Joining a CHORUS, Publishers Offer the OSTP a Proactive, Modern, and Cost-Saving Public Access Solution | The Scholarly Kitchen
abernard102@gmail.com 2013-06-05
Summary:
The infrastructure is described visually in the figure below ... The solution proposed by CHORUS is simple: [1] Publishers create and support a new domain, CHORUS.gov, with agency input [2] Publishers deposit metadata via CrossRef and FundRef for papers with relevant funding [3] Users can search and discover papers directly from CHORUS.gov or via any integrated agency site [4] Users retrieve paper directly from the publishers’ sites using the version of record The timeline for development and deployment is rapid, which underscores the fact that much of what is being brought to bear already exists: [1] High-level System Architecture — Friday, June 14 [2] Technical Specifications — Friday, July 26 [3] Initial Proof-of-Concept — Friday, August 30 The redundant expenses this approach spares the government from incurring are significant, as publishers have spent years deploying proven solutions to issues like cross-domain discoverability, DOI accession indices, preservation and archiving protocols, and uptime and availability monitoring services. In addition to CrossRef and FundRef, technologies contemplated in the CHORUS infrastructure include CLOCKSS, LOCKSS, and Portico for archival storage and retrieval. But there’s a more basic benefit to the CHORUS approach and architecture — namely, nobody has to handle the XML and PDF of the article again, as PubMed Central currently must. Estimates put the cost of this handling at $50-60 per article, which includes translation protocols, QA and QC, loading, and storage. These costs are unnecessary and redundant, and shouldn’t be part of an efficient government solution, as they force taxpayers to shift money away from researchers. It’s good to see publishers being proactive about the OSTP public access memorandum. Earlier mandates left publishers in a defensive role. This time, the publishers seem to know they can’t win the talking points and PR game, so they have to ensure that the solution shows what publishers are capable of doing and how their involvement helps all stakeholders. CHORUS demonstrates in concrete terms that involving publishers in publishing actually makes the most sense financially and economically. An alternative scenario that has been actively promoted among some of the agencies contemplating the OSTP public access memorandum has been to expand PubMed Central to become the US government’s repository for all scientific papers resulting from government funding. Comparatively, CHORUS seems far superior to this path. CHORUS saves the government money. And, by not reducing publisher revenues by decreasing direct traffic, as PMC does, the government isn’t caught in a win-lose scenario for the US economy and US taxpayers ..."