Category Archives: Open Access

Your Invitation to the Open Access Debate

I said the open access debate had been torrid. And it continues apace in the wake of last week’s announcements from the UK government and RCUK, the organisation that represents the common interests of Britain’s Research Councils. This week at … Continue reading

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UK Government Goes For Broke on Open Access

Well that was quick. Less than a month after the Finch working group published its recommendations on the future of open access, UK science minister David Willetts has responded, saying in effect “Let’s go for it.” The government has taken … Continue reading

Posted in Open Access, Science & Politics | Tagged , , | 23 Comments

Open Access by Peter Suber

There has been a fairly torrid debate over open access over the last six months (even longer for aficionados). For people who look in only occasionally it must seem like a storm that swirls around the same arguments time and … Continue reading

Posted in Book Review, Open Access | Tagged , | 20 Comments

Open Access: Who Pays the Copy-editor?

My article on open access in the New Scientist provoked an email from copy-editor Miranda Potter. Starting from the article’s mention of my recent paper in PLoS ONE, she raises the question of who is going to pay for copy-editing … Continue reading

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Finch Report: the question of costs

Last week, having quickly digested the executive summary of the Finch Report on open access (OA), I told you it was complicated. I’ve now read the report in its entirety, along with a large swathes of blogospheric commentary. I’m still decidedly of the view … Continue reading

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Rubicon

This is a big deal for me: my first ever article in New Scientist – a magazine that I read in the library in Ballymena as a teenager. Pardon me for preening a little. What’s it about? You guessed it: … Continue reading

Posted in Blogging, Open Access, Science & Media | Tagged , | 13 Comments

The Finch Report on open access: it’s complicated

A committee set up by government was never going to foment a revolution. And so it has proved to be. The recommendations of the Finch Report released today mark a cautious, measured step in the right direction, but it is nevertheless … Continue reading

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PeerJ – a brave new world?

For me, one of the more appealing aspects of open access publishing is that by making costs transparent it could stimulate competition between publishers and generate innovative solutions to drive down prices. Today sees the launch of one such innovation: … Continue reading

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Open Access: Money and Data talk and say the same thing?

One of these days — I promise — I will get back to writing about science. But a conjunction of tweets today brought to me three articles on open access that were interesting in different ways but curiously all seemed … Continue reading

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Petitioning the President on Open Access

It has been quite a year so far for open access. And the momentum is still building. First came the Elsevier Boycott, triggered by an angry reaction to the publisher’s support for the US Research Works Act, which would have … Continue reading

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Finch Committee: Update

I reported before on the notes from earlier meetings of the Finch Committee, which was set up by Science Minister David WIlletts to formulate proposals for making publicly-funded research more accessible. The notes of their latest meeting, held on 27th … Continue reading

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Access to the Finch Committee on Open Access

The Finch Committee, set up last year by David Willetts to examine how UK-funded research findings can be made more accessible — and mentioned by the minister in his speech on the subject earlier this week — has been meeting … Continue reading

Posted in Open Access, Science, Science & Politics | Tagged , , | 6 Comments