Re: Follow up of EC-commissioned "Study on the economic and technical evolution of the scientific publication market

From: Stevan Harnad <harnad_at_ecs.soton.ac.uk>
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2006 18:57:32 +0100

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2006 13:07:25 +0200
From: Celina.RAMJOUE_at_cec.eu.int

        Many thanks for your replies and suggestions on the recently
        published synthesis of the public consultation responses to the
        "Study on the economic and technical evolution of the scientific
        publication markets in Europe".
 
        In response to the concerns raised, the European Commission is
        very attentive to the views and opinions of the researchers. The
        research community will be represented at the 15-16 February
        2007 conference alongside other stakeholders, as is appropriate
        for the issues that will be addressed.
 
        Celina Ramjoue
        European Commission, Research Directorate-General
        Science, Economy and Society Directorate - Governance and Ethics Unit
        celina.ramjoue_at_ec.europa.eu
        rtd-scientific-publication_at_ec.europa.ec
 
        -----Original Message-----

From: Stevan Harnad
 
Below is the (so far still rather wishy-washy) synthesis of the responses to
the European Commission's (EC's) research-access related recommendations.

One rather worrying thing is that the EC's February follow-up conference
in Brussels looks as if it will consist largely of librarians and
publishers, rather than the principal stakeholders, namely, the research
community: researchers, their institutions, and their funders.

One hopes that the EC will not lose sight of the fact that researchers
(and their institutions and funders) are both the *providers* of research
and the *users* of research (in generating further research, as well as
applications for the tax-paying public that funds the research).

Research is not done, or funded, in order to support the publishing industry.

And although librarians have their hearts in the right place, they are
not the research-providers either, so all they can do it help implement
what the researchers, their institutions and their funders elect to
implement.

EC recommendation A1 was for an Open Access Self-Archiving Mandate. That is
a matter for the European Research Community to decide. Librarians can
help. Publishers can either help, or they can adapt. But it would be a
huge strategic mistake to let the publishing industry decide what the
research community does in order to maximize the European tax-paying
public's return on the euros it invests in supporting research. They
are not in vesting in the publishing industry, and far, far more is at
stake that the publishing industry's concerns about possible risks to
its revenue streams.

Stevan Harnad

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2006 18:45:15 +0200
From: RTD-SCIENTIFIC-PUBLICATION_at_CEC.EU.INT
To: AMERICAN-SCIENTIST-OPEN-ACCESS-FORUM_at_LISTSERVER.SIGMAXI.ORG
Subject: Follow up of EC-commissioned "Study on the economic and technical
                evolution of the scientific publication markets in Europe"

Dear colleagues,

As some of you know, the European Commission's Research Directorate-General
recently commissioned a "Study on the economic and technical evolution of
the scientific publication markets in Europe"
(http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/pdf/scientific-publication-stu
dy_en.pdf). This Study by the Université libre de Bruxelles and the
Université des Sciences Sociales (Toulouse) was published in early 2006 and
led to a public consultation, to which many of you contributed.

Today, I am happy to be able to inform you that the synthesis of the
responses to the consultation and the individual contributions received are
available online:

Synthesis of contributions:
http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/document_library/pdf_06/synthesis-consultation_en.pdf

Individual contributions:
http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/document_library/pdf_06/

The next steps planned by the European Commission are a Communication on
scientific information issues (late 2006)and a conference to be held on
15-16 February 2007 in Brussels. Please check our pages on scientific
publication over the next weeks for further information on these activities:
http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/page_en.cfm?id=3184

Best regards,

Celina Ramjoué
European Commission, Research Directorate-General
Science, Economy and Society Directorate - Governance and Ethics Unit
celina.ramjoue_at_ec.europa.eu
Received on Tue Oct 10 2006 - 20:07:33 BST

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