Re: Raym Crow on publishing cooperatives

[Peter Banks <pbanks@bankspub.com>]

I agree that there is no necessary contradiction between a call 
for open access and support of NFPs. Open access and NFPs should 
be natural allies, as both aim for the widest possible 
dissemination of research findings.

Why, then, do so many NFPs so strenuously oppose OA in its 
current iteration? For a simple reason: because it will diminish 
their ability to fulfill their missions and serve their 
constituencies. No sane CEO of an NFP would adopt OA when there 
is as yet no sustainable business model. A CEO whose charge is to 
find a cure for a disease or help people find more effective 
treatment and self-care is not going to gamble away the money 
that goes into research, treatment, and education for the vague 
hope that some obscure paper now inaccessible to researchers will 
provide the spark for a research breakthrough.

Peter Banks
Banks Publishing
Publications Consulting and Services
Fairfax, VA 22030
(703) 591-6544
FAX (703) 383-0765
pbanks@bankspub.com


On 9/15/06 9:30 PM, "David Prosser" <david.prosser@bodley.ox.ac.uk> wrote:

> Joe
>
> Could you provide a paper where the your claim that
>
> 'The call for Open Access is simply diminishing the NFPs.'
>
> is explored in more detail?  You have stated it, ex chathedra, a
> number of times but I really can't see the logic of it and would
> appreciate a more detailed argument. It would also be useful to
> have an explanation for why in your view open access is a greater
> threat to NFPs than, say, the continued success of big deal
> offerings from large publishers.
>
> For those that do not accept your central tenet that open access
> diminishes NFPs there is no contradiction between a call for open
> access and support of NFPs.
>
> Best wishes
>
> David C Prosser PhD
> Director, SPARC Europe
> E-mail:  david.prosser@bodley.ox.ac.uk
> http://www.sparceurope.org