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Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Open access gaining momentum
The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit organization of
scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific
and medical research a public resource. PLoS publishes open-access
journals of original peer-reviewed research, including PLoS Biology
and PLoS Medicine, which are available for free to anyone in the world
with a connection to the Internet. Visit www.plos.org for more
information.
Something more encouraging has happened in last week of July, 2004.
What I mean is the report released by the Science and Technology
Committee of the United Kingdom's House of Commons and the
recommendation by the Appropriations Committee of the U.S. House of
Representatives . The latter wanted National Institute of Health (
NIH ) to immediately develop a policy to make the results of research
it funds free online. According to the House of commons committee
report, "It is not for either publishers or academics to decide who
should, and who should not, be allowed to read scientific journals."
The report dismisses arguments made by publishers against open-access
publishing, and urges the government to take concrete actions in
support of open access.The UK's Wellcome Trust and the US's Howard
Hughes Medical Institute, the two largest private funders of
biomedical research in the world, have both endorsed open-access
publishing as well
Alas ! none of the broad sheet newspapers ( leave alone tabloids )
thought this is something which is going to change the scientific
environment of the world. None of them want to inform the public,
significance of these developments in scientific world. In this
situation , I feel the discussion on open access publishing has to be
taken to the public forums through all available outlets. Unless you
bring matters of real concern to public attention the small brains
will have to be satisfied with fox hunting, Rooney websites etc. Let
me use this opportunity to republish excerpts from an editorial which
this writer has co authored few months ago in a regional but online
open access journal.
Open Access Publishing in the Developing World making a Difference
P.V Ramachandran, Vinod Scaria
pvramachandran@yahoo.com and vinodscaria@yahoo.co.in
Journal of Orthopaedics
2004
Introduction:
Open Access has already become the buzzword in scholarly discussions
and publishing circles. The scholar community, which was denied
barrier- free access to vital research, has already begun dreaming of
the free world where exchange of vital research is seamless. The Open
Access Movements are gaining momentum and public acceptance
worldwide.Though Open Access has gained momentum around the globe, the
philosophy has not evoked enthusiasm in the developing world. Many
factors including lack of information motivation could be attributed.
Scholarly Publishing in the Developing World:
Scholarly publishing in the Developing world is still dominated by the
conventional print technology, which is both expensive to produce and
distribute. This has added to the burden of the low profit margin of
publishers, which significantly hamper further investments. Moreover,
the International readership of these Journals, are abysmally low
which indirectly reflects in the low visibility and impact of these
Journals. Though Internationally, these journals may seem dubious
entities not worth recognition, the impact in terms of the power to
kinder changes in health care should in no way overlooked. These
Journals have been serving the Information needs and have been the
sole source of up-to-date vital information for medical professionals
in rural areas. It has been emphasised that these regional journals
are essential in maintaining the health of the population.The low
visibility added with the access restrictions significantly hamper the
growth of these Journals into mature internationally recognised
entities.
Open Access: How it can create a change :
Open Access can change the scenario by a multi-pronged approach.
Firstly by releasing the content in an open access license, which
inherently includes reuse permissions, will make it available in
different forms and different avenues free of cost. This significantly
improves access. For example, a recent editorial published in Calicut
Medical Journal was translated to vernacular language and republished
in a popular health magazine, which made the article accessible to a
community which had no access to the primary literature.Secondly
improved access -and Open Access in general has been shown to
significantly improve the citations and thereby the impact. Since
Impact Factor is a well-recognised scale for assessing Journals, an
improved impact would add to the credibility of the Journal, which
in-turn ad to increased submissions and further increase in access.
Pblishing online also reduces the cost of production and distribution
significantly, and there is no additional cost per copy unlike
conventional print Journals.
Open Access Publishing in the Developing World: Initial Success Stories :
Our preliminary assessment indicates that well planned Open Access
start-up Journals from developing countries were largely successful.
For example, Calicut Medical Journal ( www.calicutmedicaljournal.org
)covered 1 million hits in just less than 5 months. Specialist
journals like Internet Health [www.internet-health.org] also boasts of
such high visibility. These and other Journals like Journal of
Postgraduate Medicine ( www.jpgmonline.com ) also rank highly on
search engines, which is an indirect indication of their visibility.
Problems of Open Access in the Developing world :
The major problems of Open Access in the developing world are: Low
level of awareness, scanty support and other access barriers. The
primary obstacle in the way of growth of Open Access movement in the
developing world is the low level of awareness among academicians and
Publishers. Most academicians are not well informed on how they could
improve the visibility of their publications by making it Open Access
(including OA archiving at Repositories). Many are not aware of Open
Access alternatives, which has been a major food for thought in the
Open Access community all over the world. Lack of support is another
factor hampering the creation of new OA Journals. Most of the high
output countries in the developing world are somehow excluded from
funding by major support organisations. Non-financial support and
comprehensive consultancy services for new start-ups are also lacking
and it is almost impossible for new start-ups, funded by small
organisations to meet the financial liabilities of engaging an
established consultancy service from the west.
How can we make a difference ?
Open Access movement is thought to be borne on three pillars of Open
Access Publishing, Open Access support and Open Access Archiving.
Strengthening the OA framework indicates the need to strengthen all
the three pillars to ensure stability. This necessitates a strong
framework and infrastructure to ensure support to new OA Journals.
Existing OA Journal teams have acquired valuable expertise on their
own. Their valuable insights could do a big difference to newer
Journals. To this end an alliance comprising of Editors of Open Access
Medical Journals is advancing past its conceptual blueprints. This
alliance is thought to guide new Open Access Journal teams through
their teething problems and create a receptive environment and a
fertile ground for new Open Access Journals. There is also the need
for hard financial support for new Open Access Journals. Academicians
, researchers and publishers need to be well informed regarding the
benefits of Open Access and open archiving. Open Archiving of papers
is recognised as one major and simple step in making literature freely
accessible. Researchers should also be made aware of Alternative Open
Access Journals.
Conclusions :
Recognising the potential of Open Access in creating a positive change
in the existing academic scenario all over the world and more so in
the Developing countries, we feel there is an acute need to build
infrastructure in the domains of Publishing, Archiving and Support-
addressing the special needs of scholars and publishers in the
developing world. All policies need to be taken with particular
emphasis on regional Journals and small publishers. We feel this could
be realised by formal and realistic alliances between scholar
communities, Publishers and funding agencies and Philanthropists. We
hope this paper would attract thought and resources in this direction.
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