.co.uk</a>></span> wrote:<br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial">It's my impression that it's not researchers per se (they like
publishing in journals, and reading articles with a journal 'label', with all
the signals that carries), but rather their cash-strapped librarians, who are
increasingly likely to be tempted by the (apparently) free 'alternative' to
journals if and when it offers them all or most of the literature their users
want. And that's what, understandably, scares publishers - and some of the
usage patterns shown up by recent studies can only fuel their
anxieties. Publishers are not against enabling the largest possible number
of people to read the content they publish - what they are against is
being forced out of business.</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial"></font></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial">But the underlying problem is the inevitably growing gap
between libraries' funding and the cost of providing access
to anywhere near all the literature their users might want. This is
not publishers' fault - it is simply the result of the growth in research
funding, which far outstrips the growth (if any) in library funding.
That's what makes the Gold OA model so attractive to me - in well-funded
research areas, at least, it has the potential to scale with research
funding.</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial"></font></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial">But even then, the global total cost of publication is bound
to continue to rise. I suspect none of us has yet come up with a
sufficiently radical new model for providing the services that researchers want,
both as authors and as readers, in a way that is both affordable for the
beneficiaries and worthwhile for the service providers. That doesn't mean
to say there isn't a fantastic new model out there - I certainly hope there
is! But personally I don't think Green OA is it.</font></span></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Green OA is not a publishing model.</div><div><br></div><div>And it's not intended as a solution to the journal affordability problem.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Green OA is a solution to the research accessibility problem: It's essential, urgent, immediately reachable (via mandates), and long overdue.</div><div><br></div><div>The rest will take care of itself. Publishing will adapt to Green OA. Publishers cannot and should not keep trying to stop it.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Stevan Harnad</div><div><br></div></div>