UK universities have joined calls for publicly-funded research to be freely available on the internet. In a position statement, Universities UK supports moves to broaden access away from subscription-based journals and - more recently - websites.
The organisation argues that such academic material is vital to national productivity and well-being. Its intervention is the latest in a long-running debate about the public accessiblity of research findings.
The eight UK research councils, which control most of the public funding, have proposed making free access a condition of getting grants.
The president of Universities UK, Professor Drummond Bone, said: "Publicly funded research undertaken in UK universities lies at the heart of a productive economy, as well as supporting the physical, social and cultural health of the nation.
A key problem has been rapidly increasing journal prices - up 58% between 1998 and 2003, compared with a general inflation rate of 11%. Developments in electronic publishing have made possible a fundamental change, they argue.
Publishers have argued that the cost per page has not increased - they are just being offered increasing amounts of research material.
And they say they bear the costs of having research "peer reviewed" - checked by others - and that if this were to end the integrity of research could be compromised.
They include not only commercial publishers but not-for-profit learned societies. Universities UK says they play a crucial role and the effect of any change on them should be monitored closely.
But it says there are sustainable ways forward, probably involving a mixture of the current system and new ways of doing things, such as having those who fund the research meet the publication costs.
More
|
