Open access (publishing)

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"Open access" redirects here. For other uses, see Open access (disambiguation).

Open access publishing is the publication of material in such a way that it is available to all potential users without financial or other barriers. An open access publisher is a publisher producing such material. Many types of material can be published in this manner: scholarly journals, known specifically as open access journals, magazines and newsletters, e-text or other e-books (whether scholarly, literary, or recreational), music, fine arts, or any product of intellectual activity. In this context, non-open access distribution is called "toll access" or "subscription access".

Contents 1 Manner of distribution 2 Methods of financing 3 History 4 Criticism 5 Open access by the numbers 6 References 7 Further reading 8 See also 8.1 Movements 8.2 Projects and publishers 8.3 Related types of content

[edit] Manner of distribution

Many traditional media such as certain newspapers, television, and radio broadcasts could be considered "open access". These include commercial broadcasting and free newspapers supported by advertising, public broadcasting, and privately funded political advocacy materials.

The modern open access journal movement almost exclusively distributes content over the Internet, due to its low distribution costs, increasing reach, speed, and increasing importance for scholarly communication. Open source software is sometimes used for institutional repositories^[1], open access journal websites,^[2] and other aspects of scholarly open access publishing.

Broadcast media require receiving equipment, online content requires Internet access, and locally distributed printed media requires transportation to a distribution point. These distribitional considerations do present physical and sometimes financial "barriers" to access, but proponents of the open access model argue that these barriers are relatively low in many circumstances, that efforts should be made to subsidize universal Internet access, or that pay-for-access presents a relatively high additional barrier above and beyond the logistical basics.

[edit] Methods of financing

Advertising is a major source of funding for mass media that do not charge for content, as well as modern web sites and search engines. Public broadcasting relies on government funding and voluntary donations from consumers.

Direct private funding from the author for web hosting is very common on the Internet, and is also a traditional mechanism for wealthy print authors. Non-profit organizations often also freely distribute advocacy materials, and some fund free public art or the production of artistic works.

In scholarly publishing, open access journals are subsidized by the government or the research institutions that are producing articles (either directly or through submission fees).

[edit] History

The roots of the concept of open access can be found in the distant past, from the very beginnings of publishing, re-emerging with every innovation in publishing technology. The printing press allowed the written word to be printed and distributed, thereby extending literacy to the population at large. Moving from vellum to paper made it possible to print more cheaply. The invention of the postal system provided a means of widespread distribution.

The beginnings of the scholarly journal were a way of expanding low-cost access to scholarly findings. Many individuals anticipated the open access concept long before modern low-cost distribution methods. One early proponent was the physicist Leo Szilard. To help stem the flood of low-quality publications, he jokingly suggested in the 1940s that at the beginning of his career each scientist should be issued with 100 vouchers to pay for his papers. The Common Knowledge project was an attempt to share information for the good of all, the brainchild of Brower Murphy, formerly of The Library Corporation. Brower and Common Knowledge are recognised in the Library Microcomputer Hall of Fame.^[3]

Probably the earliest book publisher to provide open access was the National Academies Press, publisher for the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, and other arms of the National Academies. They have provided free online full-text editions of their books alongside priced, printed editions since 1994, and assert that the online editions promote sales of the print editions. As of June 2006 they had more than 3,600 books up online for browsing, searching, and reading.

An explosion of interest and activity in open access journals has occurred since the 1990s, largely due to the widespread availability of Internet access.

[edit] Criticism

Opponents of the open access model assert that the pay-for-access model is necessary to ensure that the publisher is adequately compensated for their work. Scholarly journal publishers that support pay-for-access claim that the "gatekeeper" role they play, maintaining a scholarly reputation, arranging for peer review, and editing and indexing articles, require economic resources that are not supplied under an open access model. The cost of paper publication may also make open access to paper copies infeasible. Opponents claim that open access is not necessary to ensure fair access to developing nations; differential pricing, or financial aid from developed countries or instititions can make access to proprietary journals affordable.

Textbook publishers generally make an even greater investment in the editing process, and electronic textbooks have yet to become widely accepted. For researchers, publishing an article describing novel results in a reputable scientific journal usually does more to enhance one's reputation among scientific peers, and advance one's academic career. Journal article authors are generally not directly financially compensated for their work beyond their institutional salaries and the indirect benefits that an enhanced reputation provides in terms of institutional funding, job offers, and peer collaboration. It could be argued, then, that the financial reward from writing a successful textbook is an important motivating factor, without which the quality and quantity of available textbooks would decrease.

