10 University-Press Directors Back Free Access to Scholarly Articles

In a move that puts them at odds with the official stance of the Association of American University Presses, a group of university-press directors yesterday issued a position statement that endorses “the free access to scientific, technical, and medical journal articles no later than 12 months after publication.”

The statement was signed by the directors of a group of small and medium-size presses, including Penn State University, Rockefeller University Press, the University of Michigan Press, and the University Press of New England. It was posted on Peter Suber’s Open Access News blog.

“The signatories think that it is important to publicly align ourselves with the stance taken by many university faculties and administrators on scholarly communication,” Mike Rossner, the Rockefeller press’s director, told The Chronicle by e-mail on Wednesday. His press makes its content publicly available six months after publication, he said, “and our revenues have increased every year since then.” That experience has led his press to conclude that “providing public access to scholarly-journal articles after a short delay is compatible with our subscription-based business model.”

Mr. Rossner added that his press supports legislation, such as a requirement touching research backed by the National Institutes of Health, that promotes open access. That public-access mandate has come under threat from a bill, the Fair Use in Research Works Act, that’s sponsored by Rep. John Conyers Jr., a Democrat of Michigan. The bill was tabled in the last session of Congress and reintroduced by Mr. Conyers in the current session. The press association and the Association of American Publishers have expressed support for the legislation.

The 10 press directors who signed yesterday’s statement did not refer to the Conyers bill by name. “We support the principle that scholarly research fully funded by governmental entities is a public good and should be treated as such,” they wrote. “We support legislation that strengthens this principle and oppose legislation designed to weaken it.”

Although the statement will gladden the hearts of open-access advocates, the signers represent only a fraction of the press association’s members, and it’s hard to tell what impact their action might have. In a telephone conversation with The Chronicle yesterday, Peter J. Givler, the association’s executive director, said that its executive board had polled the membership recently and found that a majority still agreed with the group’s take on the issue.

He noted that individual presses had the liberty to set their own course. “It’s a free country,” Mr. Givler said. —Jennifer Howard