Re: Plan B for NIH Public Access Mandate: A Deposit Mandate

From: Stevan Harnad <amsciforum_at_GMAIL.COM>
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 23:07:23 -0400

[Posted with permission]

Fred Friend (JISC) wrote:

> Under your Plan B, what would stop publishers
      increasing the

> Closed Access embargo period to two years?


Dear Fred,

Your question is a good one, a natural one, and a pertinent one:

(1) "Plan B" is a contingency plan, in case the Conyers Bill should
defeat the current NIH OA Policy (i.e., "Plan A").

(2) If the Conyers Bill were to pass, not only Plan A but all
protection
from publisher embargoes would be dead in the water.

(3) Plan B is hence designed to free the NIH Mandate from any
dependence  at all on publishers to decide when research (postprints)
may be deposited.
(4) Plan B is to make all research postprints OA as soon as they can
be, but to require that the actual deposit of all postprints in IRs
be made
immediately upon acceptance for publication, and to rely on
almost-OA 
(via the semi-automatic "email eprint request" Button) for deposits
that 
for any reason cannot be made OA immediately.

(5) With Immediate-Deposit mandated universally, "Almost-OA" (via the
Button) serves research and public needs almost as well as OA during
any embargo period.

(6) Universal Deposit mandates, plus the resulting enormous growth in
usage
and impact via OA and Almost-OA, will make it harder and harder for
publishers
to justify embargoes, while at the same time making embargoes
virtually
ineffectual:

(7) Hence embargoes will die their natural and well-deserved deaths
once
universal Deposit (Plan B) is mandated, by all research institutions
and funders, worldwide, paving the way for full, immediate OA.

(8) It is far less clear whether Plan A [Delayed, Post-Embargo
Deposit]
can or will be universally adopted, by all research institutions and
funders, worldwide -- nor whether, even if it were, it would ever
lead to
immediate-OA.

(9) Even with the Button, Delayed-Post-Embargo Mandates
cannot provide immediate almost-OA.

(10) Hence it is in fact Plan A that locks in publisher embargoes, 
not Plan B!

Best wishes, Stevan
Received on Wed Sep 17 2008 - 04:09:42 BST