From: Frederick Friend <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2012 12:12:38 +0100

I cannot let pass without challenge the STM Association's statement
that "Green Open Access has no business model to support the
publications on which it crucially depends". Firstly deposit of a
research report by an author in an institutional or subject repository
does not depend upon publication in a journal. It is a separate route
to the dissemination of publicly-funded research and could operate
world-wide whether or not any STM journals were published at all.
Secondly green open access does have a business model which is
entirely within research and higher education budgets. Repositories
are supported by their institution or funding agency, and a fully
peer-reviewed version of a research article could be supplied on open
access using the time of reviewers currently supplied without charge
to publishers.

A further quality stamp could be provided by the institution or
organization funding the repository and appropriate metadata attached
to the version to indicate that it could be regarded as a "version of
record". Few people are currently advocating a total switch away from
publishing in journals to a total reliance upon repositories (although
it would be feasible), but as both the European Commission and
Research Councils UK acknowledge in their policies the two models can
live alongside one another. The UK Government, in accepting the
unbalanced recommendations from the Finch Group, has made a decision
which is bad for researchers and bad for taxpayers. It may not even be
good for publishers in the long-term, once the full implications of
the UK Government's decision are worked through.

Fred Friend
Honorary Director Scholarly Communication UCL
http://www.friendofopenaccess.org.uk


-----Original Message----- From: LIBLICENSE
From: Kim Beadle <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2012 11:56:06 +0200

The International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical
Publishers (STM) welcomes the UK Government's support for the
recommendations in the Finch Access Group Report, as detailed by
Minister David Willetts' letter published yesterday
(http://news.bis.gov.uk/Press-Releases/Government-to-open-up-publicly-funded-research-67d1d.aspx).

Although resolution of the VAT issue for electronic products must be
referred to the EU level, the UK Science Minister has clearly
indicated the Government's backing for the balanced package of
measures commended by STM in its comments on the Report
(http://www.stmassoc.org/2012_06_18_STM_Press_Release_on_Finch_Report.pdf).

We particularly welcome the UK Government's adoption of Finch's
conclusions about Green Open Access embargo periods and the
recognition that Green Open Access has no business model to support
the publications on which it crucially depends. As Willetts writes:
"Where APC [Article Processing Charge] funds are not available to the
publisher or learned society, for the publication of publicly-funded
research, then publishers could reasonably insist on a longer more
equitable embargo period. This could be up to 12 months for science,
technology and engineering publications and longer for publications in
those disciplines which require more time to secure payback."

STM shares the same concerns voiced by the UK Publishers Association
(http://www.publishers.org.uk/index.php
option=com_content&view=article&id=2285:the-pa-welcomes-a-clear-uk-government-policy-on-access-to-research-publications&catid=503:pa-press-releases-and-comments&Itemid=1618)
regarding the lack of funding of licence extensions and how the UK
Research Councils will implement the Finch package of proposals.

Further work will be required to turn these policy recommendations
into practical outcomes; STM publishers look forward to working with
all parties in the UK to achieve these.

ENDS

www.stm-assoc.org

Contact Kim Beadle for more information - [log in to unmask]