Two interesting news items dropped into my inbox today.
1: The Times Higher reported that the European
Commission will back open access publishing in Horizon 2020. Details of the
proposal will be published at an event in Brussels on 20 June. The Director
General for Research and Innovation, Robert-Jan Smits, was quoted as saying
that it could make 'one hell of a difference.'
2: The Guardian reported that Winston Hide, associate
editor of the Elsevier journal Genomics, has resigned from the editorial board.
'No longer can I work for a system that provides solid profits for the
publisher while effectively denying colleagues in developing countries access
to research findings,' he said.
It's an interesting coincidence, and suggests that (to
quote Prof Tim Gowers in the THE article) 'the snowball is getting bigger'.
However, some (ok, I mean the publishers of paid-for journals) question the
desirability of open access. Income from subscriptions, they argue, allows them
to spend more on selecting papers, editing and production.
I think this is a fair point, and worth bearing in mind.
If funding does not come through subscriptions, they will need to be reimbursed
for these costs from other sources. These could well be the funders of the
original research, which would, in turn, mean that there is less money
available to fund other research.
I'll continue to watch this snowball's progress with
interest.
The snowball is indeed rolling.
ReplyDeleteBart Knols, editor of MalariaWorld and chairman of the board of their foundation, tendered his resignation to another Elsavier journal after reading the Guardian article.