Re: On the Need to Take Both Roads to Open Access

From: Waaijers, Leo <Waaijers_at_surf.nl>
Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 23:32:06 +0000

Leo Waiijers wrote:

> > But, what if libraries cannot afford the subscriptions any longer,
> > break out of the Big Deals and have to resume their cancellation
> > policies (as happens in the US at the moment)? Do you think that
> > the commercial publishers will remain passive and accept that
> > their articles will stay accessible for these libraries via self
> > archiving activities of others?

Stevan Harnad wrote:

> This is pure speculation, not only not based on any evidence, but contrary
> to all existing evidence, which is that even in fields (such as certain
> areas of physics) where self-archiving has been pracised for 14 years,
> and has long reached 100%, there has been no cancellation pressure, and
> indeed JHEP, which started as an Open Access ("gold") journal, has since
> reverted to a toll-access ("green") journal cost-recovery model even
> though its contents always have been and still remain 100% OA through
> self-archiving.

You miss my point Stevan. While physicists, mathematicians and others were
self-archiving their articles, libraries kept their subscriptions. In that
case publishers did not object. Why should they? But what if libraries
resume their cancellation policies (as they do) and compensate for the loss
of access by profiting from the 'self-archives' of others? Don't forget, in
your self-archiving world publishers are still the owners of copyright.

> What the research community needs now is OA, not more paralytic
> speculation!

I don't think anticipating some futures is paralytic speculation. I could
easily argue the opposite!

> OA itself will be the needed change, if we can stop waiting passively
> for it, self-archiving instead of self-paralysing with counterfactual
> speculations!

Nobody is waiting passively. Dozens of OAI-MHP-repositories have been
installed and their number grows weekly. They are either filled by
self-archivers or by their libraries. In the same time, the number of
OA-journals has more than doubled in 8 months. So, what's your point? The
sun also rises if the cock does not crow!

Leo.
Received on Thu Mar 04 2004 - 23:32:06 GMT