CREATING CHANGE IN EUROPE : SPARC EUROPE AND SCHOLARLY PUBLISHING Frederick J. Friend SPARC Senior Consultant

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE CURRENT PUBLISHING MODEL? Rise in journal prices restricting access to scholarship (N.B. “Big Deals” only improve access to the titles included). Access restricted not only for scientific and medical users but also for humanities and social sciences as journal publishers use higher proportion of budgets Small publishers threatened by dominance of major publishers Future access uncertain because dependent upon publishers’ archiving and pricing policies Access restricted across the globe : a problem for rich and poor countries alike Restricted access works against world-wide growing need for information as the driver for economic and social development

TODAY’S REALITY : THE EFFECT OF JOURNAL PRICES IN THE US AND THE UK

THE VISION OF TOMORROW’S REALITY “An old tradition and a new technology have converged to make possible an unprecedented public good. The old tradition is the willingness of scientists and scholars to publish the fruits of their research in scholarly journals without payment, for the sake of inquiry and knowledge. The new technology is the internet. The public good they make possible is the world-wide electronic distribution of the peer-reviewed journal literature and completely free and unrestricted access to it by all scientists, scholars, teachers, students, and other curious minds. Removing access barriers to this literature will accelerate research, enrich education, share the learning of the rich with the poor and the poor with the rich, make this literature as useful as it can be, and lay the foundation for uniting humanity in a common intellectual conversation and quest for knowledge.” Budapest Open Access Initiative

LOOKING FOR A BETTER WAY Library consortia : wider access to big packages of journals but weak on access to small publishers E-print services : successful for research literature in some subjects but not a universal solution Open Archives Initiative : harvesting metadata in order to improve access but no economic change Public Library of Science : limited use of author power Budapest Open Access Initiative : achieving change through author-archiving or alternative journals SPARC : Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition raising awareness and promoting alternative journals and business models SPARC Europe : SPARC with a European flavourwww.sparceurope.org

ADVANTAGES OF THE SPARC APPROACH (1) All stakeholders involved and their interests considered : authors, publishers, readers and librarians. (N.B. Neither SPARC nor BOAI are “anti-publisher” – both support publishers prepared to change their economic model.) SPARC supports smaller publishers, particularly society publishers (e.g. BioOne group of small societies) and helps them to move into electronic publication with reasonable pricing. Good features of present system retained - e.g. quality, reliability. SPARC journals attract good authors and score well on impact factor. (N.B. no change will be good if it destroys the integrity of academic publication)

ADVANTAGES OF THE SPARC APPROACH (2) Committed to open access or low-cost subscriptions (flexible in looking for right economic model for each journal.) Experimentation with change in real situations – not theoretical approach. Start-up risks in introducing change reduced (N.B. transition from subscription to open access represents major risk for publishers who accept that new economic models are viable in long-term.) Economics of publishing not ignored but not allowed to over- ride vision – e.g. SPARC “Gaining Independence” document. Advocacy linked to action – important to persuade academics to take problems of current model seriously and also important to show that change is possible. Success already demonstrated – SPARC journals are cheaper than their competitors without sacrificing quality.

SOME SPARC EUROPE ACTIONS Raising awareness amongst academic authors and users: leaflets and workshops to stimulate thought and action Encouraging institution-based repositories of copies of journal articles written by academic staff: “good practice” to be identified on SPARC Europe web-site Providing information about alternative journals: links from SPARC Europe web-site Supporting open access initiatives : Open Archives Initiative (October Workshop in Geneva) and Budapest Open Access Initiative (developing new business models). Supporting new journals committed to low-cost or open access: encourage libraries to buy when publishers change their policies.

PLEASE HELP TO MAKE THE VISION OF BETTER ACCESS TO JOURNALS A REALITY SOONER RATHER THAN LATER! The problems in access to academic journals will not be solved unless those who are looking for change are prepared to take action. SPARC began in the US because universities were not only prepared to talk about change but to commit money to bring about change. In other countries, we cannot leave it to the US to take action: if we want change we have to make our own commitment of time or money. Thank you for listening - but please take action as well as listen! Join SPARC Europe if you are not already a member, talk about these issues to your colleagues and support open access journals.