Is it not amazing how, even in these difficult economic times, governments
can find extra cash to smooth over the mistakes in their own policies! The extra
£10 million for 30 UK universities to pay APCs to publishers is a political
gesture to counter the opposition to the UK Government’s mistaken endorsement of
the Finch Report proposals. Never mind that the money could have been spent far
more effectively in supporting open access repositories! Never mind that the
effect will be inflationary, enabling publishers to raise the level of charge
for APCs! Never mind that the UK Government made exactly the same mistake 25
years ago in giving university libraries £10 million to pay for the higher cost
of journal subscriptions, generosity which only poured petrol on the flames of
journal inflation and within a couple of years left libraries no better off!
Never mind that the UK Government has not thought through what to do when the
£10 million is used up and we are left with a publisher-led open access
infrastructure costing the UK taxpayer much more than an improved repository OA
infrastructure would do! In brief this extra money is a short-term gesture still
leaving the UK open access infrastructure worse off then it was pre-Finch.
Fred Friend
Honorary Director Scholarly Communication UCL
