Knowledge Exchange, a co-operative effort, has commissioned a study on the costs and benefits of scholarly communication in three countries - Denmark, the UK and the Netherlands. The study titled 'Open Access - What are the economic benefits? A comparison of the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Denmark' was conducted by Australian economist Prof. John Houghton. Knowledge Exchange, a partnership of the IT bodies from Denmark (DEFF), the UK (JISC), the Netherlands (SURFfoundation) and Germany (DFG), supports the use and development of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) infrastructure for higher education and research.
The three national studies compared the costs and benefits of scholarly communication based on three different publication models. The modelling revealed that the greatest advantage would be offered by the OA model, which means that the research institution or the party financing the research pays for publication and the article is then freely accessible. Adopting this model could lead to annual savings of around €
70 million in Denmark, €
133 million in the Netherlands and €
480 in the UK. The report concludes that the advantages would not just be in the long term; in the transitional phase too, more OA to research results would have positive effects. In this case the benefits would also outweigh the costs.
The findings from this modelling suggest that OA alternatives are likely to be more cost-effective mechanisms for scholarly publishing in a wide range of countries (both large and small). Given the potential benefits, it does seem worth while to ensure that there is a level playing field between alternative publishing models. This will reduce the barriers to innovation in scholarly publishing.
At present, universities pay millions of euros every year for access to scientific and scholarly publications. Businesses, smaller educational institutes and other organisations often cannot afford the expensive licences needed for access. If the OA model were to be applied globally, this would allow for increased access to research results for both researchers and the public at large.
The full text of the study is available for download from
http://www.knowledge-exchange.info/Default.aspx?ID=316
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