open-access publishing and the transformation of scholarly communication

SciELO15, 23rd October, 2013

Open-access publishing and the transformation of

scholarly communication

Mark Patterson, Executive Director, eLife

March 23rd, 2001

Harold Varmus Pat Brown Mike Eisen

Open access

>Free

access

Feb 1st 2001

October, 2003 October, 2004

Oct 13th

2005

Growth of open access publishing

OA journals with APCOA journals no APCOA journals with print subscription

Laakso and Björk BMC Medicine 2012 10:124 doi:10.1186/1741-7015-10-124

%PubMed available as open access in PMC

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 20120.0%

2.0%

4.0%

6.0%

8.0%

10.0%

12.0%

14.0%

Where’s the disruption?

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/News070712-X1.1flare.html

First disruptionThe megajournal

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 20120

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

PLOS ONE growth

Open-access

megajournals

• Cost-effective• Scalable, and can grow quickly• Great for authors• Strong competition for conventional

approaches• An open platform for research

communication

Megajournals as a disruptive force

Second disruptionDirect funding of OA

publishing

Print

Online

Estimates the proportion of open access content in Brazil (2008-2011) to be 63%

“…no doubt due to the important contribution of SciELO.”

• Cost-effective• Scalable, and can grow quickly• Great for authors• Strong competition for conventional

approaches• An open platform for research

communication

SciELO as a disruptive force

Funders taking direct action

eLife: motivations

Serve science

Swift, fairdecisiveprocess

ExploitdigitalMedia

Open access

eLife – scope

• BROAD

From basic and theoretical work to translational, applied and clinical research.

• SELECTIVE

Highly influential work that advances understanding, opens new doors or has real-world impacts.

Editors

• Editor-in-Chief• 2 Deputy eds• 17 Senior eds • Board of

reviewing eds ~180

eLife Lens http://elifesciences.github.io/articleviewer/

eLife Lens http://elifesciences.github.io/articleviewer/

Third disruption Reforming research

assessment

Researchassessment

InstitutionsResearchers (authors

and readers)

Publishers

Funders

Policy makersThe public

Librarians

“Dear Public Library of Science people, I just listened to a mouse song on line…

I do not have the funds to subscribe to the traditional science journals.

Tomorrow my students will hear the same mouse song I listened to and I amsure they will be as enchanted and interested as I am. The idea of openaccess to original research papers is very exciting to someone in my position…

I can assure you that the availability of research papers will benefit the future of scientific research by providing motivation and stimulation for millions of fledgling scientists.

Sincerely, Science Teacher”

Some impact is hard to measure

The impact factor is…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/m2w2/191545978/sizes/z/in/photostream/

• a journal-based metric• proprietary• incomplete

Policy and practiceMedia

Textbooks

Usage

Citations

Reference managers

Twitter

Wikipedia

v10

• From one measure to many• From journal to article• From one output to many

New metrics and indicators of scholarship

• Recommendations for publishers, funders, institutions, metrics suppliers, and researchers

• >9000 signatories• Make sure you sign up today

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24736216@N07/7758828268/ (CC BY-NC2.0)

• Open access publishing is here to stay• Disruptive forces are at work

megajournals direct funding reform of assessment and much more…

Summary

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anandham/4499539060/

Open access is one part of a much broader transition

InteroperabilityAssessmentSustainability

Happy birthday!Thank you

Mark Pattersonm.patterson@elifesciences.org