Slides for talk (well, more of a discussion) given by Jonathan Eisen at Science Online 2010 (#scio10) meeting

1. Full disclosure

2. Science is Open
• Science is about the spread of knowledge
• It is by its nature open
• Restrictions to free flow should only be in
place if absolutely necessary
• With the Web and new technologies, such
restrictions are mostly not needed

3. Many Flavors of
Accessibility and Openness
Cost Free $, $$, or $$$
Timing of free Immediate Later
Location Archives Journal site
Reuse Unrestricted Restricted
Copyright Author Journal
Who archives Journal Individual

4. Gold Open Access
Cost Free $, $$, or $$$
Timing of free Immediate Later
Location Archives Journal site
Reuse Unrestricted Restricted
Copyright Author Journal
Who archives Journal Individual
Based on the Bethesda Principles, April 2003

5. Green Open Access
Cost Free $, $$, or $$$
Timing of free Immediate Later
Location Archives Journal site
Reuse Unrestricted Restricted
Copyright Author Journal
Who archives Journal Individual

6. Gold Open Access
Cost Free $, $$, or $$$
Timing of free Immediate Later
Location Archives Journal site
Reuse Unrestricted Restricted
Copyright Author Journal
Who archives Journal Individual
Based on the Bethesda Principles, April 2003

7. Three Issues
• Do we want OA and if so what flavor?
• What are the uses for OA?
• What are the challenges with moving more
towards full OA?

8. Discussion Topics
• Free vs. open
• Funders role in decisions
• Uses of openness
• Impediments
• How to promote/spread OA
• Who uses OA?
•

13. You can purchase online access to
this article (and all its versions) for a
24-hour period. Articles are US $
29.95, with some exceptions where
prices may vary. Click "Buy Now" to
display the price

14. Benefit #1:
New mining

15. Document
A network of literature

16. Document
Database A network of literature and data

17. Jensen, Saric and Bork Nature Reviews Genetics
Feb 2006

18. Text mining and open access
“So far, more that 90% of all biomedical literature mining has
been based on Medline, mainly because it is freely available in a
convenient format.”
“…future methods should be able to extract information from the
full text of papers…”
“However, it is restricted access to the full text of papers…that is
currently the greatest limitation…”
Jensen, Saric and Bork Nature Reviews Genetics
Feb 2006

19. Benefit #2:
Education

20. Educational Benefits of OA
• No debate about “fair use”
• No need for password’s or logins for course
web sites
• No lawyers have to be involved
• Material from OA publications can be
repackaged for any purpose

21. Me and PLoS
• Brother Michael is co-founder of Public Library of
Science
• Joined the founding Editorial Board of PLoS
Biology
• Still not fully convinced about need for OA
• So I did some experiments
– Open Data experiment with Tetrahymena genome
– OA publishing in PLoS Biology with Wolbachia
genome
– Joined Editorial Board of PLoS Biology
• While experiments in progress … real life
intervened

25. You can purchase online access to
this article (and all its versions) for a
24-hour period. Articles are US $
29.95, with some exceptions where
prices may vary. Click "Buy Now" to
display the price

29. You can purchase online access to
this article (and all its versions) for a
24-hour period. Articles are US $
29.95, with some exceptions where
prices may vary. Click "Buy Now" to
display the price

30. My Conclusion:
Lack of Access is Bad
• Bad for personal medical involvement
• Bad for science
• Against the ideals of the immediate funding
sources (e.g., see NIH charter)
• Against the wishes of the ultimate funders
(taxpayers)
• Possibly immoral and unethical

31. OA is about Freeing The Literature

32. OA is about Freeing The Literature

33. OA is about Freeing The Literature

34. OA is about Freeing The Literature

35. Document
A network of literature

36. Document
Database A network of literature and data

37. Jensen, Saric and Bork Nature Reviews Genetics
Feb 2006