[A2k] Costs and Benefits of Open Access

[Manon Ress]

http://www.knowledge-exchange.info/Default.aspx?ID=3D316

Knowledge Exchange comparative report on Costs and Benefits of Open
Access

  In June 2009 a study was completed that had been commissioned by
Knowledge Exchange and written by Professor John Houghton, Victoria
University, Australia. This report on the study was titled: "Open
Access =96 What are the economic benefits?

A comparison of the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Denmark." This
report was based on the findings of studies in which John Houghton had
modelled the costs and benefits of Open Access in three countries.
These studies had been undertaken in the UK by JISC, in the
Netherlands by SURF and in Denmark by DEFF.

In the three national studies the costs and benefits of scholarly
communication were compared based on three different publication
models. The modelling revealed that the greatest advantage would be
offered by the Open Access model, which means that the research
institution or the party financing the research pays for publication
and the article is then freely accessible.

Adopting this model could lead to annual savings of around EUR 70
million in Denmark,

EUR 133 million in The Netherlands and EUR 480 in the UK. The report
concludes that the advantages would not just be in the long term; in
the transitional phase too, more open access to research results would
have positive effects. In this case the benefits would also outweigh
the costs.

The full report is available here:
Open Access =96 What are the economic benefits?

A comparison of the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Denmark

SNIP


The reports of the three countries can be downloaded below:

     * JISC report:  Economic Implications of Alternative Scholarly
Publishing Models: Exploring the costs and benefits
     * SURF report: Costs and Benefits of Research Communication: The
Dutch Situation
     * DEFF report is not available at the website yet. For questions
concerning the report, please contact Anne Sandf=E6r at DEFF.

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Manon Ress
manon.ress@keionline.org
Knowledge Ecology International
1621 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20009 USA
Tel.:  +1.202.332.2670, Fax: +1.202.332.2673