[LIS-Forum] Re: European Union study on scientific publishing

[arun at mssrf.res.in]

Friends:

Here is a letter from Dr Alma Swan, who came to deliver the keynote
address at the special session on open access at this year's Science
Congress, held at Hyderabad. Please request your scientist friends to
write to the European Union's Directorate General of Research at
rtd-scientific-publication at cec.eu.int

Let them tell how important it is to have open access to all scientific
research papers. Inaction may be taken to mean that OA is not really an
important issue for scientists!

Best wishes.

Arun
[Subbiah Arunachalam]


> Dear friends,
>
> I apologise for the round-robin message but time is of the essence and I
> need to get this out to a number of people quickly.
>
> Responses are currently being collected to the European Union's study on
> scientific publishing
> (http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/pdf/scientific-publication-stu
> dy_en.pdf). The report is long, but the recommendations are right at the
> beginning and include some excellent ones for Open Access. A good summary
> of
> the report and its findings is found in Robin Peek's article for
> InformationToday at: http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb060410-1.shtml
>
> I have been told that there is disappointment at the EU that the research
> community has not responded more enthusiastically. The EU people see their
> role as serving the research community and feel - rightly - that the
> future
> of publishing should be an important issue for that community. The lack of
> response belies that, unfortunately.
>
> The deadline for responses has been extended until June 15th in order to
> give the research community more time to respond. If we don't respond,
> then
> the EU cannot be blamed for assuming OA is not an important issue to
> academia. This is the chance to show that it is, and the chance won't come
> again. So, if you can spare a few moments, please would you write a line
> or
> two in support of Open Access for research results, declaring your
> position
> and interest and saying why it would be beneficial for the EU to take a
> policy decision on Open Access to scientific research results. It doesn't
> matter if you live and work outside the EU: the arguments for OA apply the
> world over and you can encourage the EU to set an example in this respect.
>
> Your message should be e-mailed to DG Research at:
> rtd-scientific-publication at cec.eu.int
>
> Responses are probably measured as much by numbers as by the quality of
> the
> content - like parliamentary representatives counting letters for and
> against an issue to give them an idea of strength of public feeling! Just
> a
> couple of lines from you would therefore make a difference: there is no
> need
> to spend a lot of time on it if you are busy. If you can represent your
> group, department, school or even institution then that would add even
> more
> weight.
>
> Thanks in advance if you can contribute.
>
> With warm best wishes,
>
> Alma
> __________________________
> Alma P Swan, BSc, PhD, MBA
> Director
> Key Perspectives Ltd
> 2 Denver Place
> Elm Grove Road
> Topsham
> Devon, UK
> EX3 0EP
> Tel: +44 (0)1392 879702
> www.keyperspectives.co.uk
> Consultants to the scholarly information industry
>
>