From: "Seeley, Mark (ELS-CMA)" <[log in to unmask]> Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2016 12:43:31 +0000 Replying to Professor Guédon: Best of all possible worlds? No, we do not live in utopia-- I was suggesting that when thinking about reforms and changes it is always wise to fully weigh and consider benefits and costs. Of course I am prejudiced towards thinking that the mechanism of delivering journal articles to researchers is well served by the current system, including the digital and online enhancements and improvements. Those may depends on the Internet, but they still require investments in platforms, software and systems to make such investments useful and operable. I fail to understand the comment about Gold OA not involving author-side payments-- perhaps Prof. Guédon is making the point that in some cases funding agencies or institutions themselves pay such charges-- or to note that in some instances the fees are waived-- which is why I use the broader "supply side" description-- to contrast it with the "user side" which is about subscriptions/transactional accesss (document delivery, document rental, etc). Surveys have demonstrated that researchers at most institutions report significant increases in access, see the 2015 "STM Report" http://www.stm-assoc.org/2015_02_20_STM_Report_2015.pdf which notes the increase in reading in section 2.10 (citing various reports from Tenopir et al) and increase in access from surveys in section 2.19 citing ARL data and related reports. This is not to minimize the impact of economics, budget crises of one kind or another, etc-- but the long-term trends suggest a significant increase in access for most. By "fast developing countries" I mean of course countries like China and Russia that have significant economic resources but sometimes claim that they should be regarded as "developing" markets. Yes of course from a business perspective I will use words like "markets"-- I also understand that scholarlship involves communities and networks, as noted in my first comment that is the way scholarly publishing has to work to be successful. Yes sadly I admit that the US changed its own copyright laws when it decided it was a net producer of copyright content and therefore this was in its economic self-interest. I would have preferred a more "natural rights" thinking, but the approach in the US and I believe the UK is more on the economics side. Mark Mark Seeley, Senior Vice President & General Counsel Elsevier