[Gllug] Open Access publishing

[John Hearns]

Might be interesting to a lot of people on this list.

I recall about ten years ago (gulp!) working at Guys Hospital. As a 
computer/network type I was invited to some meeting re. network and 
Internet access. I spoke up and said that one day all medical journal 
articles would be available on the Internet for their medical students.
Distinguished Professor type laughs at me and browbeats me, saying that 
the academic journals would never allow it.
<FX - me having last laugh >




Interactions News Wire #90-06
3 November 2006
http://www.interactions.org
*******************************************************************
Source: CERN
Content: Press Release
Date Issued: 3 November 2006
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NEWS MEDIA CONTACTS:
Renilde Vanden Broeck - renilde.vanden.broeck at cern.ch
Tel. +41 22 767 2141 (3432)

Open Access publishing in physics gains momentum

Geneva, 3 November 2006. The first meeting of European particle physics
funding agencies took place today at CERN[1] to establish a consortium for
Open Access publishing in particle physics, SCOAP3[2]. This is the first
time an entire scientific field is exploring the conversion of its
reader-paid journals into an author-paid Open Access format.

Open Access is a policy that could revolutionize the academic publishing
world and have a great impact on research. By changing the traditional
model of financing publications through reader subscriptions, the
publications will be free to readers and financed by funding agencies via
laboratories and the authors. This new concept in publishing will broaden
opportunities for researchers and funding agencies in achieving greater
benefit from unrestricted distribution of the results of their publicly
funded research.

"DESY fully supports open access publishing in particle physics and we
would like to see it realized within a short time scale. It is of great
importance that we are actively and constructively involved in these
ongoing discussions aiming to establish a sponsoring consortium," stated
Rolf-Dieter Heuer, Research Director at Germany’s DESY laboratory. His
remarks were echoed by Francois le Diberder, from the French national
institute for particle and nuclear physics (CNRS/IN2P3): "CNRS, and IN2P3,
fully support the SCOAP initiative and will proactively participate in its
inception and operation”. The delegate from Italy’s national institute for
nuclear physics (INFN) Graziano Fortuna, said, “INFN fully supports the
move to an Open Access system for high energy physics publications."
Expressions of support came from other delegates, including those of
German funding agencies, notably the Max Planck Society, Greece, Portugal,
the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. The European
Committee for Future Accelerators (ECFA) also offered support. Both
national and international library consortia were enthusiastic about the
initiative.

"There is a wind of change blowing and with it the possibility to
experiment with new models – in this CERN is perceived as the pioneer of a
new publishing paradigm and the SCOAP initiative as a pilot project for
future developments in scientific publishing," said Pçteris Zilgalvis of
the European Commission.

Publishers also are aligning with the opportunities offered by Open
Access: journals published by American Institute of Physics, American
Physical Society, Elsevier and Springer have already started to offer
authors the possibility to make their articles freely available to
readers. Shortly before the meeting, the publishing consortium of the
European Physical Journal lowered the price tag for such an Open Access
option and announced an author-friendly approach to copyright. At the same
time the publishers of the Journal of High Energy Physics (JHEP) stated
they are ready to embrace a sponsorship policy in which they would allow
unrestricted access to their articles. On the cost of this policy JHEP
states: "we have managed to prove that the costs can be reduced whilst at
the same time ensuring the highest rigour in peer review".

Today the first steps have been taken in developing an effective strategy
to provide funding to Open Access publishing in high energy physics. An
interim working party comprising physicists, librarians and legal experts
from across Europe has been formed with the mandate to lay the foundations
for SCOAP3 within the next few months.

Fred Friend, Honorary Director of Scholarly Communication, University
College London, stated, "Today, the lead has come from funding agencies.
It is important to have a united front to achieve the ultimate goals of
Open Access and change the High Energy Physics publishing landscape for
ever".

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