Scientific Publishing (EC study launched)

[aokerson@pantheon.yale.edu]

----- Forwarded message from Barbara Stratton 
Barbara Stratton
Senior Adviser, Copyright at CILIP and Secretary to LACA
E-mail: Barbara.Stratton@cilip.org.uk 
General e-mail: info@cilip.org.uk  Web: www.cilip.org.uk 

-----Original Message-----
From:	morlon, carmen [mailto:morlon@debibliotheken.nl]
Sent:	17 June 2004 12:51
To:	Eblida-list
Subject:	Scientific Publishing

To EBLIDA list, 

The future of scientific publishing has been at the centre of discussions
for a number of years, leading to the adoption of the Berlin Declaration
(October 2003) calling for open access to knowledge.  With this in mind,
the European Commission launched on 15 June a study on the economic and
technical evolution of the scientific publication markets in Europe.
Results will be available in 2005. The study aims at answering the
following questions:  
* What are the main changes in Europe?  
* What and who is driving change and why? If there is any resistance to 
``positive change, what/who is blocking it?  
* What are the consequences for users (authors, readers, libraries)?

It will thus seek to identify measures at European level which could help
to improve conditions governing access to and the exchange, dissemination
and archiving of scientific publications while guaranteeing a high level
of quality, diversity and protection of authors' rights.

The study aims at:

* determining the conditions required for optimum operation of the 
  sector;
* assessing how the Commission can help to meet those conditions

It will deal with the main topics of the current public debate:

* the future of printed scientific reviews;
* the risks associated with increases in the price of publications in 
  terms of access to information for researchers, open access to research 
  findings for all;
* the need to reconcile authors' rights;
* the economic interests of publishers.

Every year, 1.5 million scientific articles are published worldwide;
Europe is in the lead with 41.3% of all scientific publications, as
regards the number of references however, Europe lags behind in most
disciplines.

What is Open Access?

Open Access (OA) means that a reader of a scientific publication can read
it over the Internet, print it out and/or distribute it fon non-
commercial purposes without restrictions and/or payments. The new model of
OA offers free electronic access to primary scientific research, however
the publishing process e.g. research, publishing, archiving, indexing,
retrieval and use needs to be further underlined.  Search engines,
Institutional Repositories, University Libraries are important OA
channels.

***
See IP/04/747 of 15 June 2004
An effective scientific publishing system for European research,
Brussels, 15 June 2004 
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/research/press/2004/pr1506en.cfm
The Berlin Declaration and "open access", 
http://www.zim.mpg.de/openaccess-berlin/signatories.html

Carmen Morlon
EU Information Officer
EBLIDA
PO Box 16359
NL-2500 BJ The Hague
Tel.: + 31 70 309 05 52
Fax: + 31 70 309 05 58
Email: morlon@debibliotheken.nl
http://www.eblida.org/