Open Access : OA upsets world of scholarly journals. Stéphane Foucart, Le "libre accès" aux résultats de la recherche bouleverse le monde des revues savantes, Le Monde, April 16, 2004. On the launch of PLoS Biology, its immediate success and prestige, the enthusiasm for it among scientists, and how the growing evidence of its sustainability will cause OA business models to spread to other journals. (Thanks to Libre Accès à l'information scientifique & technique.) [Open Access News]  12:22:04 PM   [Feedback ]  

Open Access : If we could start from scratch. Paul Ginsparg, Scholarly Information Architecture, 1989-2015, Data Science Journal, February 2004. Abstract: "If we were to start from scratch today to design a qualitycontrolled archive and distribution system for scientific and technical information, it could take a very different form from what has evolved in the past decade from preexisting print infrastructure. Ultimately, we might expect some form of global knowledge network for research communications. Over the next decade, there are many technical and nontechnical issues to address along the way, everything from identifying optimal formats and protocols for rendering, indexing, linking, querying, accessing, mining, and transmitting the information, to identifying sociological, legal, financial, and political obstacles to realization of ideal systems. What nearterm advances can we expect in automated classification systems, authoring tools, and nextgeneration document formats to facilitate efficient datamining and longterm archival stability? How will the information be authenticated and quality controlled? What differences should be expected in the realization of these systems for different scientific research fields? Can recent technological advances provide not only more efficient means of accessing and navigating the information, but also more costeffective means of authentication and quality control? Relevant experiences from open electronic distribution of research materials in physics and related disciplines during the past decade are used to illuminate these questions, and some of their implications for proposals to improve the implementation of peer review are then discussed." [Open Access News]  12:21:24 PM   [Feedback ]  

Open Access : NSF helps Cornell preserve digital mathematics. NSF has given the Cornell University Library $450,000 " to create a system for the long-term preservation and dissemination of digital mathematics and statistics journals." Excerpt from the press release: "Although scholars, teachers, and students appreciate having 24/7 access to e-research literature, this new publishing model has created a major challenge for librarians. Now, libraries no longer own copies of the journals to which they provide electronic access?they only have licensed access to the digital literature, and that access is limited to the period of time covered in their contract with the publisher. Librarians question whether they should rely on the publishers to maintain long-term access to those e-journals or if they should collaborate with each other, and with publishers, to develop digital archives." [Open Access News]  8:40:16 AM   [Feedback ]