Open Access Archivangelism

As it's unclear how to log on to post a comment to Jim Till's blog, I do it here:

(1) OA means Open Access, not Open Access Publishing (Gold OA).

(2) The "transition phase" we are in is between non-OA and OA, not particularly between non-OA publishing and OA publishing (Gold) (although possibly, after OA, an eventual transition to Gold OA might follow)

(3) Hence the pertinent "transitional scenario" today is neither "Scenario A" (research funders allow fundees to use research funds, optionally, to pay Gold OA fees), nor "Scenario B" (research funders allow fundees to use research funds, nonoptionally, designated to pay Gold OA fees).

(4) The pertinent transitional scenario today -- the one adopted and proposed by all funder mandates to date (except the Wellcome Trust mandate, which also funds Gold) -- is "Scenario OA": research funders mandate that fundees make their published articles OA by self-archiving them free for all on the web: Green OA.

(5) Scenario OA (Green) is the one wisely proposed by CIHR: Not scenarios A or B.

(6) I continue to be baffled, utterly baffled, by the preoccupation with speculating about hypothetical transitions to Gold OA instead of the practical, immediate transition to OA, via Green OA mandates.

(7) Green OA is within immediate reach.

(8) Those who prefer instead to keep speculating about Gold OA should at least declare that their interest is not really in OA itself, but merely in reforming the business model of journal publishers.

(9) The research community, in the meantime, keeps losing its daily, weekly, monthly, yearly usage and impact, cumulatively, while we keep debating about hypothetical transitions to Gold OA.

(10) The full weight of those whose primary interest is in the transition to OA should accordingly be thrown behind the Green OA mandates, forsaking all others (till 100% OA is safely upon us or imminent).

Stevan Harnad
American Scientist Open Access Forum