Global high-energy physics community tests waters with open access proposal

The organization in charge of licensing journals for Canada's university libraries will consider a bold proposal by the global high-energy physics (HEP) community to establish a new model of open access for journals, even though it is drawing mixed reactions within the library and broader academic communities. The Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) agreed at its board meeting in January to proceed with an "expression of interest" to gauge support for becoming the Canadian focal point for SCOAP3.

Such a role has already been rejected by the National Research Council's Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI) although it has agreed to participate on a cost-neutral basis.

SCOAP3 stands for Sponsoring Consortium for Open-Access Publishing in Particle Physics and is composed of HEP funding agencies, laboratories and libraries and library consortia. It is just one of several open access proposals that are fundamentally changing the way in which scholarly journals are published and – most importantly – paid for.

The HEP research community is considered to be a good test case for this particular open access model as its sharply defined and involves just six key journals owned by four large publishers: Elsevier, Springer, SISSA/ IOP and APS. What makes the proposals even more timely is the international buzz surrounding HEP due to the imminent start of the twice-delayed Large Hadron Collider at CERN later this year.

The SCOAP3 concept is far less radical than some other open access proposals being floated. It's evolutionary in the sense that its backers want to keep the journal publishers in the loop and keep the funding institutional through organizations that have proven their mettle.

"What distinguishes this open access experiment is that it's trying to work within the framework of peer review, high-impact, high-energy physics journals," says Deb de Bruijn, CRKN's executive director. "They are trying to do this on a global scale which is a massive redistribution of the way funds flow from institutions or researcher-based organizations to the publisher. On the more skeptical side, you could look at it as an interesting way for researchers to have their cake and eat it too."

De Bruijn says behind the rationale the SCOAP3 proposal is an appreciation that there are already peer-reviewed, authoritative journals being published. SCOAP3 wants that to continue. But they want to see the cash flow move from subscriptions that the libraries pay to basically paying for the peer review and editing services of the publisher, without imposing a financial burden on the individual researcher.

"SCOAP3's goal is to establish a model of free and unrestricted web-based access to peer-reviewed journals in high-energy physics without any financial barriers for individual authors." —International Committee for Future Accelerators

The SCOAP3 campaign to get all the major nations and organizations on board is gaining momentum. The organization reports that it has now received pledges representing 53% of its annual budget envelope of 10 million Euros.

Most of that support is in Europe, although Canadian and US participation is considered essential if the open access initiative is to proceed.

"Most open access initiatives focus on shifting funds from the consumption end to the production end. Once you make the investment in the production, you make it free to everybody," says de Bruijn. "You don't have to worry about selling subs, you just open it up. But you've got to have a secure, steady form of investment to do that."

For CRKN, Canadian participation in SCOAP3 would entail decoupling specific journals from existing licence packages. It's estimated that it will cost Canada about US$420,000 to participate in SCOAP3 raising concern that the cost may exceed the value of funds that can be redirected..

"In Canada, there are lots of complexities and there's divided opinion in the community but we certainly didn't want to see it derail at this point," says de Bruijn. "Looking at what CERN has been able to do in terms of multi-million dollar contracts for hardware and software development, they seem very skilled at bringing funding partners together. They certainly know how to work on a very large scale and they know the community very well."

R$