Re: Optimizing the European Commission's Open Access Mandate

From: Stevan Harnad <harnad_at_ecs.soton.ac.uk>
Date: Thu, 1 May 2008 14:11:12 +0100

On Thu, 1 May 2008, N. Miradon wrote:

> What about free software for the users of IRs?
> ... [I] wonder whether a piece of free software for Windows,
> offering all the functionality of Papers, iPapers, Sente, Bibdesk...
> plus built-in roaming around DOAJ, ROAR... might not do more to
> persuade scientists of the joys of OA, than any number of mandates from
> the
> Vice Chancellor, the European Commission, or the Politicheskoye Buro.

One might wonder about that. But all the evidence contradicts it:

(1) OA is an access problem for users: Would-be users can't access the
papers they need (because of toll-access barriers -- not because they
cannot find them online).

(2) OA is an impact problem for authors (because their papers are losing
the usage and impact of the would-be users who cannot access them.)

(3) These facts, already known to all authors and users, are not
sufficient to induce more than about 15% of authors to self-archive
spontaneously.

(4) That is why most IRs are 85% empty.

(5) The only exceptions are the mandated IRs (as Arthur Sale's studies,
and an inspection of ROAR and ROARMAP reveal).

(6) You can increase the functionality and the joys of the 15% that is
OA all you like, it still does not draw the 85% that is not OA.

(7) Not even the (likewise well-known) contingencies between research
impact and salary/promotion/tenure/funding are insufficient to draw the
85% that is not OA -- not even when underscored by study after study
showing that OA increases research impact.

(8) The only thing that researchers themselves state (in Alma Swan's
studies) and confirm (in Arthur Sale's studies) will draw the missing
85% is self-archiving mandates from their institutions and funders.

(8) There is absolutely nothing "Politicheskoye Buro" about
self-archiving mandates -- or no moreso than the existing
publish-or-perish mandate, and the existing contingency between
publication/impact and salary/promotion/tenure/funding.

(9) If anything, the only pertinent Buro would be the Prakticheskoe
Buro...

Stevan Harnad
Received on Thu May 01 2008 - 15:44:24 BST