greetings -
Stevan Harnad wrote:
> Perhaps it would be a good idea if OSI subsidized authors from
> disadvantaged countries and institutions to provide OA to their
> articles by
> self-archiving them in their institutional archives: Then the subsidy
> might
> generate more OA articles from the same author and institution for the
> same
> amount of subsidy money!
Once an institutional repository has been set up, the cost for
self-archiving on a per-item basis is virtually nil; it takes perhaps
10-15 minutes of the author's time, using server capacity already
developed.
If the desire is to provide funding to set up institutional
repositories, my suggestion is that this makes most sense on a systemic
(e.g. JISC, the CARL Institutional Repository Program in Canada) or at
minimum institutional basis, rather than a per-article basis.
There are many roads to Open Access, and in my opinion, this is a very
good thing. There are many different disciplines, countries,
institutions, etc., in the world. The best approach in one field or
region will not necessarily be the best approach for all. To get Open
Access going quickly - around the world - likely means somewhat
different flavors of Open Access. It's easier to adjust OA models to
local circumstances than it is to adjust local circumstances (such as
whether advanced education is public or private, and if, public,
coordinated at national or provincial/state levels) to OA.
Kudos to JISC and OSI for these important initiatives.
Heather G. Morrison
Project Coordinator
BC Electronic Library Network
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phone: 604-268-7001
Fax: 604-291-3023
Email: heatherm_at_eln.bc.ca
Web:
http://www.eln.bc.ca
Received on Mon Oct 04 2004 - 16:59:42 BST