Re: Stevan Harnad's misconception 3

From: Stevan Harnad <harnad_at_ecs.soton.ac.uk>
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 19:35:55 +0000

On Wed, 28 Feb 2007, Velterop, Jan, Springer UK wrote:

> Misconception: Publishers think protecting their risks outweighs the
> benefits of OA.
>
> Stevan Harnad mentions two risks that publishers face. The risk of
> self-archiving mandates to undermine subscription income and the risk of
> authors/institutions/funders not willing to pay enough for OA
> publishing. Perhaps unlike some tenured scientists, publishers are used
> to living with risk. And there are more than Stevan mentions. For
> instance the risk of not engaging in OA at all.
>
> When Stevan talks about the 'benefits of OA' he means the benefits of OA
> to the formally published, peer-reviewed and certified literature. OA to
> research results themselves is easy enough. Authors can just post their
> work on n'importe quel web server.
>
> Outfits that are asked to arrange this formal publication process are
> known as 'publishers'. The benefits of OA are the benefits of access to
> the formal literature. Without 'publishers', no formal literature. The
> risk to publishers *is* the risk to the benefits of OA.

Jan continues to discuss ideological generalities:

(1) Is he for or against OA?

(2) If for it, is he for or against mandating OA self-archiving (Green).

If for (1) and against (2), please explain how/why this is not a blatant
contradiction. No ideology or philosophy please, just straight answers.

Stevan Harnad
> Jan Velterop
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: SPARC Open Access Forum [mailto:SPARC-OAForum_at_arl.org]
> > On Behalf Of Stevan Harnad
> > Sent: 28 February 2007 04:09
> > To: SPARC Open Access Forum
> > Subject: [SOAF] Reply to Jan Velterop, and a Challenge to
> > "OA" Publishers Who Oppose Mandating OA via Self-Archiving
> >
> > ** Cross-Posted **
> >
> [cut]
> >
> > Now both forms of OA represent some possible risk to
> > publishers' revenue
> > streams:
> >
> > With Green OA, there is the risk that the authors' free online
> > versions will make subscription revenue decline, possibly
> > unsustainably.
> >
> > With Gold OA, there is the risk that either subscription
> > revenue will
> > decline unsustainably or author/institution publication
> > charges will
> > not generate enough revenue to cover expenses (or make a profit).
> >
> > So let us not deny the possibility that OA in either form may
> > represent some risk to publishers' revenues and to their
> > current way of doing business. The real question is whether
> > or not that risk, and the possibility of having to adapt to
> > it by changing the way publishers do business, outweighs the
> > vast and certain benefits of OA to research, researchers,
> > universities, research institutions, research funders, the
> > R&D industry and the tax-paying public.
> >
> [cut]
>
Received on Wed Feb 28 2007 - 19:56:15 GMT