A haiku introduction to open access
SPARC Open Access Newsletter, issue #78
October 2, 2004
by Peter Suber

Once I started writing haiku about open access, I couldn't stop.  Here's a mercifully small sampling.  Believe me, the ones I've omitted are even more atrocious than the ones I've included.

If you publish it,
and readers can't afford it,
does it make a sound?

They don't pay authors,
editors or referees.
Then they want the rights.

Unlike musicians,
scholars consent to OA
without losing dough.

OA articles
are not without cost
but are without price.

Share perfect copies
with a worldwide audience.
Marginal cost, zip.

I love print, paper.
But I love searching, linking,
using, sharing more.

Libraries are caught:
High prices, tight licences,
profs who demand more.

OA archiving
takes a couple of minutes.
So what's the problem?

Authors determine
where to submit their papers,
whether to archive.

OA and TA
can coexist --til authors
decide otherwise.

Sure, change copyright
and peer review.  But OA
doesn't have to wait.

Yes, launch new journals.
But OA through archiving
doesn't have to wait.

Don't say "author pays"
when funders will pay the fee
or journals waive it.

P&T panels
harm science if they demand
the same-old, same-old. 

The current system
evolved over centuries.
So did dinosaurs.

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Read this issue online
http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/3997165/suber_news78.html

SOAN is published and sponsored by the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC).
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Additional support is provided by Data Conversion Laboratory (DCL), experts in converting research documents to XML.
http://www.dclab.com/public_access.asp

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This is the SPARC Open Access Newsletter (ISSN 1546-7821), written by Peter Suber and published by SPARC.  The views I express in this newsletter are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of SPARC or other sponsors.

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Conferences Related to the Open Access Movement
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Timeline of the Open Access Movement
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/timeline.htm

Open Access Overview
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/overview.htm

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Peter Suber
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters
peter.suber@earlham.edu

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