The UK's Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) is conducting a Select Committee inquiry into the government's open access (OA) policy. The ALPSP has submitted a response to the inquiry, which closed on February 7, 2013.
The inquiry focuses on four main topics. The first is the government's acceptance of the recommendations of the Finch Group Report Accessibility, sustainability, excellence: how to expand access to research publications, including its preference for the 'gold' over the 'green' OA model. The second is the rights of use and re-use in relation to OA research publications, including the implications of Creative Commons 'CC-BY' licences.
The costs of article processing publication charges (APCs) and the implications for research funding and for the taxpayer is the third topic. The fourth is the level of 'gold' OA uptake in the rest of the world versus the UK and the ability of higher education institutions to remain competitive.
While there are undoubted benefits of OA publishing, ALPSP strongly agrees with the findings of the Group led by Dame Janet Finch that a measured and balanced transition is required.
Learned and professional societies are seen to provide a valued service to their members that in many cases is supported by income from publishing activities. Disruption of this contribution to their disciplines, it is feared, could be to the detriment of HEI and also the general public – consider the public facing information portals, which translate complex information into accessible information. This was never the intention of moving to an OA world, in fact quite the opposite, it is observed. However, a move to increased OA publishing in a balanced and sustainable manner can be achieved by collaborating to find the most appropriate models and there will be more than one.
