Press releases
11 April 2006
BioMed Central welcomes EC report on Europe's scientific publication system
Open access publisher BioMed Central today welcomed a report from the European Commission that calls attention to problems with the current system for scientific publication.
The EC study1, prepared by economists at Toulouse University and the Free University of Brussels, identifies various reasons why the current scientific publishing system does not work as effectively as it should. The report also makes several concrete policy recommendations for improving the system.
"This is a very important report," said Matthew Cockerill, Publisher at BioMed Central. "It confirms what BioMed Central has been saying for some time - that scientists and funders are getting a poor deal from the traditional publishing system, which delivers limited access at high cost. The report also supports the view that open access publication, funded by article processing charges, would provide greater transparency and so deliver a more efficient service to the scientific community. "
According to the report, part of the problem is that a lot of inertia is built into the existing publishing system:
"Authors want to publish in journals that attract other good potential authors and therefore high interest from readers; in turn, readers want to read journals where good authors publish [...] It is important, if one wants to prevent markets from being captive, to avoid 'strategic barriers to entry', i.e. those that would be deliberately created by powerful incumbents, from being erected."
The report also notes that an open access publishing model could improve competitiveness, and so reduce costs:
"In comparison with the current reader/library-pay model, both the author-pay and the pay-per-download models would raise price sensitivity - this is especially true of the author-pay model, since substitution possibilities among journals are higher for authors than for readers - and could therefore be expected to lower prices and raise access to knowledge."
The report notes that, if funders wish to avoid simply preserving the publishing status quo, they need to actively provide support for new publishing models such as open access. According to the report's authors:
"It is worth noting that, if the research funding authorities want to 'give a chance' to the author-pay model, they have to allow for a 'level-playing field' in comparison with the reader/library-pay model, that is, provide funding for publication costs and not only for library budgets...."
The report goes on to make several explicit policy recommendations. It strongly backs funder policies to require grant recipients to deposit in the funders open access archive:
"Research funding agencies have a central role in determining researchers' publishing practices. Following the lead of the NIH and other institutions, they should promote and support the archiving of publications in open repositories [...] This archiving could become a condition for funding."
In terms of open access publishing, the report recommends:
"[A]llocating money to libraries to subscribe to reader or library-pay journals but also to authors to pay for publication costs in author-pay journals, and to researchers in the reader-pay model. Establishing relative priorities in this respect should become a key policy debate."
BioMed Central welcomes the report, and calls on policy makers in Europe to pay close attention to its findings.
Links
1. European Commission report on Europe's scientific publication system
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/414
Further Information
Press contact: Grace Baynes (press@biomedcentral.com or +44 20 7631 9988)
About BioMed Central
BioMed Central is an independent online publishing house committed to providing open access to peer-reviewed research. This commitment is based on the view that immediate free access to research and the ability to freely archive and reuse published information is essential to the rapid and efficient communication of science.