Outside of science and academia, it is unusual for producers of creative output to be financially compensated on anything other than a pay-for-access model. (Notable exceptions include open source software and public broadcasting.) Successful writers, for example, support themselves by the revenues generated by people purchasing copies of their works; publishing houses are able to finance the publication of new authors based on anticipated revenues from sales of those that are successful. Opponents of open access would argue that without direct financial compensation via pay-for-access, many authors would be unable to afford to write, though some would accept the economic hardship of holding down a day job while continuing to write as a "labor of love".

In the entertainment industry, it is argued that unlike science, there is no pressing social need for widespread and barrier-free access to the content.

[edit] Open access by the numbers

• OA books
  • 19,000. August 26, 2006. Number of OA books in Project Gutenberg.
  • 35. February 12, 2006. Number of institutions contributing content to the Open Content Alliance. The OCA doesn't provide this number; users must count the number of institutions listed.
  • 6. August 26, 2006. Number of universities contributing content to the Google Book Search Library Project.
  • 92. February 15, 2006. Percentage of books not generating revenues for their publishers or copyright holders, according to Daniel Clancy, Engineering Director for the Google Book Search Project, in a talk at Stanford University, summarized by James Jacobs.

• OA policies
  • 69. February 12, 2006. Percentage of surveyed non-OA journals that permit authors to self-archive their postprints, according to Eprints statistics.
  • 93. February 12, 2006. Percentage of surveyed non-OA journals that permit authors to self-archive their preprints, postprints, or both, according to Eprints statistics.
  • 31. October 11, 2006. Number of research funding agencies willing to pay article processing fees on behalf of grantees who publish in fee-based OA journals, according to BioMed Central's Summary of funding agency policies on open access.
  • 12. October 11, 2006. Number of research funding agencies to encourage or require grantees to deposit the results of their research in OA repositories, according to BioMed Central's Summary of funding agency policies on open access.
  • 81. May 2005. Percentage of authors who would "willingly" comply with a mandate from their funder or employer to self-archive their research articles, according to Alma Swan and Sheridan Brown, Open access self-archiving: An author study.
  • 115. September 7, 2006. Number of presidents and provosts of U.S. colleges and universities endorsing the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA), which would mandate open access to publicly-funded research. (New signatures are invited.)
  • 18. February 5, 2006. Number of research institutions signing the ROARMAP.
  • 7. August 26, 2006. Number of research institutions mandating OA to their research output, according to the ROARMAP.
  • 5. August 26, 2006. Number of funding agencies mandating OA to the research they fund, according to the ROARMAP.
  • 3,968 / 338. February 5, 2006. Numbers of individual / institutional signatories to the Budapest Open Access Initiative.
  • 151. March 3, 2006. Number of institutional signatories to the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge.
  • 69. February 12, 2006. Number of institutional members of the Alliance for Taxpayer Access. The ATA doesn't provide this number; users have to count the institutions listed.
  • 30. April 14, 2006. Nations with Creative Commons licenses customized for local law. CC doesn't provide this number; users have to count the nations listed.
  • 28. June 20, 2003. Number of participants signing the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing.

• Journal pricing crisis
  • 227 / 64. Percentage increases in journal prices (serial unit cost) / inflation rate (consumer price index) from 1986 to 2002, according to ARL statistics.

[edit] References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]
3. ^ [3]

[edit] Further reading

• Esanu,Julie M. & Uhlir, Paul F. (2004) Open Access and the Public Domain in Digital Data and Information for Science:Proceedings of an International Symposium
• Lessig, Lawrence . Free Culture. New York: Penguin Press, (2004)
• Willinsky, John The Access Principle (2006)

[edit] See also

• Academic publishing
• Publishing

[edit] Movements

• Access to knowledge (A2K)
• Free Culture movement
• Open publishing (different from "open access" publishing)

[edit] Projects and publishers

See List of open access projects.

[edit] Related types of content

• Libre resources
• Open content
• Open data
• Open source
• Public domain - refers to copyright status