Scottish Open Access Declaration (Draft)

[Stevan Harnad <harnad@ecs.soton.ac.uk>]

Here (with thanks to Colin Steele for the link) are highlights from the
Scottish Science Information Strategy Working Group's [Open Access]
Declaration (Draft)
http://scurl.ac.uk/WG/SSISWGOA/declaration.htm

We believe that the interests of Scotland ... will be best served by the
rapid adoption of open access.

There are two main routes to achieving open access, and we wish to
register our support for both...[i] open access journals [where costs are]
covered by author fees rather than subscriptions... [and]
[ii]?self-archiving?, where authors deposit electronic versions of their
articles in an institutional, or subject-based, repository.

There is growing evidence to suggest that open access increases the reach
and impact of research. More people can and do view and read open access
articles, and there are indications that these articles are cited more
frequently and earlier than is the case for articles not available in this
way [7].

In the light of these developments, and recognising the huge potential
gains to Scotland in terms of impact, comparative advantage, and return on
public investment if open access to our research can be established
quickly...

Action: Research funders

Require as a condition of grant that publications resulting from funding
are available on open access, either by means of self-archiving or through
publication in an open access journal.

Allocate funds for author fees for publication within research grants.

Encourage research publishers to offer open access publishing streams with
fair pricing. Universities/research institutions

Set up institutional repositories, and/or liaise with other organisations
to establish a joint repository.

Encourage, and in due course mandate, researchers to deposit copies of
their outputs (articles, reports, conference papers, etc) in an
institutional or co-operative repository.

Take a leading role by working with other national governments in
promoting open access. References

[7] See, for example, Hitchcock, S. et al ?The impact of OAI-based search
on access to research journal papers?, Serials Vol 16, No 3, November
2003, 255-260 [http://opcit.eprints.org/serials-short/serials11.html]

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