Page 49 - gt1505

from having her research read by anyone interested in the results.
This fulfills the intent of our founders in a manner they could not
have imagined or anticipated.
Open access will strengthen and expand the reach of our
science, but only if societies such as GSA willingly embrace this
change and find the means to assure that the quality of Society-
sponsored online scientific publishing is indistinguishable from
the quality of its publications under our traditional model.
GSA Council has determined that geoscience research will best
prosper when immediate access to refereed publications is no
longer restricted to the few who pay for subscriptions or have
convenient access to a research library. Council has proactively
embraced the philosophical position that the Society’s intent “to
be the premier geological society supporting the global commu-
nity in scientific discovery, communication, and application of
geoscience knowledge” (GSA Vision Statement, 2013) is assured
and enhanced by the promulgation of the best science to the
maximum number of scientists, practitioners, and members of
the general public.
In the twenty-first century, this means open access publication
of journals.
WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF OPEN ACCESS?
Not surprisingly, such a change in publication practices has
significant consequences—some are opportunities, and some will
be challenges that must be met.
Open access forces a profound shift in how scientific publica-
tions are financed. In simplest terms, this is a shift from the
“reader pays” to the “producer pays.” Since there have always been
many more “readers” (i.e., subscribers), than authors, this is a
shift in the net funds supporting scientific publication. And, of
course, traditional sources of funding for such things as page or
color charges must now be reassigned to publication fees.
Ceasing print publication will result in savings. Publication
costs such as printing, mailing, handling, storage, and subscrip-
tion fulfillment will, for all intents and purposes, cease to exist.
However, there will be no savings in such areas as editorial over-
sight, peer review, or publication formatting, as these practices
will not go away. In addition, the costs associated with electronic
hosting of journals and archives are significant and continuing,
but in our current hybrid digital/analog age, these expenses are
already being borne by the Society.
From the author’s point of view, there will be an additional
financial burden in the form of publication fees, though these are
likely to be the same order of magnitude of page or color charges
in many cases. But there is a significant benefit, as noted in a
Nature Web Focus article by S. Harnad et al. (2004). Several recent
studies in the fields of computer science, astrophysics, and math-
ematics have reported up to threefold increases in citations for
open-access publications as compared to “pay-to-access” publica-
tions. We also foresee technological advances that may make GSA
publications more interactive and useful to readers.
Real financial challenges will result from the elimination of
subscription revenues to GSA in particular and, in fact, of all
professional scientific societies. Subscription revenues to learned
societies have been steadily declining for a decade or more as
fewer members subscribe to paper journals and more institutional
libraries limit subscriptions or provide access through a variety of
bundling services. But we must be honest that embracing open GSA TODAY | www.geosociety.org/gsatoday
access may convert a steady revenue decline from dwindling
journal subscriptions into a precipitous one.
Such a predicted decline in one of GSA’s primary revenue
streams requires of GSA leadership a fulsome review of all current
activities with the goal of seeking and implementing real cost
savings. That process has begun. As noted previously, annual
membership dues will increase modestly so that GSA can
continue to support the important programs that members have
asked for and which, in the past, were supported by journal
subscriptions.
And, finally, the GSA Foundation Board of Trustees has eagerly
embraced the transition to open access and will, with Foundation
staff, work tirelessly over the next few years to obtain new
resources to support ongoing programs at GSA, thus freeing up
more GSA resources to help with the transition.
CONCLUSIONS
GSA could lead or GSA could follow. Governmental agencies are
increasingly considering mandating versions of open access as a
consequence of the recognition by policy makers that it is difficult to
justify restricting access to publicly funded science (see Holdren,
2013). GSA could passively await these mandates, since it is conceiv-
able that, as a consequence of political compromises, the mandated
versions of open access may continue to permit some kinds of more-
traditional publication to persist for a time. For example, the
Holdren memorandum allows a one-year embargo before an article
is freely available to all online. However, it is not clear that this
compromise position will hold (see Harnad et al., 2004).
In the view of GSA’s leadership, the compromise position is not
consistent with our traditions or our vision for the future. We see
our mission as assuring that our members are able to (1) be confi-
dent that their published scientific findings can reach the entire
“universe” of interested scholars and practitioners without tradi-
tional barriers that have, frankly, become obsolete in the digital age;
and (2) be able to access GSA publications online as a benefit of
membership in both GSA and the geoscience community as a whole.
The next few years will be challenging ones as open access is
implemented. But this is the right thing to do at this time. We are
confident that GSA and our science will emerge stronger and
more vibrant as a consequence.
REFERENCES CITED
Harnad, S., Brody, T., Vallieres, F., Carr, L., Hitchcock, S., Gingras, Y,
Oppenheim, C., Stamerjohanns, H., and Hilf, E., 2004, The green and the
gold roads to Open Access: Nature, Web Focus, http://www.nature.com/
nature/focus/accessdebate/21.html (last accessed 16 Mar. 2015).
Holdren, J.P., 2013, Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and
Agencies, Subject: Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded
Scientific Research: Washington, D.C., Executive Office of the President,
Office of Science and Technology Policy, 22 Feb. 2013, http://www
.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/ostp_public_access_
memo_2013.pdf (last accessed 16 Mar. 2015).
Suber, P., 2013, Open Access Overview: Focusing on open access to peer-
reviewed research articles and their preprints: Earlham College, 13 Dec.
2013, http://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/overview.htm (last accessed
16 Mar. 2015).
49