EU council’s ‘no pay’ publishing model draws mixed response

peter.suber's bookmarks 2023-06-02

Summary:

"The European Union’s council of ministers has called for the bloc to implement a ‘no pay’ academic-publishing model that bears no cost to readers or authors. The recommendations, part of a set of principles on scholarly publishing adopted by the council on 23 May, are not legally binding and have been welcomed by some members of the academic community. But representatives of publishers say that the suggestion is unrealistic and that the council has not outlined crucial details, including how such a model would be funded.... Organizations including the German Research Federation (DFG) have welcomed the principles. In a statement, the DFG said that it supported the “landmark recommendations”. “Under no circumstances should a situation arise in which the availability of funds determines participation in academic discourse,” it said. Such statements show “strong political support” for open-access publishing, says Vinciane Gaillard, deputy director for research and innovation at the European University Association (EUA) in Brussels, which represents more than 850 institutions.   However, representatives of the publishing industry say that the implications of the council’s recommendations haven’t been fully considered.... The conclusions are concerning because they support a move that would abolish an industry, and propose building a new publishing system without clarification about how it would be paid for, says Caroline Sutton, the chief executive of the STM, a membership organization for the academic publishing industry headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands. One of the stated policy goals is cost reduction, yet “no proper economic analysis has been carried out”, she says. “It’s often presented as if this alternative is free.” The STM is also concerned that the move would eliminate independent European publishing companies and usher in a state-defined system that could stymie academic freedom. It warns that the amount of public funds needed by member states or institutions to build repositories of academic research papers is hard to quantify...."

Link:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-01810-7

From feeds:

[IOI] Open Infrastructure Tracking Project » Items tagged with oa.nonprofit in Open Access Tracking Project (OATP)
Open Access Tracking Project (OATP) » peter.suber's bookmarks

Tags:

oa.stm-assoc oa.publishers oa.ore oa.objections oa.nonprofit oa.no-fee oa.new oa.europe oa.debates oa.europe

Date tagged:

06/02/2023, 09:18

Date published:

06/02/2023, 05:18