The context of this paper is analysis of 3 emerging models for developing a global knowledge commons. The concept of the global knowledge commons builds on the vision of the original Budapest Open Access Initiative (2002) of the potential of combining academic tradition and the internet to remove access barriers to the scholarly literature, thus laying the foundation for an unprecedented public good, uniting humanity in a common quest for knowledge. The global knowledge commons is a universal sharing of the knowledge of humankind, free for all to access (recognizing reasons for limiting sharing in some circumstances such as to protect individual privacy), and free for everyone qualified to contribute to. The 3 models are PlanS / cOAlition S, an EU-led initiative to transition all of scholarly publishing to an open access model on a short timeline; the Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services (SCOSS), a recent initiative that builds on Ostrom's study of the commons; and PubMedCentral (PMC) International, building on the preservation and access to the medical research literature provided by the U.S. National Institutes of Health to support other national repositories of funded research and exchange of materials between regions. The research will involve analysis of official policy and background briefing documents on the three initiatives and relevant historical projects, such as the Research Council U.K.’s block grants for article processing charges, the EU-led OA2020 initiative, Europe PMC and the short-lived PMC-Canada. Theoretical analysis will draw on Ostrom’s work on the commons, theories of development and under-development, and the concepts of Chan and colleagues (2011) on the importance of moving beyond north-to-south access to knowledge (charity model) to include south-to-south and south-to-north (equity model). This model analysis contributes to build a holistic view of transcontinental efforts for a global knowledge commons building with shared values of open access, sharing and collaboration, in contrast to the growing trend of commodification of scholarly knowledge evident in both traditional subscriptions / purchase-based scholarly publishing and in commercial open access publishing. We anticipate that our findings will indicate that a digital world of inclusiveness and reciprocity is possible, but cannot be taken for granted, and policy support is crucial. Global communication and information policy have much to contribute towards the development of a sustainable global knowledge commons.
References
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Chan, L., Kirsop, B., & Arunachalam, S. (2011). Towards Open and Equitable Access to Research and Knowledge for Development. PLoS Medicine, 8(3), e1001016. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001016
Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services (SCOSS) (2017 - ). About SCOSS. Retrieved Jan. 31, 2020 from https://scoss.org/
Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the commons: The evolution of institutions for collective action. Generic, xviii, 280 p. : ill.; 24 cm.
PlanS (2018 -). PlanS: making full and immediate Open Access a reality. About PlanS. Retrieved Jan. 31, 2020 from https://www.coalition-s.org/
PMC International (n.d.) About PMC International. Retrieved Jan. 31, 2020 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/about/pmci/