The Access Principle: The Case for Open Access to Research and Scholarship (Digital Libraries and Electronic Publishing),   ISBN:9780262512664

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We live in an historic moment. Publishing is moving from print to digital formats, and the model of `open access' publishing challenges traditional methods of commercial publishing and academic publishing as well.

In The Access Principle, John Willinsky argues that open access to research archives and journals has the potential to change the public presence of science and scholarship and to help inform civic discussion and policy making.

A professor at the University of British Columbia, Willinsky argues that a commitment to the value and quality of research carries with it a responsibility to extend the circulation of research findings as far as possible, to all who are interested in it, and to all who might profit by it.

Willinsky's case for open access is multifaceted. It draws on the spirit of copyright law,
the mandate of scholarly associations, the promise of global knowledge exchanges,
the public's right to know, the prospect of enhanced reading and indexing, the improved economic efficiencies of publishing, and the history of the academic journal.

Willinsky is careful to explain that `open access' does not mean `free access.' Open access articles cannot be read without a substantial investment in hardware, software, and networking. The open access movement does not operate in denial of economic realities, he says; it is simply acting on a scholarly tradition that has long been concerned with extending the circulation of knowledge.

Research knowledge has been transformed into a capitalized commodity and economic driver, he writes. The resulting corporate publishing concentration, with its relentless focus on knowledge capitalization and shareholder value, has allowed journal prices to increase well above inflation rates. University libraries cannot keep up, and even Tier 1 research institutions are dropping expensive journal subscriptions by the dozens and scores.

Online scholarly resources are now available in a variety of forms, yet it's the research article in particular that's at the center of a struggle, Willinsky says. The struggle is over online publishing and whether it will further contribute to, or whether it will begin to reverse, the current state of declining access to research within an otherwise expanding global academic community.

Willinsky argues that scholarly associations must ask themselves whether they will use this new publishing medium, already integral to the scholarly process, to extend and advance the circulation and exchange of knowledge. The associations need to consider the principles of access and the availability of open access publishing in the short term and the long term. They should consider cooperating with research libraries and better attune themselves to what's in the best interest of their members and authors, as well as the cause of research and scholarship which they serve.