RCUK & HEFCE CEOs Misinterpret Economist John Houghton's Findings on Open Access Cost/Benefits

In viewing their testimony before the House of Lords Select Committee on UK Open Access Policy, one is rather surprised to see just how misinformed are the three witnesses -- Professor Rick Rylance, Chair of RCUK; Professor Douglas Kell, RCUK Information Champion; David Sweeney, Director (Research, Innovation and Skills), Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) -- on a number of key points. Professor Kell's impression seems to be along the lines that "all the worldwide OA policies are like ours [the UK's] regarding Gold, and the rest of the world is taking its lead from us." Unfortunately this is no longer the case at all. And although the three witnesses extol the economist John Houghton's work as authoritative, they rather startlingly misunderstand his findings: The witnesses cite Houghton's work as (1) evidence that Green OA is more expensive than Gold and as (2) support for the UK's new policy of paying for Gold OA in preference to providing Green OA. Houghton's findings support neither of these conclusions, as stated rather explicitly and unambiguously in Houghton & Swan's most recent publication...