On Piracy, Hostage-Taking, and Gold Ransom Payment

From: Stevan Harnad <amsciforum_at_GMAIL.COM>
Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:12:27 -0400

Contrary to the suggestion of this RCUK report, there is no "Gold
Standard" for OA except universal OA. And the way to universalize OA
is to universalize Green OA self-archiving mandates to all
institutions and funders globally, not to divert scarce research
money -- pre-emptively and needlessly -- toward paying Gold OA
publication fees at a time when subscription fees are still paying
for publication worldwide and only 77 out of 10,000 institutions and
funders have yet mandated Green OA. 


It is not that Green OA mandates are failing to achieve compliance,
as this RCUK report states: It is that they have not yet been adopted
by 99.23% of the world's institutions and funders!


Unlike "peer-to-peer" consumer "sharing" of creators' non-give-away
commercial output, creators giving away their own peer-reviewed and
public funded research output to maximize its uptake, usage and
impact is not piracy but the sharing of a public good for public
benefit. In contrast, publisher embargoes on research access are the
hostage-taking of a public good -- and the way to counter that is
immediate-deposit (IDOA) mandates coupled with the "Email EPrint
Request" Button, not the payment of a gold ransom.


Stevan Harnad
Received on Fri Apr 24 2009 - 12:13:03 BST