Change is Coming

Articles published in professional journals are often not readily available online, particularly as journal publication has been taken over by commercial publishers.  Many blog readers will undoubtedly have looked for an article and found only an abstract online, as per the accompanying picture.

But change is (hopefully) coming:

MEDIA RELEASE
Friday, August 2, 2013
UC Office of the Academic Senate

The Academic Senate of the University of California has passed an Open Access Policy, ensuring that future research articles authored by faculty at all 10 campuses of UC will be made available to the public at no charge. “The Academic Council’s adoption of this policy on July 24, 2013, came after a six-year process culminating in two years of formal review and revision” said Robert Powell, chair of the Academic Council. “Council’s intent is to make these articles widely — and freely — available in order to advance research everywhere.” Articles will be available to the public without charge via eScholarship (UC’s open access repository) in tandem with their publication in scholarly journals.

Open access benefits researchers, educational institutions, businesses, research funders and the public by accelerating the pace of research, discovery and innovation and contributing to the mission of advancing knowledge and encouraging new ideas and services.

Chris Kelty, Associate Professor of Information Studies, UCLA, and chair of the UC University Committee on Library and Scholarly Communication (UCOLASC), explains, “This policy will cover more faculty and more research than ever before, and it sends a powerful message that faculty want open access and they want it on terms that benefit the public and the future of research.” ...

Full release at http://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/open_access_press_release_2013.pdf 

Other information at http://osc.universityofcalifornia.edu/openaccesspolicy/OA_FAQ.pdf 

Some folks are very appreciative: