The Access Principle: The Case for Open Access to Research and ScholarshipAn argument for extending the circulation of knowledge with new publishing technologies considers scholarly, economic, philosophical, and practical issues. Questions about access to scholarship go back farther than recent debates over subscription prices, rights, and electronic archives suggest. The great libraries of the past - from the fabled collection at Alexandria to the early public libraries of nineteenth-century America - stood as arguments for increasing access. In The Access Principle, John Willinsky describes the latest chapter in this ongoing story - online open access publishing by scholarly journals - and makes a case for open access as a public good. A commitment to scholarly work, writes Willinsky, carries with it a responsibility to circulate that work as widely as possible: this is the access principle. In the digital age, that responsibility includes exploring new publishing technologies and economic models to improve access to scholarly work. Wide circulation adds value to published work; it is a significant aspect of its claim to be knowledge. The right to know and the right to be known are inextricably mixed. the best-equipped lab at a leading research university and a teacher struggling to find resources in an impoverished high school. Willinsky describes different types of access - the New England Journal of Medicine, for example, grants open access to issues six months after initial publication, and First Monday forgoes a print edition and makes its contents immediately accessible at no cost. He discusses the contradictions of copyright law, the reading of research, and the economic viability of open access. He also considers broader themes of public access to knowledge, human rights issues, lessons from publishing history, and epistemological vanities. The debate over open access, writes Willinsky, raises crucial questions about the place of scholarly work in a larger world - and about the future of knowledge. |
From inside the book
26 pages matching Public Knowledge Project in this book
Page 284
Where's the rest of this book?
Results 1-3 of 26
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
access principle access to research accessed September 29 arXiv.org arXiv.org E-Print Archive chapter circulation of knowledge cited CiteSeer.IST context contribute cooperative corporate costs coverage databases developing countries economic editors electronic Elsevier example faculty members freely available global greater HighWire Press human impact factor increasing access institutions interest Internet issue jour journal publishing journal titles JSTOR librarians Mellon Foundation ment metadata nals National Newton OAIster offer Oldenburg open access indexes open access journals open access publishing Open Archives Initiative Open Journal Systems papers percent print edition public access Public Knowledge Project publishing and archiving PubMed readers Reading Tools research and scholarship research libraries research literature revenue scholarly associations scholarly publishing scholars Science ScienceDirect scientific scientists self-archiving subscribers subscription tion university libraries Web of Science Willinsky Yes Yes