Some progress on Open Access

“This morning there have been two very interesting developments on open access. First, Doug Kell, Chief Executive of the BBSRC, responded on his blog to my open letter. His reply is detailed and goes some way to clarifying progress in the approaches that Research Councils will take to improve uptake of OA publishing options. I would encourage you to read it and respond. He makes some encouraging noises, although I did not yet see any mention of a commitment to follow Wellcome in affirming “the principle that it is the intrinsic merit of the work, and not the title of the journal in which an author’s work is published, that should be considered in making funding decisions.” This would be an important component of any revised policy (as discussed in the comments beneath my last post). And secondly, Elsevier have this morning announced they are withdrawing support for the Research Works Act. It remains to be seen what further steps the publisher will make to improve their commitment to open access modes of publishing but this is a positive and welcome step... It is progress surely but, as several commenters have pointed out, does not yet represent a material change on the publisher’s OA policies. That will take sustained pressure. The blogs on Elsevier’s announcement that caught my eye today were from: Cameron Neylon on Google+, Gavia Libraria, the library loon, the irrepressible Mike Taylor and Bjorn Brembs,  and Michael Eisen, who exhorts people to pause briefly to celebrate the news but then to “get back to the trenches”. Is it ironic to suggest that the very open access that allows such effective sharing of news and information within the blogosphere has been a powerful mechanism for undermining Elsevier’s opposition to the growth of open access in academic publishing? Perhaps there’s a lesson to be learned there.”