Press release
3 May 2012


Academic publishers welcome David Willetts’ support for sustainable open access

The International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM) welcomes David Willetts’, the UK Minister of State for Universities and Science, support for publishing and sustainable open access.

Writing this week in the Guardian on the UK Government’s plans to make publicly funded research accessible to all, Willetts said “The challenge is how we get there without ruining the value added by academic publishers.” He continued, “We still need to pay for such functions, which is why one attractive model – known as gold – has the funders of research covering the costs.”

On 4 February 2012, STM released its statement ‘Publishers support sustainable open access’. It opens “Publishers are committed to the widest possible dissemination of and access to the content they publish. We support any and all sustainable models of access that ensure the integrity and permanence of the scholarly record.” To date, 49 STM member and non-member publishers have signed the statement. The statement is available on the Association’s website at www.stm-assoc.org/publishers-support-sustainable-open-access/ and is quoted below.

Commenting at the STM annual spring conference this week, STM CEO Michael Mabe said, “We welcome Mr Willetts’ balanced comments on sustainable open access. We are actively contributing to the Finch Group in the UK through our colleagues at the Publishers Association, and we look forward to hearing their findings.”

-ENDS –

STM statement (4 February 2012)
Publishers Support Sustainable Open Access

Publishers are committed to the widest possible dissemination of and access to the content they publish. We support any and all sustainable models of access that ensure the integrity and permanence of the scholarly record. Such options include 'gold' open access, whereby publication is funded by an article publishing charge paid by the author or another sponsor, a subscription-based journal, or any one of a number of hybrid publishing options. Most publishers now offer open access options and publish open access journals, and work closely with funders, institutions and governments to facilitate these developments. Gold open access provides one approach toward our shared goal of expanding access to peer-reviewed scientific works and maximizing the value and reuse of the results of scientific research. 
  
We believe that authors should be able to publish in the journal of their choice, where publication will have the greatest potential to advance their field.   Institutions and funders have a key role to play in ensuring that public access policies allow for funding of peer reviewed publication and publishing services in whatever journal that an author chooses. Publishers look forward to working with all stakeholders to achieve this goal and to advance scholarly communication.

Links:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/01/open-free-access-academic-research (Open, free access to academic research? This will be a seismic shift, The Guardian, 01 May 2012)

http://www.stm-assoc.org/publishers-support-sustainable-open-access
 STM statement ‘Publishers support sustainable access’

STM is an international association of over 100 scientific, technical, medical and scholarly publishers, collectively responsible for more than 60% of the global annual output of research articles, 55% of the active research journals and the publication of tens of thousands of print and electronic books, reference works and databases. We are the only international trade association equally representing all types of STM publishers - large and small companies, not for profit organizations, learned societies, traditional, primary, secondary publishers and new entrants to global publishing.
http://www.stm-assoc.org/
 

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