Re: AAP/PSP Open letter to Dr. Zerhouni (NIH)

[Heather Morrison <heatherm@eln.bc.ca>]

Thanks for sending this, Ann -

One thing that seems clear from this letter is that the signatories are
ardent opponents of open access.  This is useful to know, since some have
taken actions that would appear to suggest movement in the direction of
open access, for example the Washington DC Principles' Group's commitment
to making journal articles openly accessible after 6 months.  Others
mentioned below, I believe, have taken the apparently OA-friendly step of
going "green", providing permission for authors to self-archive.

To me, it seems difficult to reconcile the words in this letter with these
actions.  One possible explanation is that the signatories feel threatened
by open access, and are trying to overtly appear to conform with the
obvious desire for OA, perhaps to avoid criticism, while at the same time,
the signatories appear to be actively fighting open access with all their
might.

If there is an alternative explanation for such apparently contradictory
behavior, I would be interested in hearing it.  Would the signatories
perhaps like to provide such an explanation?

my personal perspective,

Heather Morrison