The UC Berkeley Library offers a concise and compelling argument for the consideration of Open Access Publishing. Their brief cost analysis and review of the burden of the traditional publication process on universities brings into focus the state of scholarly publishing and the need for significant change. I agree with the description of this situation as a “crisis in scholarly communication” and it is exciting to see the advocacy efforts of SPARC and others in this Open Access movement.
As a student of the University of Oregon, I am delighted that the Provost has made funding support available to scholars pursuing Open Access publication.
If you are a part of an academic community, does your school provide a similar program? What are other sources of Open Access publishing support for journals that require author payments? I am interested to hear from readers who have thoughts on Open Access publishing – those who have published Open Access articles, those who read Open Access articles, and others.