SPARC

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. Action in the Wake of NIH Taxpayer Access Policy Announcement
2. Partner News
3. Industry Roundup
4. Open Access News
5. Upcoming Workshops
6. Latest Articles of Interest

On February 3, 2005, the National Institutes of Health issued its Policy on Enhancing Public Access to Archived Publications Resulting from NIH-Funded Research.  While recognizing the policy as a major step forward, the Alliance for Taxpayer Access (ATA), of which SPARC is the founding organization, said the NIH policy falls short of its expectations. The ATA has urged Congress to monitor the success of the policy and for NIH to adjust it if necessary to ensure full participation and timely access.

In a public letter [PDF] to the U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Michael Leavitt, ATA outlined key concerns with the NIH policy:

• It is entirely voluntary. Although NIH research is funded with taxpayer dollars, the agency is leaving the decision up to each author whether to make their research results available.
• It does not assure timely public availability of research in PubMed Central. Authors can specify an embargo period of up to a year.
• It unnecessarily puts grant recipients in the position of trying to meet the contradictory expectations of their funding agency, which urges but doesn’t require deposit and timely public release, and their publishers, whose agreements with authors may not permit PubMed Central deposit.

To increase public education and action on this issue, SPARC has created a resource for use in campus education and advocacy campaigns to encourage PubMed Central deposit. The resource gives background information about the policy and practical advice to both librarians and NIH-funded researchers.

SPARC members are encouraged to apply their purchase commitment to support these worthwhile publications.

2a. Leading Edge

BIOMED CENTRAL

The Irish Research electronic Libraries Initiative (IReL) has signed up for BioMed Central membership. The membership agreement covers cost of publication in BioMed Central's 130+ open access journals for all seven universities in Ireland for the next two years, whereby all staff and students at Irish universities can publish research articles without directly incurring the usual article processing charge.

In other news, BioMedCentral and the Beilstein-Institut have announced the launch of the first major open access journal for organic chemistry, Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry.  The peer-reviewed online journal will begin publication during 2005, and a call for papers, providing full information for authors, will be issued in May.

The Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry will publish outstanding original research on all aspects of organic chemistry and related disciplines. Areas covered in the journal will include: organic synthesis, organic reactions and mechanisms, natural products chemistry and chemical biology, organic materials and macro- and supramolecular organic chemistry. Professor Jonathan Clayden, of the University of Manchester, U.K., has been appointed as the Editor-in-Chief.

The Beilstein-Institut is committed to improving communication among chemists and will support the journal financially, including the publishing costs, to enable the journal to be open access without charge to authors.  An annual print archival edition will be available for purchase at cost.

The journal will publish full research articles and short communications, as well as occasional reviews and commentary articles. Supplementary data will also be published. There will be particular emphasis on speed of publication and on presentation of the articles in a chemically intelligent way. As an open access journal, the Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry will offer the international community of organic chemists the opportunity to make their research results freely available immediately on publication, and permanently available in the public archives of science.

 

DIRECTORY OF OPEN ACCESS JOURNALS

The DOAJ has added the 1500th title to its web-based listing of open access journals. Lund University, in operating the DOAJ, has provided downloadable records, comma separated format, for a couple of years. In response to user requests, a new Date Added field has been added to both this file and the 30-day rolling posted list of new titles.

 

PUBLIC LIBRARY OF SCIENCE

The Public Library of Science has launched PLoS Pathogens , the last in the series of three new open-access journals announced in January. Now all journals are accepting article submissions, and this latest commences publication in September 2005. PLoS Pathogens will address research on pathogens including bacteria, fungi, parasites, prions, and viruses. As a PLoS journal, PLoS Pathogens will be accessible to all, immediately searchable via PubMed, and authors will retain copyright to their articles according to the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.

 

STANFORD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PHILOSOPHY

Libraries can now support the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP) by joining the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy International Association (SEPIA), a membership organization under the sponsorship of Indiana University Libraries. The purpose of SEPIA is to build an endowment that will provide ongoing funding for publication of SEP as a scholarly, open access source of information on philosophy.

The Southeastern Library Network, Inc. (SOLINET) serves as the fiscal agent for SEPIA. Indiana University (IU) will host a website about SEPIA and partner in promotional activities with ICOLC, SPARC, and SOLINET to raise funds eligible for match through the recently announced NEH Challenge Grant. Dues paid by libraries to join SEPIA will be used to match the NEH Challenge Grant and to build the endowment for SEP.  All questions about SEPIA may be directed to Timothy Cherubini (SOLINET). 

