The document discusses open access and its importance for equality in research. It notes that open access allows all researchers and students to access scholarly literature regardless of their ability to pay. However, commercial academic publishers have made publishing into a highly profitable business, resulting in rapidly rising subscription costs that restrict access. The document advocates for open access policies and self-archiving of research to make knowledge publicly available.
1. Open Access - an issue of
Equality
Joe McArthur (@R2RC)
Assistant Director, Right to Research Coalition
Co-founder, Open Access Button
EuRegMe - IFMSA
April 27, 2015
2. Launched in Summer 2009.
Built around the Student Statement
on the Right to Research: access to
research is a student right
International alliance of 77 graduate &
undergraduate student organizations,
representing nearly 7 million students
We Educate + Advocate for Open Access
7. $39,082
Robert Darnton, “The Library: Three Jeremiads,” New York Review of Books, December 23, 2010
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/dec/23/library-three-jeremiads
8. Average journal price in Chemistry:
Biology
= $2,520
Geography
= $1,308
Physics
= $3,870
= $4,215
www.sparc.arl.org
Source: Library Journal 2014 Periodicals Pricing Survey
“Steps Down the Evolutionary Road | Periodicals Price Survey 2014,” by Stephen Bosch and Kittie Henderson. Library Journal,
April 11, 2014: http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2014/04/publishing/steps-down-the-evolutionary-road-periodicals-price-survey-2014/#_
9. Source: Library Journal 2014 Periodicals Pricing Survey
“Steps Down the Evolutionary Road | Periodicals Price Survey 2014,” by Stephen Bosch and Kittie Henderson. Library Journal,
April 11, 2014: http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2014/04/publishing/steps-down-the-evolutionary-road-periodicals-price-survey-2014/#_
www.sparc.arl.org
10. -25%
25%
75%
125%
175%
225%
275%
325%
375%
425%
1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010
%ChangeSince1986
Source: ARL Statistics 2010-11 Association of Research Libraries, Washington, D.C.
*Includes electronic resources from 1999-2000 onward.
Graph 2
Monograph and Serial Costs
in ARL Libraries, 1986-2011* Serial
Expenditures
(+402%)
Monograph
Expenditures
(+71%)
Monographs
Purchased
(10%)
www.sparc.arl.org
11. Publishing obscure academic journals is
that rare thing in the media industry:
“a licence to print money.”
Source: The Economist, “Open Sesame,” April 14, 2012: http://www.economist.com/node/21552574
www.sparc.arl.org
18. 80%
of research is
publicly
funded
Source: “Academic Publishing: Survey of funders supports the benign Open Access outcome priced into
shares, HSBC Global Research,” February 11, 2013:
https://www.research.hsbc.com/midas/Res/RDV?ao=20&key=RxArFbnG1P&n=360010.PDF
1
www.sparc.arl.org
19. Does our publishing system
what we entrust to distribute the
knowledge we work so hard to create
share our values?
www.sparc.arl.org
35. 2014 European Commission Report:
+40.3% citation advantage for freely
accessible papers
-27.0% citation disadvantage for non-
freely accessible papers
Source: European Commission Report: “Proportion of Open Access Papers Published in Peer-Reviewed Journals at the European
and World Levels—1996–2013
URL: http://science-metrix.com/en/publications/reports#/en/publications/reports/proportion-of-open-access-papers-published-in-peer-
reviewed-journals-at-the
www.sparc.arl.org
36. www.sparc.arl.org
Valeria Aman , The potential of preprints to accelerate
scholarly communication –
A bibliometric analysis based on selected journals
http://arxiv.org/abs/1306.4856
38. Mphatso Nguluwe
Deputy Principal
College of Nursing, Ekwendeni
Source: http://www.soros.org/initiatives/information/focus/access/articles_publications/articles/openaccess_20070419
HIV and AIDS have hit us in Africa the hardest, and it is up
to us to learn what we can to fight the disease.
If we can’t obtain the best information, we can’t
succeed in our struggle and millions more will die.
Some researchers have even come here from abroad to
work, gone home, and published their findings;
but articles they’ve written cannot be accessed here.
43. What are early career researchers
doing to advance Open Access?
www.sparc.arl.org
44. Make your
work openly
available on
The Internet
Mike Taylor: The SV-POW! open-access decision tree
svpow.com/2013/05/11/the-sv-pow-open-access-decision-tree/
49. i) confirms the importance of students having access to research
journals and articles as part of their training;
ii) notes the high cost to institutions and individuals when accessing
scholarly literature;
iii) proposes that this could hinder medical students in their
development as ‘The Doctor as the Scientist’ as well as developing
an evidence based clinical approach;
iv) welcomes and endorses the Right To Research Coalition’s
statement on Open Access to research literature.
www.righttoresearch.org
June 25, 2012
59. Sign up for updates now at
opencon2015.org/attend
Full recordings of OpenCon 2014 at bit.ly/opencon2014videos
60. OpenCon 2014 Speakers Included:
• Deputy Assistant to the President of the United
States for Legislative Affairs
• Chief Commons Officer, Sage Bionetworks
• Associate Director for Data Science, U.S. National
Institutes of Health
• Co-founder, Open Library of the Humanities