Open Access – free access to knowledge

To draw public attention to the role of open access to science, “International Open Access Week” took place in mid October. Goethe.de talked to Johannes Fournier from the German Research Foundation about the opportunities offered by the model and its future.

Mr Fournier, what is “Open Access Week” all about?

Our goal, first and foremost, was to target those scientists who still have some reservations about open access.

We aimed to eliminate such reservations in a dialogue with the scientists in question and to demonstrate productive and practicable solutions for their own “open access” publishing. I believe that we succeeded in many places.

“Increasingly digitally influenced working environment”

Is there still a need for information and education in this respect?

Yes, as open access still generally boils down to making research results of all types available in such a way that users do not have to pay for access. Yet there is more to it than that: it is a question of being able to use the contents in other contexts and of actively incorporating them into the increasingly digitally influenced environment in which scientists work. Open access is a prerequisite for this.

Is this new approach to work not really possible without open access?

It is at least more difficult, particularly because the financial and legal implications for scientists and research organizations would be considerable if they wished to use the information in this way. Access to and further processing of digital publications is made possible by licences. If these licences only provide for exclusive use by publishers – the owners of the rights – it is more difficult, if not impossible, for scientists to make specific use of the results for their own purposes.

No money, high profile

In their “Heidelberg Appeal”, artists and publishers warn that open access will undermine copyright law, leading to possible lost earnings...

This is a misunderstanding, because the calls for open access relate solely to academic publications, not to fiction or artistic works. In the field of science, people are interested above all in using publications to draw attention to themselves and establish a reputation. This sort of high profile is best achieved in many disciplines by publishing journal articles, which generally do not earn their authors any money.

What is more, even with open access publications it is still the author – the copyright holder – who decides whether his work should be published on an open access basis or not. Using “creative commons licences”, for example, he can also determine what others are allowed to do with the publication, and what they are not allowed to do – whether for instance they can only read the article or whether they can incorporate the results into their own virtual research environment. At the DFG, we still harbour hopes that it will be possible to firmly establish open access within copyright law.

Why is the DFG, the largest German research promotion organization, so committed to open access?

We carried out a survey of academics funded by the DFG which was published in 2005. Right across the board, the consensus among academics with DFG grants was that the DFG should give greater support to open access. This vote prompted us to get more involved in this area. Since this time, researchers funded by the DFG are required to make their results available – wherever possible – to users free of charge.

Dialogue with developing countries

One argument in favour of open access was always that it would reduce the digital divide between rich and poor countries. Has this happened yet?

It is difficult to say. In any case, the DFG has promoted, among other things, a project which makes journals that focus on regional research in developing countries available online on an open access basis. This freely available version now means that it is possible not only to talk about the target countries, but increasingly to talk with them. This dialogue is made possible by free access.

What has changed since the “Berlin Declaration” of 2003, considered to be the origin of the European open access movement?

The profile of the topic has increased considerably. Furthermore, academics now give very careful consideration to whether and how open access might be a form of publication suitable for them. Their key motivating factor is the fact that it allows them to achieve maximum impact – ideology plays virtually no part.

A lack of financing models

What are the issues that need to be tackled in the near future?

One important question will be how the transition can be achieved in terms of financing: nonetheless, there is still a long way to go before the current subscription system, which finances the distribution of the publication, can become an open access system where production of the publication has to be financed.