 

2b. Scientific Communities

ESCHOLARSHIP

The eScholarship Repository, which houses a variety of scholarly materials produced under the auspices of University of California research units, centers, and departments, logged its one-millionth full-text download.  Included within the eScholarship Repository, powered by the Berkeley Electronic Press system, are a number of peer-reviewed publications, working papers, monographs, and other scholarly materials. 

UC recently launched a postprints service to provide greater access to UC scholarship. Access to previously published articles written by UC faculty will now be available free online with the new eScholarship postprints service. The eScholarship postprints service provides scholars with another option for regaining control of their scholarship and maximizing its availability and influence.

In addition, the academic community and general public gain an opportunity to study the published results from the research happening at all UC campuses and research centers. Added to the existing array of eScholarship Repository publishing services, which include working paper series and online journals, the postprints feature allows UC faculty who have retained the appropriate copyrights or who obtain permission from their publishers to easily deposit previously published articles into a publicly accessible online repository. The postprints are fully searchable, available free of charge, and are persistently maintained in a centrally managed database.

 

2c. Alternatives

EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY RESEARCH

EER has added full search capabilities to its website.

ACRL Offers Scholarly Communications Toolkit

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) now offers a web-based Scholarly Communications toolkit, a resource designed to support advocacy and education efforts regarding scholarly communication issues for librarians, faculty, academic administrators and other campus stakeholders.

A primary goal of the toolkit is to summarize key issues and content in order to give readers quick, basic information on scholarly communication topics. The toolkit is designed with three pathways: one for academic administrators, one for faculty and one for librarians. Key issues chosen for inclusion are:

1. the effects of inflationary price increases compared with relatively stable information access budgets;
2. new alternatives for disseminating scholarly information;
3. aggregated or bundled electronic content; author control of intellectual property; and,
4. publisher mergers and acquisitions.

In addition to a basic introduction of each topic, other tools featured in the site include a bibliography that selects and annotates a few key items as well as providing annotated links to such items as online exhibits, sample publishing agreements, directories, price data and a list of other associations working in this arena.

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Symposium on Antitrust Issues in Scholarly and Legal Publishing

The Information Access Alliance (IAA) and the American Antitrust Institute (AAI) sponsored "Antitrust Issues in Scholarly and Legal Publishing," an invitational symposium held at the Georgetown Law Center on February 11. Attendees included more than 50 lawyers and law professors, antitrust experts, federal and state regulators, economists, professors, and librarians.

According to a position paper [PDF] written for the symposium by Albert Foer, president of AAI, the scholarly publishing industry has been marked by four important developments:

1. a large number of mergers;
2. prices for academic publications have been advancing far faster than in the economy generally;
3. the revolution of the ways in which academic information is being disseminated via the Internet; and,
4. big deal bundling, which has emerged as a way of sheltering some publishers from the “storm of creative destruction” threatened by the Internet.

In his presentation Market Remedies: the Role of Open Access Publishing, Rick Johnson, SPARC Executive Director, discussed the role of open access publishing as a legitimate market remedy. Open access promises to reduce the pricing power of publishers, remove unnecessary barriers to access, and introduce efficiencies by unbundling the functions associated with scholarly publishing.

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ACLS History E-Book Project Expands

The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) History E-Book (HEB) project has added over 100 new titles in African History, Asian Studies, and Comparative/World History. With this addition, the ACLS History E-Book Project now includes over 1,000 fully searchable, high-quality books recommended and reviewed by historians, featuring multi-user access, downloadable MARC records, and links to online reviews. The collection is available 24/7, on- and off-campus, and also includes titles in the fields of American History, European History, Middle Eastern History, and the History of Technology.

The History E-Book Project will continue to add 250 titles each year, expanding into the fields of Latin American History, Australasia and Oceania, Byzantium, Methods and Theory, Native Peoples of the Americas, and Women's Studies. The project is distinguished by the depth of its collection, its powerful search engine, and the quality of its title-selection process.

In related news, the ACLS History E-Book Project recently launched its newPrint-on-Demand (POD) Program, making 250 hard-to-find and out-of-print books readily available to students, scholars, and the general public. Working with the University of Michigan's Scholarly Publishing Office (SPO) and the POD vendor, Lightning Source, HEB uses its own digital files and digital printing techniques to produce standard print books in a rapid and cost-effective process that approaches the quality of the original print editions. For more information, view the introductory presentation about the project: The History E-Book Project [zipped PPT]. For trials, please contact Ginny Wiehardt, managing editor for library relations.

