SIM Open Day presentation

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I do not ask to see the distant scene one step
enough for meIan Johnson
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• Lead, kindly Light, amid thencircling gloom,
  lead Thou me on!The night is dark, and I am far
  from home lead Thou me on!Keep Thou my feet
• I do not ask to see the distant scene one step
  enough for me.

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OVERVIEW

• Shine a little light on
• The evolution of journal publishing
• The emergence of electronic publishing
• Parallels in developing countries
• Consequences of these changes
• Peer into the darkness
• The future scene?

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WHY DO SCHOLARS PUBLISH?

• Research and development
• Research and scholarly communication
• Quality control through peer review
• Academic reward system

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GROWTH IN SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING

• Scientific papers
• 1870s - c800 pa papers in mathematics
• 2000 - c50,000 pa papers in mathematics
• Scientific journals
• 1800s - 90 journals published
• 2000 - c16,000 journals published - in English

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THE EVOLUTION OF JOURNAL PUBLISHING

• Ownership and support for scholarly publishing
• 1800s - Universities and societies
• 2000 - Commercial companies
• Developing countries
• 2000 - Universities and societies
• No incentive for quality control or improving
  distribution

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CONSEQUENCES (1)

• For libraries
• Increased costs
• Selective purchasing
• For researchers
• Diminishing access to knowledge
• Linguistic domination or isolation?

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THE LANGUAGE BARRIER

• Limited visibility
• Not included in indexing services
• Not authors publication of choice

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THE EMERGENCE OF ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING

• Added value features in online journals
• Tables of Contents services
• Cross-Referencing
• Full-text information retrieval
• Retrospective coverage
• Consolidation in the publishing industry

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CONSEQUENCES (2)

• For libraries
• Increased costs without increased budgets
• Reaction against the Big Deals
• For researchers
• Attraction of the Big Deals
• Expectation of improved access

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THE EMERGENCE OF THE OPEN ACCESS MOVEMENT

• Repositories
• Free online journals in developing countries
• Budapest Open Access Initiative
• Mutual interest of librarians and researchers in
  Open Access, and declarations of support
• Dichiarazione di Messina, November 2004

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e-PUBLISHING IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

• Distribution good - Internet is global
• Findability - minimal
• Visibility - poor
• Preservation not considered
• Quality limited attention
• Continuity Uncertain
• Acceptability - unchanged

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THE FUTURE SCENE? OPEN ACCESS

• Open access - Green
• Repositories for self archived papers ?
• Open access Gold journals free to users
• No costs for equipment and technical support?
• No costs for editorial work, metadata, cross
  referencing, and marketing?
• Sustainability?
• Acceptability?
• Impact on library budgets?

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THE FUTURE SCENE? COMMERCIAL PUBLISHING

• Markets and prices
• New business models?
• Long term
• Pay as you go?
• Open access for readers?

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http//www.rgu.ac.uk/abs

• Thank you for your attention

Questions?Comments?