STM welcomes RIN Report "Heading for the open road"

["Janice Kuta, STM" <kuta@stm-assoc.org>]

This should be of interest.

STM welcomesRIN Report "Heading for the open road: costs and 
benefits of transitions in scholarly communications"

STM  welcomes the publication of the RIN  Report "Heading for the 
open road: costs and benefits of transitions in scholarly 
communications" . Commissioned by the Research Information 
Network, the Publishing Research Consortium, the Wellcome Trust, 
Research Libraries UK and the UK Joint Information Systems 
Committee, the study by Cambridge Economic Policy Associates and 
Mark Ware Consulting is a substantial, serious and very useful 
contribution to the debate around the future of scholarly 
communication. STM is a founding member of the Publishing 
Research Consortium and was represented on the steering group of 
the project.

The study examines a number of scenarios surrounding the 
transition to greater access of the scholarly publishing system 
in the UK. The so-called "Gold" (or author-pays) route to open 
access is the only access expansion model that the report 
considers to be fully sustainable. The "Green" (or repository 
self-archiving) route is found to have significant risks attached 
to it. On page 28 the report states:

"Green OA offers a relatively cost-effective route to improving 
access, and a relatively high BCR [benefit-cost ratio]). However, 
given the risk of cancellations which may undermine the business 
model, this scenario may not be self-sustaining."

Commenting on the report, Michael Mabe, CEO of STM said: "These 
results largely echo STM's views about the viability of differing 
routes to greater access. There are real costs involved in the 
publishing, including the substantial administration, editorial 
expertise and systems involved in the peer review process. The 
free availability of repository versions of articles potentially 
undermines the very processes that validated the repository 
documents in the first place, and we see no future in this 
'nobody pays' model. STM supports all and any models of access 
that are sustainable and ensure the integrity and permanence of 
the scholarly record on which progress is based, including Gold 
open access."

STM is the leading global trade association for academic and 
professional publishers. It has over 110 members in 27 countries 
who each year collectively publish nearly 66% of all journal 
articles and tens of thousands of monographs and reference works. 
STM members include learned societies, university presses, 
private companies, new starts and established players.

Research Information Network http://www.rin.ac.uk

CEPA and Mark Ware Consulting "Heading for the open road: costs 
and benefits of transitions in scholarly communications" RIN, 
London, April 2011, available at 
http://www.rin.ac.uk/trans-dynamics


Janice E. Kuta
Director of Membership & Marketing
STM - International Association of Scientific, Technical & 
Medical Publishers
332 E. 18th Street, #12
New York, New York 10003
E-mail: kuta@stm-assoc.org
Tel: 212-533-0832
Fax: 212-420-8407
www.stm-assoc.org