From: Richard Poynder <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2018 14:53:34 +0000

Governments and funders need to understand both the global forces at play
and local conditions prior to introducing new open policies and initiatives.

It is, therefore, to be welcomed that the Centre for Innovation,
Intellectual Property and Competition (CIIPC) in New Delhi has conducted a
landscape survey of the current situation in India as concerns open science.

The study’s principal investigator was Arul George Scaria, Assistant
Professor of Law and Co-Director at CIIPC, and he is currently working on a
report based on the survey.

In an interview with me, Arul George Scaria explains what the survey
discovered and what recommendations the report will make as a result. He
also answers some additional questions I put to him.

Here are a few quotes from the interview, but please read the full
interview to get the complete picture. Those interested in the matter will
clearly want to read the report too:

“The overall scenario with regard to open science practices in India is not
that promising and we need to take a lot more steps to make science open.”

“Some of the most experienced scientists and policymakers in India maintain
strongly that there is no crisis in science in India, despite clear
evidence of the magnitude of the problem. Some of them might be taking that
position because they think that accepting the existence of the crisis is
harmful to the image of science in India.”

“It may not be advisable or possible to transplant the approaches being
adopted for open science in the global North to a country like India, where
access conditions and socio-economic situations are vastly different.”

“In the context of global South, it is also important to focus on creating
offline resources and some of the specific suggestions put forward in the
report include more focus on print media, community radio stations, and
creation of shared physical infrastructures.”

“We need to ensure that initiatives like Plan S do not incentivise a
complete shift to the pay-to-publish gold open access model. This would
certainly be detrimental to researchers in the global South, as it would
mean that most would be unable to share their research due to the
exorbitant charges imposed by publishers.”

“Predatory publishing is an important challenge that needs to be addressed
in India.”

“What we are witnessing today is the capture of shared community resources
by a handful of cash-rich conglomerates who want to monopolise every aspect
of science communication. We as a community need to fight back against the
monopolisation of our resources. As most researchers still appear to be
unaware of the long-term consequences of such monopolisation, extensive
campaigns are needed in order to create awareness among researchers.”


The interview with Arul George Scaria can be read here:

https://poynder.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-oa-interviews-arul-george-scaria.html

-- 
Richard Poynder