University boss calls on academic publishers to allow open access

Scientific publishers are much to slow at making research accessible to everyone, Sijbolt Noorda, chairman of the Dutch universities’ association VSNU, says in an interview with Monday’s Financieele Dagblad.


‘Research is paid for by the taxpayer and so the results should be open to everyone as well,’ the paper quotes him as saying.
Publishers such as Elsevier and Springer should do far more to encourage open access by lessening their reliance on licencing, Noorda says. ‘Elsevier could boost its reputation considerably [by allowing open access],’ Noorda said.
Licenses to publish are a source of irritation in the academic world and some 8,800 researchers have already signed a petition saying they no longer wish to be reviewed or published by Elsevier.
The publishing company said in a reaction it did not intend to stop charging subscriptions for its scientific publications. However, ‘we are open to every sort of business model if it is sustainable,’ a spokesman said.
Academic publishers are under considerable pressure in the US and Britain to allow open access to publicly-funded research.

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