As I understand it, many scholarly journals from less developed countries
are not financially viable through subscriptions and are, as a result,
heavily subsidized by their institutions and thus - ultimately - by their
governments. In these circumstances, a no-charge OA model makes a great
deal of sense - many more bangs for exactly the same bucks!
Sally
Sally Morris
Consultant, Morris Associates (Publishing Consultancy)
South House, The Street
Clapham, Worthing, West Sussex BN13 3UU, UK
Tel: +44(0)1903 871286
Fax: +44(0)8701 202806
Email: sally_at_morris-assocs.demon.co.uk
-----Original Message-----
From: American Scientist Open Access Forum
[mailto:AMERICAN-SCIENTIST-OPEN-ACCESS-FORUM_at_LISTSERVER.SIGMAXI.ORG] On
Behalf Of Guédon Jean-Claude
Sent: 16 November 2007 09:07
To: AMERICAN-SCIENTIST-OPEN-ACCESS-FORUM_at_LISTSERVER.SIGMAXI.ORG
Subject: RE : OA in developing countries
I quite agree with Mike Smith and his concerns about the Third World.
Open Access is the only way for Third World countries to see their journals
recognized and integrated in the international bibliographies. As a result,
Third World scientists will be able to publish on topics of interest to
their situation (while responding to the universal criteria of excellence).
The Web of Science is notoriously deficient on Third World coverage. The
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences is quite as bad. Their
coverage is 70% in English in disciplines where national and local languages
are still extremely important). People close to the SciELO project in Latin
America, Spain and Portugal have published on this topic and are beginning
to take measure to counteract these biases. Recently, the people responsible
for the Shanghai ranking of universities have decided to use Scopus rather
than the Web of Science because the coverage of journals was wider in
Scopus. I will not delve on the irony of the situation; neither will I
analyze the validity of the Shanghai rankings, but I welcome the
multiplication of evaluation and ranking services as they serve to dilute
the judgmental monopoly of the (recent) past.
Yes, Open Access will help Third World countries greatly, and not only in
placing the articles of Third World scientists in suitable repositories.
Jean-Claude Guédon
-------- Message d'origine--------
De: American Scientist Open Access Forum de la part de Michael Smith
Date: jeu. 15/11/2007 10:22
À: AMERICAN-SCIENTIST-OPEN-ACCESS-FORUM_at_LISTSERVER.SIGMAXI.ORG
Objet : OA in developing countries
It is good to know that there is considerable interest and work on OA in
developing countries, and this is not at all surprising. The intention
of my brief post was NOT to say "nobody cares about or is doing anything
about OA in developing countries" (and I certainly did not intend to
insult anyone). Rather, my intention was to point out what seemed to be
a bias in much of the talk and writing on OA: issues are typically
framed solely in terms of the US and Europe. I follow the OA literature
at a distance, and this bias seems pretty clear in things that I come
across.
Mike Smith
Dr. Michael E. Smith
Professor of Anthropology
School of Human Evolution & Social Change
Arizona State University
www.public.asu.edu/~mesmith9
http://publishingarchaeology.blogspot.com/
http://calixtlahuaca.blogspot.com/
Received on Thu Nov 22 2007 - 20:09:02 GMT