Re: View concerning Open Access: Correction

From: Stevan Harnad <harnad_at_ecs.soton.ac.uk>
Date: Fri, 14 May 2010 18:27:31 -0400

On 2010-05-14, at 12:03 PM, Steve Berry wrote:

      Stimulated by a recent discussion with a colleague claiming at first
      to be a skeptic, even an opponent, of open access,I would like to
      present my personal view--which my colleague accepted and found
      totally compatible with his skepticism.
The essential idea is this:  Scientific findings and scientific
information achieve their values only when they are made available
to the communities where such findings and information can be used.  Those
findings and information are public goods in the
strict economic sense, that they do not lose value by being used.  In
fact, scientific information goes beyond the traditional 
economists' model in that it increases in value with increased use.  This
means that the agency that provides financial support
for carrying out the research also carries a responsibility for enabling
the results of that research to be made available to the
audience of potential users.  In short, the supporter of the research is
obligated to provide sufficient funding to enable the researcher
to publish the results of the work.  The researcher is normally the best
judge of what medium or media would be most effective for this.
If it happens to be a journal that has page charges, then the funder of
the research carries the responsibility of providing the funds
to pay those page charges.  It's as simple as that.


No, it's simpler than that. No one has to pay extra charges for Open Access. The
peer-reviewed final draft need merely be be deposited, free for all, in the
author's institutional repository, immediately upon acceptance for publication.

That is what all the OA mandates are about -- not about paying journal page
charges.

It's good to win over skeptics -- but make sure you know what it is that they
are to be won over to!

Stevan Harnad
Received on Fri May 14 2010 - 23:28:34 BST