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Knowledge That is Not Communicated is Wasted: JOSHA - Open Access With Author Copyright
Gerhard G. Steinmann,
Roland Mertelsmann
Affiliation: IASHA e.V., Freiburg, Germany
Keywords: Universality, unobstructed access, Berlin declaration, Good Scientific Publication Practice, Semmelweis reflex, unrestricted author copyright
Categories: News and Views
DOI: 10.17160/josha.5.9.488
Languages: English
Universal access to knowledge is a fundamental principle of science and humanities. Today, however, publications of science and humanities are locked behind high paywalls and non-transparent selection procedures. In the efforts to resolve the misery, a first important milestone was the “Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities” of 2003. This year, a second milestone was reached: Eleven European research funding institutions have committed to require from 2020 on that all results from research funded by these institutions are published immediately in compliant Open Access journals or platforms. The negative liabilities of Peer-review procedures, including the “Semmelweis reflex” are shown to represent further barriers for an immediate universal dissemination of knowledge. To overcome inappropriate locking of science and humanities behind walls, the remaining future milestone is that authors retain a non-exclusive copyright.