Paul M Gherman (Vanderbilt University) wrote:
Re: PALS report and conference on Institutional Repositories
http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/3603.html
> Institutional Repositories (IR's) are gaining good traction at many
> research universities, and I think it is time for the Open Access
> enthusiasts to take note and begin thinking about how both movements
> might work together.
Paul,
Many of us in the open access movement are already working together on both
open acess strategies identified in the Budapest Open Access Initiative.
JISC in the UK is putting as much effort into supporting institutional
repositories as it is into open access journals. I have to say, however,
that the academic interest in IRs in the UK does not match the interest
you describe at Vanderbilt.
The results of an author survey funded by JISC and OSI to be published
on the JISC web-site next week show that a low percentage of authors
have deposited pre-prints or post-prints in IRs, although a very high
percentage would do so if required to do so by their funder or employer.
I am very concerned that the two branches of open access "do not go down
separate tracks". This has been happening because funding agencies do not
perceive IRs to offer a sustainable high-quality service for the record of
science. The perception is that IRs will not hold the best version of a
research article, that it will not be indexed as comprehensively as a
traditional journal article, and that its long-term preservation is not
secure. One leading researcher described IRs to me as "anarchic", whereas
journals - whether subscription or OA - are perceived to be organised,
reliable and secure. Whether these perceptions are true or not, we have to
raise the status of IRs as part of the record of science.
Fred
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Frederick J. Friend
OSI Open Access Advocate
JISC Consultant
Honorary Director Scholarly Communication UCL
E-mail ucylfjf_at_ucl.ac.uk
Mail address: The Chimes, Cryers Hill Road,
High Wycombe, England HP15 6JS
Telephone +44 1494 563168 or +44 7747 627738 (mobile)
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Gherman, Paul M" <paul.gherman_at_vanderbilt.edu>
To: <AMERICAN-SCIENTIST-OPEN-ACCESS-FORUM_at_LISTSERVER.SIGMAXI.ORG>
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2004 7:05 PM
Subject: Re: PALS report and conference on Institutional Repositories
> Institutional Repositories (IR's) are gaining good traction at many
> research universities, and I think it is time for the Open Access
> enthusiasts to take note and begin thinking about how both movements
> might work together. There has been a lot of discussion about how Open
> Access can support long-term preservation and access based on authors
> fees. IR's such as DSpace are designed first as preservation mediums,
> and it seems we ought to consider how we can use IR's as part of
> the architecture of a system of Open Access.
>
> I find faculty at Vanderbilt are far more interested in IR's than
> open access, and it may be a way to get their attention and buy-in
> to open access if they see a link to their home institution.
>
> We need to make sure the two movements do not go down separate
> tracks.
Received on Fri Mar 05 2004 - 11:44:54 GMT