National OA Policy ≠ nationalizing science

“Nature News is using confused and confusing language to describe Argentina's new OA mandate for publicly-funded research: "Argentina is nationalising its science output...." There are two problems with the word ‘nationalizing’ here. 1. Requiring OA for publicly-funded research does not ‘nationalize’ that research, not even if the requirement is embodied in legislation. It simply makes the research available to everyone with an internet connection --those in that nation as well as everyone elsewhere. The policy does not expropriate copyrights, seize private-sector publishers, modify how peer review is done, or turn scholarly publishing into government propaganda. 2. The phrase ‘nationalizing science’ has an unfortunate history in the OA debates. It was used by ideological opponents who deliberately wanted to suggest that OA policies would expropriate copyrights, seize private-sector publishers, modify how peer review is done, and turn scholarly publishing into government propaganda. For examples, see my past blog posts on this phrase ."