Prior AmSci Topic Thread:
"The Special Case of Law Reviews" (2003-2004)
http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/3192.html
Walled Gardens
by Dan Hunter
Washington & Lee Law Review, Vol. 62, 2005
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=635141
Abstract: The most significant recent development in scholarly
publishing is the open access movement, which seeks to provide
free online access to scholarly literature. Though this movement
is well-developed in scientific and medical disciplines, American
law reviews are almost completely unaware of the possibilities
of open access publishing models. This Essay explains how open
access publishing works, why it is important, and makes the case
for its widespread adoption by law reviews. It also reports on a
survey of law review publication policies conducted in 2004. This
survey shows, inter alia, that few law reviews have embraced the
opportunities of open access publishing, and many of the top
law reviews are acting as stalking horses for the commercial
interests of legal database providers. The open access model
promises greater access to legal scholarship, wider readership
for law reviews, and reputational benefits for law reviews and
the law schools which house them. This Essay demonstrates how
open access comports with the institutional aims of law schools
and law reviews, and is better suited to the unique environment
of legal publishing than the model that law reviews currently
pursue. Moreover, the institutional structure of law reviews
means that it is possible that the entire corpus of law reviews
could easily move to an open access model, making law the first
discipline with a realistic prospect of complete commitment to
free, open access of all scholarly output.
Received on Sat Jan 01 2005 - 06:17:48 GMT