[A2k] Student Coalition Forms to Back Open Access
Manon Ress
manon.ress@keionline.org
Wed Jun 17 12:25:03 2009
Student Coalition Forms to Back Open Access
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/15/qt
Several student groups have issued a statement to jointly back the
open access movement in which scholarly research is shared online and
free. Some journals and researchers are moving to this model on their
own, and others have been forced to do so by federal requirements.
Some in Congress, with backing from publishers, are trying to end
those requirements. The student statement argues for open access as
the best way to share knowledge. "Scholarly knowledge is part of the
common wealth of humanity," says the statement. "Unfortunately, not
everyone has access to the scholarly literature, despite advances in
communications technology. The high cost of academic journals
restricts access to knowledge; in some fields, prices can reach
$20,000 for a single journal subscription or $30 for an individual
article. Despite these high prices, authors of scholarly articles are
not paid for their work. The profits from these publications go solely
to the publishers of the journals. A vast amount of research is funded
from public sources =96 yet taxpayers are locked out by the cost of
access." The statement was endorsed by the American Medical Student
Association, Student PIRGs, Students for Free Culture, Universities
Allied for Essential Medicines, the California Institute of Technology
Graduate Student Council and the Trinity University Association of
Student Representatives.
Student Statement on The Right to Research
http://www.righttoresearch.org/
Scholarly knowledge is part of the common wealth of humanity.
Unfortunately, not everyone has access to the scholarly literature,
despite advances in communications technology. The high cost of
academic journals restricts access to knowledge; in some fields,
prices can reach $20,000 for a single journal subscription1 or $30 for
an individual article.2 Despite these high prices, authors of
scholarly articles are not paid for their work. The profits from these
publications go solely to the publishers of the journals. A vast
amount of research is funded from public sources =96 yet taxpayers are
locked out by the cost of access.
Learning and inquiry are impeded when scholars lack access to fellow
researchers=92 work, and when students lack access to the work of
scholars before them.
At the same time, digital technologies have opened new opportunities
for research. New tools facilitate faster discoveries, speed the
development of new technologies, and accelerate the progress of
science. Patients could have access to the latest medical research,
citizens could evaluate scientific information on environmental
impacts, and developing countries could apply the most recent
scholarship to public health and development efforts.3 But access
barriers leave these opportunities under-explored.
Open Access is an alternative to the traditional closed, subscription-
access system of scholarly communication. Open Access makes the
results of scholarly research available online for free, immediately
upon publication, and removes barriers for scholarly and educational
re-use.4 Entire journals can be open-access, or an author can provide
Open Access to an individual article by posting a copy on an openly
accessible Web site. All forms of open-access publication depend on
rigorous methods of quality control, including peer review.
Open Access has achieved remarkable success to date: more than 4,000
open-access journals are published today;5 millions of articles are
made available via open-access repositories;6 and dozens of policies
from universities and research funders support Open Access;7 but still
more needs to be done.
We, the undersigned student organizations, hereby endorse Open Access
as the preferred model for scholarly communication, because:
(a) Open Access improves the educational experience. All students,
regardless of their institution=92s ability to afford subscriptions,
should have access to the full scholarly record, whether for assigned
reading, research for a term paper, or literature review for a
dissertation.
(b) Open Access democratizes access to research. Students from
around the world should have full access to the scholarly literature,
along with patients looking for medical information and citizens
seeking to learn about the environment or other scientific topics.
(c) Open Access advances research. Open Access helps researchers
be more productive by facilitating access to the latest studies. Open
Access also enables new techniques for computer-assisted research,
paving the way for scientific advancements.
(d) Open Access improves the visibility and impact of scholarship.
Today=92s student is tomorrow=92s scholar. Recent studies suggest that
Open Access articles are downloaded and cited more frequently than
articles that are accessible only through subscription.8 Open Access
fulfills researchers=92 professional responsibility to maximize the
impact of their research.
