[A2k] European Commission Conference: Scientific Publishing in the European Research Area - Brussels, 15-16 February 2007

[Armbruster, Chris]

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OA TO RESEARCH ARTICLES AND DATA SHOULD BE USED TO FOSTER INNOVATION FOR TH=
E SAKE OF THE EUROPEAN AREAS OF RESEARCH AND OF HIGHER EDUCATION

The programme of the European Commission Conference: Scientific Publishing =
in the European Research Area - Brussels, 15-16 February 2007 includes spea=
kers from the publishing industry such as Reed Elsevier and Springer, but i=
t is clear that the proponents of Open Access are having their day in Bruss=
els (on top of this - from Springer it is Jan Velterop). This vindicates th=
ose that read the outcome of the earlier study as an unequivocal support of=
 OA, at least among the authors of the study and - presumably - among those=
 in DG Research that commissioned the study.

Yet, it is far from certain that the conference will become a milestone on =
the way to OA. For the OA movement may be heading into a dead end.  It is w=
orrying to see the widespread incapacity to understand the importance of un=
blocking innovative capacities in scientific publishing, scholarly communic=
ation and access to data.

And here is the problem with the prior study of scientific publishing in Eu=
rope, with the so-called green road to access and with the new approach of =
Science Commons. The study by Dewatripont et al failed to address the issue=
 of copyright and thus missed the importance of shifting the dissemination =
of research articles AND data from an IPR to nonexclusive licensing. Many p=
roponents of green OA seem to brazenly assume that they can go on self-arch=
iving post-prints without paying attention to copyright - At some point in =
the future (when OA pressure has abated somewhat) publishers will ask their=
 authors to remove all openly accessible copies of the research article, wo=
rd-wide, from all servers. Publishers are not to be blamed - for as long as=
 their business model of regarding research articles and data as 'property'=
 is accepted by researchers, universities and research funders. Shareholder=
s have every right to insist that publishers maximise profits from the prop=
erty that they have acquired.

That Science Commons should now also be advocating self-archiving is unbeli=
evable. It is no comfort that SC provides =91author addenda=92 for copyrigh=
t transfer contracts by which the author retains the right to self-archive.=
 This is nonsense because it effectively legitimates the mistaken idea that=
 the future of scientific publishing and data management should continue to=
 be one in which the publishing house will own the IPR to the article.

The green road to OA and the Science Commons =91author addenda=92 are not i=
n the best interest of researchers and universities. They are certainly det=
rimental to the interest of higher education institutions and their student=
s. And they are ruinous to the economic future of Europe. Here is why: Give=
n the expansion of research, the rise of the internet, the acceleration of =
innovation and the increasing importance of knowledge-based industry and se=
rvices it is imperative that access to scientific knowledge (in the form of=
 research articles and data that have been publicly funded and/or have been=
 produced not-for-profit) be unrestricted and seamless. This would not only=
 increase the quality of research (ease of peer review, availability of res=
ults, transparency of knowledge claims), it would also unblock the market f=
or the creative emergence of new services to readers and authors. Given the=
 large number of knowledge claims, the enormous amount of publications in c=
irculation and the requirement to handle ever more complex data, we urgentl=
y need services that help readers (be they researchers, students or compani=
es) organize their activities more effectively and efficiently.

The challenge to the European Commission is not to take sides for or agains=
t OA. It is to understand what legal, economic and technical regime would b=
e best for the quality of research in the ERA, for the quality of higher ed=
ucation in the EHEA and for the economic prosperity of Europe as a whole.

Chris Armbruster

Cyberscience and the knowledge-based economy, open access and trade publish=
ing: From contradiction to compatibility with nonexclusive copyright licens=
ing

Open access in social and cultural science - Innovative moves to enhance ac=
cess, inclusion and impact in scholarly communication

Five reasons to promote open access and five roads to accomplish it in soci=
al and cultural science

Available at http://ssrn.com/author=3D434782



Executive Director
Research Network 1989
http://www.cee-socialscience.net/1989/


Past Fellow of the Fondazione Antonio Ruberti and EIROforum
(EIROforum is: European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN); European =
Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA); European Molecular Biology Laboratory =
(EMBL); European Space Agency (ESA); European Southern Observatory (ESO); E=
uropean Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF); Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL)=
)

Past Jean Monnet Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, =
European University Institute, Florence

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