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Explore the power of open access in science publishing, fostering collaboration, acceleration of discovery, and universal access to knowledge. Learn about the challenges and rewards of embracing open access.
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Science isProfoundly Collective Jan Velterop BioMed Central
‘Universality of Science' a principle enshrined in Statute 5 of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU)
Upon hearing that he was awarded the Nobel Prize with Brenner and Horvitz, Sir John Sulston is quoted as saying that:"The worm [C. elegans] worked so well because the community held an ethos of sharing - just as the public genome projects have - from the beginning. We gave all our results to others as soon as we had them. From sharing, discovery is accelerated in the community. Research is hastened when people share results freely."(The Guardian, UK, October 8, 2002)
The whole point of science publishing is sharing the research results
Help is at hand BioMed Central
Never before in the history of mankind could so many people potentially have access to so much scientific literature: researchers, teachers, students, policy-makers, journalists and lay-persons alike
Every reason to have Open Access now • The money is there • The technology is there • The benefits are clear • The support of Academia is there
Open Access now • Researcher has article • Submits to Open Access journal • Article is peer-reviewed • If it’s good it’s accepted • Institution pays article processing fee • Article is published and forever free
Open Access now • Pioneering authors • ‘Pushing the envelope’ in research AND the way they publish research • Scientific interests come first • No career concerns
Reward structure? • Some of the same institutions that support Open Access do not like OA papers on researchers’ CVs or grant applications • So researchers at those institutes who are in need of promotions and grants (is there any other kind?) are reluctant
How to address this issue? • Some of the funding bodies are discussing important steps to be taken
What are these steps? • Strongly encourage grantees to publish in open access • Commit to paying the article processing charges • Acknowledge OA articles as evidence of service to the community • Commit to judging OA articles on their intrinsic merits (i.e. not the Impact Factor of the journal)
www.doaj.org Directory of Open Access Journals (Lund University)
BioMed Central to date • 96 journal titles publishing open access research • Some 2500 articles published out of some 4800 submitted • At least 250 downloads per article per month • More than 2.5 million page impressions per month; over 350,000 unique IP’s • 225,000 registered users (registration is free, enables alerts)
Thank you BioMed Central