We hereby:
Call upon UNIVERSITIES to support Open Access
We believe universities should adopt policies that ensure Open Access
to their faculty=92s research, such as the policies adopted at Harvard
University9 and Stanford University.10
Call upon GOVERNMENTS AND RESEARCH FUNDERS to support Open Access
We believe research agencies should adopt policies that ensure Open
Access to publicly funded research, such as that of the National
Institutes of Health11 and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
12
We believe charitable funders likewise should adopt policies that
ensure Open Access to their funded research, such as that of Autism
Speaks13 and the Canadian Cancer Society.14
Call upon RESEARCHERS to support Open Access
We believe researchers should publish in Open Access journals, and/or
deposit their peer-reviewed manuscripts in Open Access repositories.15
Commit to support Open Access in our activities
We will undertake activities, in our membership and on our campuses,
to educate students about Open Access and to engage them in efforts
supporting Open Access.
American Medical Student Association (June 10, 2009)
Student PIRGs (June 10, 2009)
Students for Free Culture (June 10, 2009)
Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (June 10, 2009)
California Institute of Technology Graduate Student Council (June 10,
2009)
Trinity University Association of Student Representatives (June 10,
2009)
SIGN THE STATEMENT
Learn more
* Read the press release
* Join our email list
* Explore the SPARC students Web site
* View PDF
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Statement Home
Contacts:
Nick Shockey
nshockey [at] trinity [dot] edu
Trinity University (BA, 2009)
Senator, Trinity University Association of Student Representatives,
2007-8
Gavin Baker
gavin [at] arl [dot] org
Outreach Fellow, SPARC
University of Florida (BA, 2007)
Laura Janneck
lmj17 [at] case [dot] .edu
Harvard School of Public Health, MPH candidate
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, MD candidate
American Medical Student Association, AIDS Advocacy Network Steering
Committee Member
Jennifer McLennan, SPARC
(202) 296-2296 x121
jennifer [at] arl [dot] org
This Website is supported by SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and
Academic Resources Coalition)
Notes
1. The cost of an institutional subscription to Brain Research in
2009 was $22,940 (http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_h=
ome/622287/bibliographic
).
2. The price per article for Elsevier journals on ScienceDirect is
$31.50 as of March 4, 2009 (http://www.info.sciencedirect.com/licensing/ind=
ividual/ppv/
).
3. World Health Assembly resolution 61.21, =93Global strategy and
plan of action on public health, innovation and intellectual
property,=94 adopted May 24, 2008 (http://www.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/A6=
1/A61_R21-en.pdf
).
4. As defined in the Budapest Open Access Initiative, the Bethesda
Statement on Open Access Publishing, and the Berlin Declaration on
Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (http://www.soros.o=
rg/openaccess/read.shtml
; http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/bethesda.htm; http://oa.mpg.de/openacc=
ess-berlin/berlindeclaration.html)
.
5. The Directory of Open Access Journals lists 4,103 journals as
of May 1, 2009 (http://www.doaj.org/).
6. According to statistics published in the Open Access Directory (http=
://oad.simmons.edu/oadwiki/OA_by_the_numbers
).
7. According to the Registry of Open Access Repository Material
Archiving Policies (http://www.eprints.org/openaccess/policysignup/).
8. =93The effect of open access and downloads (=91hits=92) on citation
impact: a bibliography of studies=94, Open Citation Project (http://opcit.e=
prints.org/oacitation-biblio.html
).
9. =93The Harvard Open-Access Policies,=94 Harvard University Library
Office for Scholarly Communications (http://osc.hul.harvard.edu/OpenAccess/=
overview.php
).
10. =93Stanford University School of Education Open Access Motion=94 (ht=
tp://ed.stanford.edu/suse/faculty/openaccess.html
).
11. =93Public Access Policy=94, National Institutes of Health (http://pu=
blicaccess.nih.gov/policy.htm
).
12. =93Policy on Access to Research Outputs=94, Canadian Institutes of
Health Research (http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/34846.html).
13. =93Policy on Public Access to the Research We Fund,=94 Autism
Speaks (http://www.autismspeaks.org/science/overview/policies/policy_on_pub=
lic_access_to_research.php
).
14. =93Open access policy=94, Canadian Cancer Society (http://cancer.ca/=
research/policies
and administration/policy/open access.aspx).
15. Peter Suber, =93Six things that researchers need to know about
open access=94, SPARC Open Access Newsletter, February 2, 2006 (http://www.=
earlham.edu/~peters/fos/newsletter/02-02-06.htm#know
).
***************************************************************************
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