The university libraries lobby has rejected Chief Scientist Cathy Foley’s plan for government-led research access.
Dr Foley calls for the Australian Government to negotiate with publishers to make pay-walled research free to read for all Australians. She presented her long in-development plan to an industry webinar last week.
However, the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) says this approach will “reinforce the problematic academic publishing business models.”
“We are advocating for a broader strategy – preferably, an open science or research statement which would situate open access in the broader open science context. In the long term, this broader approach would provide open access to Australia’s research for the world, not just Australia, “ CAUL’s Jane Angel states.
The core of Dr Foley’s model is for the Commonwealth to negotiate a national deal with research publishers to make all their content free to read by all, as in every, Australian. The cost benchmark is what university and research institutes spend now on subscriptions and publishing fees, up to $500m.
Dr Foley argues, “broad open access to science and research could help industry understand the latest developments. Open access can accelerate the uptake of medical methods that are more effective, more accurate and safe.” And she suggests the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme demonstrates how a single national purchaser model can work.
However, CAUL states the Chief Scientist’s model “will entrench the existing issues, which see enormous profit margins derived from free academic labour.”
“A national strategy must aim higher, adopting multiple approaches to truly advance open access. It must not be based on the principle of ensuring the sustainability of publisher business practices that are designed to advance commercial rather than community interests,” it states.
Dr Foley’s model would also undo years of work by CAUL which has negotiated OA agreements with 20 plus publishers, including all the big-five for-profit houses, that make Australian created content free to read. Access charges are bundled with subscription costs paid by individual libraries.
Ms Angel says last year these deals “facilitated” open access for 22 900 research articles, “representing a cost avoidance for universities of over $113m.”
CAUL also argues that these read and publish agreements, “are not the end goal.”
“They were always intended to be an interim measure to drive the transformation of publishing models. Internationally, there is recognition that read and publish agreements are not accelerating the transformational change needed and that a broader strategy is required.”
CAUL’s case is that multiple measures are necessary to end the existing commercial publishing model, including OA repositories, “essential infrastructure for making non-traditional research outputs, including creative works and software, open access, for maintaining complete records of institutions’ research outputs, and for bridging the gaps in universal open access to Australian research.”
With the library establishment opposed, it is hard to see government backing Dr Foley’s plan which has been with Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic since last year.
