SearchPigeon.org - Online Journals and Research Tools (blog)

Monday, February 18, 2008

Plug

Thanks to Peter Suber for the blog post promoting Search Pigeon on Open Access News. For a streaming list of posts from this top-rated site, see the feed in the far left column.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

A Victory for Open Access at Harvard

Harvard's Arts & Sciences Faculty has adopted the proposed open access policy in regard to its scholarly articles. This is terrific news for those who care about the dissemination of research beyond those who can afford to pay for it.

Here is the beginning of the statement submitted today:

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University is committed to disseminating the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible. In keeping with that commitment, the Faculty adopts the following policy: Each Faculty member grants to the President and Fellows of Harvard College permission to make available his or her scholarly articles.

Thanks to Peter Suber of Open Access News for providing this text. (For the full-text, click here.)

This is a potentially momentous decision. What is important is that faculty not opt-out (which of course they are free to do), and that other faculties across the country be encouraged to follow suit.

Harvard scholars vote to provide open access

Today Harvard professors will be voting on whether or not to publish academic articles for free through an online repository. Such a vote, if it comes out in favor of open access, could, as this New York Times article comments, "given the university’s prestige... be significant for the open-access movement, which seeks to make scientific and scholarly research available to as many people as possible."

Let's hope they make a wise decision, favoring open dissemination of scholarship over current business practices! Then other institutions might, encouraged, follow suit...

Free Subscriptions

All of the journals searched at SearchPigeon.org are, to the best of my knowledge, comprehensively search-able even as they publish new issues. All of the journals also have made all of their content available to anyone who wants it. Nonetheless, subscription is still a valuable option -- all the more valuable for being free! Don't forget to look for the option to freely subscribe to any of the journals you find through this project, so that they can let you know whenever they publish new material.

For example, if you are interested in new perspectives on conflicts in Africa, you can search for them in the Social Sciences CSE, but you can also go to the magazines devoted entirely to the topic, African Journal on Conflict Resolution and Conflict Trends (both of these journals are published by ACCORD, the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes), and subscribe to either of these journals using their easy form.