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ICSTI: European Science Foundation (ESF) on OAI

  • To: Multiple recipients of list <epc-l@iucr.org>
  • Subject: ICSTI: European Science Foundation (ESF) on OAI
  • From: Pete Strickland <ps@iucr.org>
  • Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 14:37:49 +0100 (BST)


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From: Barry Mahon <mahons1@EIRCOM.NET>
Subject: European Science Foundation (ESF) on OAI
To: ICSTI-L@DTIC.MIL
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Status: R 
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At this URL:
http://www.esf.org/publication/157/ESPB21.pdf

you will find a report, prepared in May 2003 by the ESF on OAI following two
workshops held at CERN (one was attended by Howard Flack on behalf of ICSTI)
- initiated by Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche (LIBER).

The conclusions from the report:

"The world of scholarly publishing is undergoing a profound transformation.
Nobody can predict the outcome of this revolution, but it is of great
 relevance for the future of scientific research. The Internet has made
 possible the no-cost dissemination of scientific information through a
 variety of mechanisms. We encourage experimentation with these new
 mechanisms because they promise a publication process with improved global
 access to research results. Importantly, this move forward can also bring a
 reduced financial burden for libraries. Experimentation with these new
 publishing and distribution tools can be accomplished without compromising
 the high standards enforced by the traditional publication process – both
 with respect to scientific quality (through peer review) and to stability of
 access (through paper or digital archiving). In the meantime, ESF should
 look with an open mind towards these new initiatives. Special actions that
 could be undertaken or stimulated include the following:
 The organisation of seminars for educating researchers and helping
them explore opportunities in open access publishing.
 Offering moral support to OAI by convincing the national funding
agencies in Europe of the positive impact that in the long run such an
initiative may have on the development of scientific research.

It is especially with this last idea in mind that the present Policy Briefing
 has been published"

It seems to me that while the aspirations are valid (almost "motherhood" in
 their obviousness) it is not valid to say that OA(I) is 'no cost' - there is
 no free lunch......It also implies that, prior to OAI, dissemination of STI
 was a 'cost' - which is not necessarily true.....

I note also that the report is careful to always refer to the topic as OAI
 and not get confused with other "O" based acronyms as far as I can see.

Bye, Barry

-------------------------------------------------------

-- 

Best wishes

Peter Strickland
Managing Editor
IUCr Journals

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