RE: Library Roles Changing, Open Access Not Compelling

[David Prosser <david.prosser@rluk.ac.uk>]

Joe

I think you got it right when you posted at the same time as I 
asked my question.  There is often a mis-match between what 
people say they do in surveys and what they do in real life.  My 
alarm bells ring when a survey posts a result that contradicts 
actual behaviour.  I'm a little surprised that the alarm bells 
didn't ring for the report's authors.  (I'm less surprised that 
they were mute for Scholarly Kitchen as the survey results fit 
well with the blog's anti-OA bias.)

But your second answer is way off the mark.  The idea that PLoS 
One is not OA as recognised by members of the OA community is 
just too odd to argue against.  It is.  And the idea that OA is 
ill-defined is just as odd.  But actually, I needn't have used 
PLoS One as an example.  I could have used any of the PLoS 
journals, or BMC, or Hindawi, or Nucleic Acids Research, etc. 
etc.  Or, as Michael points out, any number of subscription-based 
journals that charge author fees.

David


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu on behalf of Joseph Esposito
Sent: Mon 19/04/2010 23:56
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: Re: Library Roles Changing, Open Access Not Compelling

David,

I don't think there is a simple answer, but part of it is that 
PLoS One is not an Open Access service as envisioned by many 
members of the OA community.  PLoS One does not have the same 
kind of editorial review that the flagship PLoS journals do.  It 
does seem to me that authors are supportive of online posting 
(PloS One does more than that, of course), and the growth of 
openly available material everywhere points to that.  But just 
don't call it Open Access, whatever that is.

Here again, I reiterate:  people don't know what they think.  We 
shouldn't ask them.

Joe Esposito

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 1:37 PM, David Prosser wrote:

> Interestingly, while apparently authors have no interest in 
> paying to publish in oa journals, PLoS One has become one of 
> the world's largest journals after a launch only about 4 years 
> ago.
>
> Is there a simple answer to that paradox?
>
> David