Scholarly Communication : Open Access : Written evidence is coming.... In response to the UK House of Commons committee call for written evidence on whether the government should support open access journals (and other questions), Stevan Harnad has launched a thread on the American Scientist Open Access Forum to provide it. Join the conversation but please don't forget to submit your evidence in a form that the House committee can accept. [Open Access News]  6:27:06 PM   [Feedback ]  

Scholarly Communication : Open Access : UK government inquiry into journal prices and accessibility. The Science and Technology Committee of the UK House of Commons has launched an "inquiry into scientific publications". Quoting from the press release:

The Committee will be looking at access to journals within the scientific community, with particular reference to price and availability. It will be asking what measures are being taken in government, the publishing industry and academic institutions to ensure that researchers, teachers and students have access to the publications they need in order to carry out their work effectively. The inquiry will also examine the impact that the current trend towards e-publishing may have on the integrity of journals and the scientific process.

The committee requests written evidence from all interested parties by February 12, 2003 [PS: this must be 2004] on five specific questions. The third of them is this: "What are the consequences of increasing numbers of open-access journals, for example for the operation of the Research Assessment Exercise and other selection processes? Should the Government support such a trend and, if so, how?" [Open Access News]

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