UK bioscience societies support OA publishing - if adequately funded

["Sally Morris \(Morris Associates\)" <sally@morris-assocs.demon.co.uk>]

*Sent on behalf of the BIOSCIENCES FEDERATION*

UK biological sciences support Open Access publishing provided it 
is adequately funded

The Biosciences Federation supports increasing access to science 
research articles, and sees Open Access publishing as a workable 
approach for most disciplines, provided that research funders can 
make sufficient money available, and that policies are both 
flexible - to reflect the differences between journals - and well 
understood by researchers.  Open Access publishing would also 
reduce the risks of self-archiving, which could otherwise damage 
the viability of journals and thus threaten the substantial other 
contributions which learned societies make to UK science.  The 
Federation is commissioning a study to quantify these 
contributions in order better to understand what the impact might 
be.

The Biosciences Federation, <http://www.bsf.ac.uk/>, an 
organisation of nearly 50 UK Learned Societies and other bodies 
in the Bioscience field, today issued a position statement on 
Open Access:
<http://www.bsf.ac.uk/journals/BSF_position_statement1_open_accesss.pdf>

Maximising access to research articles is entirely in line with 
the mission statements of the Federation's members.  Open Access 
publishing is a workable way of achieving this, provided it is 
adequately funded so that the viability both of journals, and of 
the various activities which are made possible by journals income 
- conferences, meetings and other educational events as well as 
grants, bursaries and research funding - are not threatened.

In order to inform the debate on the level of funding required, 
the Federation has commissioned research from Morris Associates. 
The study will establish the scale to which publishing income 
supports member Society activities, as well as exploring learned 
societies' current and future response to Open Access 
initiatives, and their members' attitudes and behaviour in 
relation to Open Access.

The results of the research studies will be published early in 
2008.

For further information, contact Tom Parkhill or Jennie Evans on 
+44 (0)1454 642230 or media@endocrinology.org

Sally Morris
Email:   <mailto:sally@morris-assocs.demon.co.uk>