White House issues open access research policy | Daily Bruin
abernard102@gmail.com 2013-03-01
Summary:
The Association of American Publishers, a leading association for the U.S. publishing industry, said in a statement that it supports the White House’s new policy because it establishes a pathway to collaboration between federal agencies and publishing companies. But the association previously released a separate statement that criticized the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act as a 'waste' of taxpayers’ money. A common argument against open access stems from concerns that academic publishers will not receive adequate compensation for their work. Farb said she does not think there will be any adverse effects on publishers as a result of the White House directive, which may explain why many publishers are supporting the new policy. The directive’s 12-month waiting period allows publishers to release their material behind a paywall to maintain their revenue stream, Farb said. UCLA does not plan to cancel subscriptions to journals because of a need to have the latest research available for students and faculty, she said. Higher education institutions are also more likely to want to protect smaller niche journals because of their alternative addition to research materials, Farb added ...Farb said the University of California and UCLA specifically have been dedicated to making research more available to students and faculty as part of the mission of trying to create and disseminate new knowledge as widely as possible. The University Committee on Libraries and Scholarly Communications, an Academic Senate committee, has also submitted a campus-wide policy for open access of UC research for reviews, Kelty said. Farb said the UC has also instituted a program called eScholarship, that provides open access academic publishing services to the UC. 'We’re not supporting (open access) because it is a cost-saver,' Farb said. “We’re supporting it because it is the right thing to do.'"