Improving access and preservation: functions for libraries, repositories and publishers?

["Armbruster, Chris" <Chris.Armbruster@EUI.eu>]

Questions of access (e.g. licensing contracts, ILL, open access) 
and preservation (e.g. DL repositories, CLOCKSS, Portico) have 
been at the forefront of concerns of library communities and 
repository managers. My suggestion is that a comprehensive 
framework can be developed that incorporates:

- The equal importance of publishers, repositories and libraries 
in developing infrastructures for access and preservation;

- The internal challenge of enhancing the re-use of data and 
publications;

- The significance of organisational, technical, financial and 
legal issues in a re-articulation of the key functions of 
registration, certification, dissemination, archiving and 
navigation.

I have completed a working paper that is available online (free, 
open access):

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1106162

A European Model for the Digital Publishing of Scientific Information?

The entire system of scholarly communication is in transition, 
with the emergence of new markets, services and players. Given 
what we know about this digital transition, the technical, 
financial and legal parameters of a future model of publishing 
scientific information are predictable. The contribution of the 
Commission of the European Communities has been to emphasize how 
digital access to scientific information is related to the 
digital preservation of the record of scientific publications and 
data; because if digital preservation is undertaken access cannot 
be guaranteed for future innovations. The proposition for the 
delineation of a European model is developed as follows:

1. A digital model may be developed that results in open access, 
while preserving and enhancing the viability of a variety of 
commercial publishing models.

2. The institutional players in the publishing system, namely 
publishers, repositories and libraries, must be ready to accept a 
redistribution of the key functions of registration, 
certification, dissemination, archiving and navigation in a 
manner that plays to the strength of each.

3. The condition for any successful elaboration of a digital 
model is that it is complementary to the technology and economics 
of the internet, while the litmus test is that it enhances the 
impact and re-use of scientific information.

Open access publishing leads to complementary relationships 
between publishers, libraries and repositories; unrestricted 
access and the widest possible dissemination; and usually 
facilitates the creation of value-added services as an overlay 
from platforms, repositories and libraries. In recent years, a 
number of viable full open access publishing (OAP) models have 
emerged: OAP where the author pays, by subscription, through a 
sponsoring consortium, and by way of support and sponsorship.

Covered initiatives include BMC, Sage-Hindawi, Springer, SCOAP3, 
Science Commons OA law program, DRIVER, PARSE, PEER, NEEO and 
policies of the ERC, NIH and Harvard FAS.

Suggested Citation: Armbruster, Chris, "A European Model for the 
Digital Publishing of Scientific Information?" . Available at 
SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1106162