Francis Muguet UN - WSIS

Whether research is funded by Public entities ( Research Agencies : DFG, CNRS, NSF, etc.. ) Philantropic entities ( eg. Howard Hughes foundation ) Industrial entities ( eg. Chemical firms, Biology lab., etc.. )

Scientific Authors are giving for free the account of their research to scientific Journals.

Currently most of the journals are subscription-based and are managed by Commercial publishers ( now an oligopol dominated by Elsevier ) or Learned Society ( eg. American Chemical Society )

Big Commercial Publishers are using tough marketing tactics using "package deals" in order to effectively eliminate from the competition smaller publishers.

The costs of most journals are ever increasing without justification, making them less and less unaffordable even in industrialized nations, not to mention countries in transition or in developement.

Therefore we are facing a (DIGITAL) DIVIDE situation of
an unprecendented magnitude,
that exists for purely historical reasons.

RAISING AWARENESS AMONG INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES STATE & RESEARCH AGENCIES

In the past research budgets were comfortable, and the costs of the journals were not as excessive as now, scientists did not want to bother about publishing.

Shrinking research and library budgets
+
Increasing subscription costs

More and more periodicals are unsucribed by libraries, because they can no longer afford it. Librarians : "Getting Indepence" Universities Research agencies when they manage directly libraries

In Macroeconmical terms :

The scientific community gives content to Journals for free

Journals are re-selling this donated content at a very high price to the very same scientific community.

For Universities, Research Agencies it took time to become aware that in fact they were subsidizing a florishing cottage industry, because, like in a "con artist" scheme, all happens indirectly.

People that are donating content are not the same that purchase the journals, although those who are purchasing are doing so at the request of the donors !

The situation becomes clear when scientists are not able to see their own institution libraries subscribing to the journals they publish into ! They are prevented read their own work ! ( University of California vs Cell Press )

For example in countries like the US, where funding is made by project.

  NSF project funding -->  % to researcher
                           % to University "overhead costs" 

     University "overhead costs"----> University Library
                State subsidies ---->

In countries like France, where funding is made mostly by yearly allowance to each laboratory, one has to go to the highest level to understand it is the state who pays in the end.

  State -->  CNRS -->  budget to laboratory --> purchase of some periodicals
  
        --> Institutions ---> Libraries

The CNRS also subscribes directly, through its own information unit INIST, to journals. Of course, awareness was raised at INIST.

RAISING AWARENESS AMONG INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES RESEARCH COMPANIES In big commercial companies, research scientists need to publish to maintain their scientific standing and collaboration with Universities. Big pharmaceutical companies are becoming now, slowly aware that too, they are subsidizing a whole business, In fact, the situation should have been simpler to realize in Business communities. It is the same problem, the purchaser sees as normal to buy periodicals, but he is not fully aware that scientist in his/her own company are donating their content ! RAISING AWARENESS AMONG INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE OPEN ACCESS is not ANTI-BUSINESS simply for an healthy BUSINESS Scientific subscription-based publisher business model receive donated content peer reviewed by other scientist for free editor in chief : management of the peer review unpaid or very little editorial board : unpaid value added by the publisher secretarial work formating ( pdf, no longer needs costly personnel ) printing ( lower and lower cost due digital printing ) web site, bandwith a very rigid market, libraries are feeling compeled to buy. oligopolistic concentration, lack of competition, market power in a way, very fragile no business or long term contractual relationship with content providers Analogy with software : Imagine programmers paid by states, philantropic organizations, research companies giving their work for free to "publishers" then this software is resold at a very high price with no modification except a nicer packaging to those who donated it ! RAISING AWARENESS AMONG TRANSITION COUNTRIES 1/ Access to the knowledge produced in industrialized countries Avoid "Brain drain" of researchers forced to emigrate simply to be in place where they can have access to information 2/ Possibility to produce knowledge that has worldwide visibililty National Academies journals