Friends in Africa: Universities and research labs in Africa needs OA more than anyone else. Friends of OA would like to hear your voices supporting and demanding OA. Best wishes. Arun ----- Response to Olivieri In the August 27 issue of the Times Higher Education Supplement, Stephen Pinfield and Paul Ayris have a letter to the editor responding to Rene Olivieri's article of August 19, Making a pig's ear of an unscientific free-for-all. Excerpt: It is ironic that Rene Olivieri's criticism of supporters of open access...often lapsed into the polemical when this was a label he was trying to pin on his opponents. Despite his calls for the current debate to be more scientific, he omitted to mention many of the relevant facts. In particular, he failed to acknowledge the anomalies of the current system of research publishing. Universities generate research papers, give them away free of charge to publishers and then buy them back at high prices. Researchers give away their services as authors, referees and editorial board members all free of charge and yet their institutions have to buy back the value they have added. Prices are high because (as the Office of Fair Trading has observed) price competition does not properly operate in the academic periodicals market. This means institutions cannot afford to purchase all of the periodicals they would like and so researchers do not have easy access to all of the literature they need. Furthermore, society in general cannot get access to research funded by public money. Researchers want their work to be read and cited, and yet the impact their work can make is being limited. The rise of the Web, which makes wide distribution of content quick and easy, is making the system - which was developed a paper-based world - look anachronistic. Open access has the potential to overcome many of these problems. It is not just an interesting theory. There are a number of working examples, ranging from institutional databases of research papers to new peer reviewed journals. Many mainstream publishers are themselves experimenting with open access models and funding bodies are investing in experiments and studies to see what the future holds. Increasingly, research funders and governments are coming to see the benefits. Better communication means better science. Widening access will benefit the scientific community but will also bring benefits to health care, knowledge transfer and the public understanding of science. Empirical evidence of these benefits is beginning to emerge. Further work should be encouraged for the benefit of the academic community and society in general. Rather than try to turn back the oncoming tide, publishers such as Mr Olivieri would be better advised to ride the wave. Stephen Pinfield is the Deputy Chief Information Officer and Director of Research and Learning Resources at the University of Nottingham. Paul Ayris is the Director of Library Services and Copyright Officer at University College London. Friends in Africa: Universities and research labs in Africa needs OA more than anyone else. Friends of OA would like to hear your voices supporting and demanding OA. Best wishes. Arun ----- Response to Olivieri [A] In the August 27 issue of the http://www.thes.co.uk/current_edition/ Times Higher Education Supplement , Stephen Pinfield and Paul Ayris have a letter to the editor responding to http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2005_08_14_fosblogarchive.html#a112456438... Rene Olivieri's article of August 19, http://www.thes.co.uk/current_edition/story.aspx?story_id=2024070 Making a pig's ear of an unscientific free-for-all . Excerpt: It is ironic that Rene Olivieri's criticism of supporters of open access...often lapsed into the polemical when this was a label he was trying to pin on his opponents. Despite his calls for the current debate to be more scientific, he omitted to mention many of the relevant facts. In particular, he failed to acknowledge the anomalies of the current system of research publishing. Universities generate research papers, give them away free of charge to publishers and then buy them back at high prices. Researchers give away their services as authors, referees and editorial board members all free of charge and yet their institutions have to buy back the value they have added. Prices are high because (as the Office of Fair Trading has observed) price competition does not properly operate in the academic periodicals market. This means institutions cannot afford to purchase all of the periodicals they would like and so researchers do not have easy access to all of the literature they need. Furthermore, society in general cannot get access to research funded by public money. Researchers want their work to be read and cited, and yet the impact their work can make is being limited. The rise of the Web, which makes wide distribution of content quick and easy, is making the system which was developed a paper-based world look anachronistic. Open access has the potential to overcome many of these problems. It is not just an interesting theory. There are a number of working examples, ranging from institutional databases of research papers to new peer reviewed journals. Many mainstream publishers are themselves experimenting with open access models and funding bodies are investing in experiments and studies to see what the future holds. Increasingly, research funders and governments are coming to see the benefits. Better communication means better science. Widening access will benefit the scientific community but will also bring benefits to health care, knowledge transfer and the public understanding of science. Empirical evidence of these benefits is beginning to emerge. Further work should be encouraged for the benefit of the academic community and society in general. Rather than try to turn back the oncoming tide, publishers such as Mr Olivieri would be better advised to ride the wave. Stephen Pinfield is the Deputy Chief Information Officer and Director of Research and Learning Resources at the University of Nottingham. Paul Ayris is the Director of Library Services and Copyright Officer at University College London.