Open Access: a Biomedical Science Perspective

1. Open Access: a Biomedical Science Perspective Gerald M. Kidder, Ph.D. Associate Vice-President (Research) and Professor of Physiology Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry The University of Western Ontario

2. The results of publicly funded research, especially that related to human health and disease, should be freely available to the public.

3. Options • Author (or the journal) deposits accepted, peer-reviewed manuscript in public archive for posting after publication in the journal.

4. NIH Enhanced Public Access Policy Beginning May 2, 2005, NIH-funded investigators are requested to submit to the NIH National Library of Medicine's PubMed Central an electronic version of the author's final manuscript upon acceptance for publication, resulting from research supported, in whole or in part, with direct costs from NIH. The author's final manuscript is defined as the final version accepted for journal publication, and includes all modifications from the publishing peer review process…. The Policy now requests and strongly encourages that authors specify posting of their final manuscripts for public accessibility as soon as possible (and within 12 months of the publisher's official date of final publication).

5. Special case: professional society journal(Society for Reproduction and Fertility) Authors of articles accepted by Reproduction may self archive or otherwise deposit their articles on freely available institutional or other online repositories (such as NIH’s PubMed Central), provided (i) the version deposited is the manuscript, as finally accepted by the journal but prior to copy editing and page formatting; (ii) the authors ensure that it will not become publicly available until 12 months after publication in the journal; (iii) the manuscript made available in this way includes the disclaimer below: “Disclaimer. This is not the definitive version of record of this article….”

6. Options • Author (or the journal) deposits accepted, peer-reviewed manuscript in public archive for posting after publication in the journal. • Author deposits electronic version of published article in institutional repository (publicly accessible, but not a convenient option for seekers unless interoperable with other archives). E.g. Nature

7. Options • Author (or the journal) deposits accepted, peer-reviewed manuscript in public archive for posting after publication in the journal. • Author deposits electronic version of published article in institutional repository. • “Moving wall” model: journal offers free public access via its website to articles X months after publication (delay specified by journal).

8. Options • Author (or the journal) deposits accepted, peer-reviewed manuscript in public archive for posting after publication in the journal. • Author deposits electronic version of published article in institutional repository. • “Moving wall” model: journal offers free public access to articles X months after publication. • Author has option to pay for published article to be immediately available from the journal’s website without subscription or article fee (e.g. PNAS US $1000/article; Company of Biologists journals- US $2560/article).

9. The Company of Biologists • Author-funded open access option; fee subsidized by CoB for trial period. • Traditional free publication (subscription) model will operate in parallel as part of a hybrid publishing experiment, and will still involve free access to papers after 6 months. • “As a small not-for-profit publisher, the CoB relies on subscription revenue to cover its publishing costs and to fulfil its charitable remit. However, this experiment with an open access publishing model is an important development. . . The CoB is dedicated to its continuing financial support for the community through grants, travelling fellowships and sponsorship.”

10. Options • Author (or the journal) deposits accepted, peer-reviewed manuscript in public archive for posting after publication in the journal. • Author deposits electronic version of published article in institutional repository. • Author has option to pay for published article to be immediately available from the journal’s website without subscription or article fee. • Author is required to pay for unrestricted, immediate access (e.g. PLoS US $1500; BioMed Central US $590-1700).

11. Special case: ASBMB “The Open Access Publisher” • Publishes The Journal of Biological Chemistry • Revenues derived from page charges (~1/3) and subscription revenues (~2/3), primarily from libraries • In 2001 introduced JBC Papers in Press which provides free access to all papers on the day they are accepted for publication • “The JBC Papers in Press system has allowed us to meet the spirit of Open Access publishing yet maintain our ability to meet costs."

12. Issues • Impact on scientific societies

13. Issues • Impact on scientific societies • Cost to researchers

14. Cost to Researchers • Author pays (as opposed to reader or institution pays)- in reality, for basic biomedical scientists, it will be the granting agency. • Additional pressure on grant budgets. • Grant review committees will need to judge validity of publication cost projections. • For clinical research journals, advertising revenue may offset cost to authors (e.g. CMAJ).

15. Issues • Impact on scientific societies • Cost to researchers • Academic freedom

16. Issues • Impact on scientific societies • Cost to researchers • Academic freedom • Quality control

17. Quality Control • Not all journals (and hence not all published data) are afforded the same degree of credibility because the rigour of peer review varies. • Not all primary sources of biomedical research data are peer reviewed. • Secondary sources (review articles) separate the wheat from the chaff. • Should primary as well as secondary sources be freely available to the general public?

18. The question is not “should we have open access to biomedical research data” but “what is the best model for providing open access.”