Open Access Issues

• Issues of electronic publishing, including peer refereeing, freedom of information, intellectual property protection, storage and retrieval of data.
• How open is open ?
• Open to what ?

  • Repositories : A clearcut law which would state that essentially all works have to be open for indexing and should be searchable on the Internet would be an important solution, and it would open the door for full text searches. This would not necessarily mean, that the publications are also open access. But it would allow developing adequate new licences between the publishers and the authors, as well as new forms of publications reflecting new possibilities to enhance the return for money spent in science.... Source

• For whom?

  • A case of India Abhishek, Towards Open Access For Scientific Research, Descritics, April 20, 2007. Excerpts:

    1. ...I shall only deal with the problems in accessing scientific journals in a developing country like India. For long, the basic research has been concentrated in the U.S. or Europe....
    2. It is interesting to note that most...journals of repute...remain the exclusive preserve of the rich universities abroad. They...often price their products beyond the purchasing power of the individuals in the developing countries by setting up prohibitively expensive access controls.
    3. The Open Access movement wanted to change all that....
    4. The importance of being updated [on new research] cannot be under estimated. Yet, I find it odd that the journals allow for [embargoed] access to the articles after six months, or for some, after years; what relevance would it hold at a later stage? The crying need is to make all access free and fair, irrespective of the country where the person is accessing the articles from....