Directory of Open Access Repositories Planned

The Directory of Open Access Repositories (DOAR), which is currently in the planning stage, will support the rapidly emerging movement promoting open access to research information. DOAR, development of which is being supported in part by SPARC Europe, will categorize and list the wide variety of open access research archives that have sprung up around the world. DOAR will provide a comprehensive and authoritative list of institutional and subject-based repositories, as well as archives set up by funding agencies like the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Wellcome Trust. Upon completion, users of the service will be able to analyze repositories by location, type, the material they hold and other measures.

The project is a joint collaboration between the University of Nottingham (U.K.) and Lund University (Sweden). In addition to SPARC Europe, DOAR funders include the Open Society Institute (OSI), the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), and the Consortium of Research Libraries in the British Isles (CURL). 

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New Open Access Bibliography Lists E-Prints and Open Access Journals

A new Open Access Bibliography: Liberating Scholarly Literature with E-Prints and Open Access Journals [PDF] was published early in March by the Association of Research Libraries. Prepared by Charles W. Bailey, Jr. , the bibliography presents over 1,300 selected English-language books, conference papers (including some digital video presentations), debates, editorials, e-prints, journal and magazine articles, news articles, technical reports, and other printed and electronic sources that are useful in understanding the open access movement. Most sources were published between 1999 and August 31, 2004; a limited number of key sources published prior to 1999 are also included.

Where possible, links are provided to sources that are freely available on the Internet (approximately 78 percent of the bibliography's references have such links). The bibliography is organized into the following categories: General Works, Open Access Statements, Copyright Arrangements for Self-Archiving and Use, Open Access Journals, E-Prints, Disciplinary Archives, Institutional Archives and Repositories, Open Archives Initiative and OAI-PMH, Conventional Publisher Perspectives, Government Inquiries and Legislation, and Open Access Arrangements for Developing Countries. The publication also includes a concise overview of key concepts that are central to the open access movement. A printed and bound edition is available from ARL for $45.

Webcast: Ownership and Access in Scholarly Publishing

Cohosts:
University of Maryland Health Sciences and Human Services Library
Johns Hopkins University Libraries
April 6, 2005, 1–5 p.m. EST

This webcast is meant to inform academic faculty, graduate students, and staff on publishing trends and explain new models likely to affect their professional communication and research. Any questions about the webcast or for more detailed instructions on how to enable the stream, contact oasp@hshsl.umaryland.edu.

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ACRL 12th Annual Meeting
Minneapolis, Minn.

SPARC–ACRL Workshop

Building a Successful Institutional Repository: An Introduction for Smaller Libraries
Friday, April 8, 2005
2:30–6:30 p.m.; Room L100A

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Allen Press Emerging Trends Seminar

Washington, D.C.
April 13, 2005

Allen Press’ annual seminar will be moderated by Cara Kaufman, who conducted a recent ALPSP/AAAS/HighWire research project on open access. Seminar topics will include Google/CrossRef, Open Access, and the NIH public access policy. 

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CERN Workshop on Innovations in Scholarly Communication (OAI4)

CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
October 20–22, 2005

This workshop is the latest in a successful series that began in 2001. It brings together activists who are at the forefront of scholarly communication change. The organizing committee will soon be issuing a call for contributions and website.

The list that follows is a sampling of recent articles on open access, taxpayer access, and/or SPARC.

Chui, Glennda. “Taxpayers pay twice for health research.” San Jose Mercury News, January 31, 2005.

Kaiser, Jocelyn. NIH Unveils Public Access Policy. Science, February 3, 2005.

Malakoff, David. Government Program Opens Access to Scientific Studies. Morning Edition, NPR, February 3, 2005.

Malakoff, David. NIH to Deliver Free Access to Research. All Things Considered , NPR, February 3, 2005.

Weiss, Rick. NIH Grant Recipients Are 'Asked' to Post Data: New Policy on 'Public Access' Draws Criticism. The Washington Post, February 4, 2005.

“Who Pays the Piper: The Advance of Open Access Publishing.” The Economist, February 10, 2005.

Send corrections, comments and responses to Alison Buckholtz.

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© SPARC 2005:
SPARC E-News is an open-access publication distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

posted: April 02, 2005