From: Sandy Thatcher <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2012 15:01:48 -0500

A useful video to explain the basics of open access to people who
haven't heard about it before, but as a publisher I naturally find
that it oversimplifies some important points. E.g., it implies that
publishers alone are to blame for the increasing costs (and hence
prices) of publishing scientific articles, without mentioning anywhere
the rate of increase in the production of articles by scientists who
want to get them published and the reaction by publishers to launch
new journals and expand the size of already existing ones.  Nor does
it mention the practice of universities underfunding both their
libraries and their own presses (while they are happy to spend lots
more on football and basketball teams).

The question of how taxpayer-funded research can best be disseminated
in unrestricted form is never addressed either, such as the
longstanding proposal to require that all researchers be required to
submit final reports and that those reports be made freely available
immediately upon submission.  And while it acknowledges that
publishing costs money, there is no acknowledgment that OA approaches
may exacerbate some problems--like drawing money out of research
funding to support article publication charges--while ameliorating
others.  Hence I would hardly call this video a balanced presentation.

Sandy Thatcher


> From: Ken Masters <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2012 19:46:06 +0400
>
> Hi All
>
> You might find this recent video on Open Access interesting:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=L5rVH1KGBCY#!
>
> Regards
>
> Ken
>
> Dr. Ken Masters
> Asst. Professor: Medical Informatics
> Medical Education Unit
> College of Medicine & Health Sciences
> Sultan Qaboos University
> Sultanate of Oman