Have you noticed that “Open Access” is a buzz word these days? (For a definition of “open access” read the Bethesda Statement on Open Access). The launching of many new open access journals, such as PLoS Medicine, and recent news reports, such as the National Institute of Health’s proposal to mandate open access archiving to all federally funded research, are generating a vigorous debate in the scientific, publishing, and library communities. Scholarly communication exists for the benefit of the world’s research and teaching community. Authors aim to share new discoveries with their colleagues, while researchers, students, librarians and other readers want access to the relevant literature. Open access facilitates this process by making scholarly information freely available on the web.
In light of the debate over open access and in order to help distill and distribute scholarly communication issues, Hardin Scholarly Communication News published its first newsletter in July 2004. The purpose of this irregularly issued electronic newsletter (8-12 issues/year) is to bring to readers’ attention a variety of topics that affect the current system of scholarly communication, with emphasis on new developments, open access and alternative publishing models in the health sciences. Karen Fischer, editor and Information Resources Librarian, welcomes input, suggestions and news-worthy items from all readers. Contact: karen-fischer@uiowa.edu.
If you subscribe to News@Hardin you will automatically receive an email announcement of a new issue with the table of contents included. Read it online at: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/scholarly_comm_news.html
