Open Access: ARL vs. Publishers

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has issued a statement criticizing a new initiative in what it called an “ongoing PR campaign” against public access legislation, supported by the Association of American Publishers (AAP). ARL officials said the latest effort, dubbed PRISM (Partnership for Research Integrity in Science & Medicine), “frequently distorts the nature of ongoing and substantive discussions about open access and public access to federally funded research.”

PRISM’s web site argues that public access efforts will undermine peer review and harm journal publishers; will open the door to “scientific censorship in the form of selective additions...or omissions...”; subject the scientific record to “the uncertainty that comes with changing federal budget priorities and bureaucratic meddling”; and will introduce “duplication and inefficiencies that will divert resources that would otherwise be dedicated to research.”

ARL officials noted that the PRISM arguments closely follow the advice of PR advisor Eric Dezenhall, whom publishers consulted last year to develop a strategy for fighting public access legislation. ARL officials said the PR campaign offers libraries and researchers an opportunity to engage the campus community “concerning the changes to the scholarly communication” and provides a memo with talking points to help guide that discussion.

James Jordan, president and director of Columbia University Press, resigned from AAP’s Executive Council over the PRISM campaign, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.