Re: MIT Press announces first Open Access journal

["Anthony Watkinson" <anthony.watkinson@btopenworld.com>]

I was interesting in this publicity posting partly because back 
in the 1980s I started a journal on this topic when I was Head of 
Journals at Oxford University Press. It was too early. The 
journal collapsed because of lack of articles submitted.

I was not aware that this community had the funds that enabled at 
author-paid model so I drilled down into the site and I note that 
this journal is being subsidised by Microsoft - 
http://www.mitpressjournals.org/page/OAsponsors/ITID?edit=true. 
They can certainly afford this.

I would be interested to learn how long this funding is committed 
and whether it is seens as the long term solution (sustainable) 
or is a short-term approach with the intention of moving towards 
an author-paid model in the future.

Anthony Watkinson

----- Original Message -----
From: "Laura Esterly" <lesterly@MIT.EDU>
To: <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2006 2:15 AM
Subject: MIT Press announces first Open Access journal

> [With apologies for cross-posting]
>
> The MIT Press publishes its first Open Access journal:
> Information Technologies and International Development
>
> October 25, 2006
>
> Information Technologies and International Development (ITID) has
> become the first journal published by The MIT Press to
> participate in the open access initiative. Now you can retrieve
> peer-reviewed full text PDF articles from the journal's website,
> http://mitpressjournals.org/loi/itid, free of charge, from any
> location with internet access.
>
> Making high quality content freely available online to anyone
> interested in the intersection of communications technologies and
> development around the world is an exciting opportunity for the
> journal and The MIT Press. But where editors and the Press hope
> that lessons from this new model may truly have an impact is
> within the larger community - in academia, the private sector,
> NGOs, and governments around the world.
>
> "We can't think of a better congruence between delivery platform
> and purpose," says MIT Press Director Ellen Faran. "ITID's
> content, mission, contributors, and readers will all be well
> supported by its free online availability."
>
> The study of technological impact in the world'd developing
> nations is a growing interdisciplinary field. The editors of
> ITID, Dr. Ernest J. Wilson of the University of Maryland, and Dr.
> Michael L. Best of Georgia Institute of Technology, seek not
> merely to inform scholars interested in this emerging field; they
> seek to solicit the participation of individuals who might
> benefit from the research and proposals put forth by scholars,
> researchers and practitioners across the globe, independent of
> location or financial means.
>
> Whether a traditional or an open access model, The MIT Press is
> committed to applying the latest innovations in electronically-
> published content to enhance the online experience for those who
> read and make use of their scholarly journals. Providing open
> access to ITID through the best possible online environment will
> help to create this wide-reaching forum for dialogue, while
> increasing visibility and readership, and potentially attracting
> a larger volume of high quality submissions from a wider
> audience.

[snip]