Free For All: UK STM Committee Report Calls For Broad Change
-- Library Journal, 7/26/2004
In a remarkable conclusion to the UK Parliament Science and Technology Committee's inquiry into STM publishing, the committee last week issued its final report, entitled Scientific Publications: Free For All?, which recommended that all publicly funded research in the UK be made publicly available and that government take a leading role in that mission. In releasing the report, UK Member of Parliament Ian Gibson echoed some librarian complaints: "Publishers are feathering their nests with big profits whilst scientific journals are becoming less and less affordable. Instead of bashing all the alternatives, commercial publishers should be asked to justify the current publishing process they use."
Citing the struggles of academic libraries in the opening line of its summary, the report proposed that UK institutions "establish institutional repositories on which their published output can be read free-of-charge online," and that the government appoint "a central body" to oversee the implementation of these repositories. The report also called for government action to address digital preservation issues and to eliminate VAT tax charges on UK libraries. While supportive of open access publishing, the report recommended experimentation rather than a wholesale shift to the OA model, expressing concerns over the potential effect on scientific societies.
Open access supporters cheered. Jan Velterop, CEO of open access publisher BioMed Central, said the importance of the report could not be "easily overstated," calling it the "clearest political signal yet that open access to the research literature is to be regarded of great benefit to science and society." For commercial publishers, there was little good news. The report was critical of practices such as bundling and was unimpressed by the wave of statistics the industry has used to justify massive price increases. Arie Jongejan, chief executive of science and technology publishing at Elsevier, struggled to find a silver lining. Jongejan told London's Guardian that the company considers "some of the concerns expressed in the report about government policy on scientific publishing to be over-stated." He added, "We are doubtful that the government will necessarily agree to recommendations made by the report, such as additional funding suggestions." The report pointed out that the "he market for scientific publications is international. The UK cannot act alone. For this reason we recommended that the UK Government act as a proponent for change on the international stage and lead by example. This will ultimately benefit researchers across the globe."
