American Scientist Open Access Forum
Encyclopedia
The American Scientist Open Access Forum is the longest-standing online discussion forum on Open Access (free online access to peer-reviewed research). It was created by the American Scientist
, which is published by Sigma Xi
, in September 1998, before the term "Open Access" (OA) was coined, and it was originally called the "September98-Forum." Its first focus was an article published in American Scientist
in which Thomas J Walker of the University of Florida
proposed that journals should furnish free online access out of the fees authors pay them to purchase reprints. Stevan Harnad
, who had in 1994 made the Subversive Proposal
that all researchers should self archive their peer-reviewed research, was invited to moderate the forum, which was not expected to last more than a few months. It continued to grow in size and influence across the years and is still the site where most of the main developments in OA are first mooted, including self-archiving
, institutional repositories, citation impact
, research performance metrics
, publishing
reform, copyright
reform, open access journals, and open access mandate
s.
American Scientist
American Scientist is the bimonthly science and technology magazine published since 1913 by Sigma Xi. Each issue includes four to five feature articles written by scientists and engineers. These authors review research in all fields of science...
, which is published by Sigma Xi
Sigma Xi
Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society is a non-profit honor society which was founded in 1886 at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a handful of graduate students. Members elect others on the basis of their research achievements or potential...
, in September 1998, before the term "Open Access" (OA) was coined, and it was originally called the "September98-Forum." Its first focus was an article published in American Scientist
American Scientist
American Scientist is the bimonthly science and technology magazine published since 1913 by Sigma Xi. Each issue includes four to five feature articles written by scientists and engineers. These authors review research in all fields of science...
in which Thomas J Walker of the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
proposed that journals should furnish free online access out of the fees authors pay them to purchase reprints. Stevan Harnad
Stevan Harnad
Stevan Harnad is a cognitive scientist.- Career :Harnad was born in Budapest, Hungary. He did his undergraduate work at McGill University and his graduate work at Princeton University's Department of Psychology...
, who had in 1994 made the Subversive Proposal
Subversive Proposal
The "Subversive Proposal" was an Internet by Stevan Harnad on calling on all authors of "esoteric" writings—written only for research impact, not for royalty income—to archive them free for all online...
that all researchers should self archive their peer-reviewed research, was invited to moderate the forum, which was not expected to last more than a few months. It continued to grow in size and influence across the years and is still the site where most of the main developments in OA are first mooted, including self-archiving
Self-archiving
To self-archive is to deposit a free copy of a digital document on the World Wide Web in order to provide open access to it. The term usually refers to the self-archiving of peer-reviewed research journal and conference articles as well as theses, deposited in the author's own institutional...
, institutional repositories, citation impact
Citation impact
Citation is the process of acknowledging or citing the author, year, title, and locus of publication of a source used in a published work. Such citations can be counted as measures of the usage and impact of the cited work. This is called citation analysis or bibliometrics...
, research performance metrics
Performance metrics
A performance metric is a measure of an organization's activities and performance. Performance metrics should support a range of stakeholder needs from customers, shareholders to employees. While traditionally many metrics are financed based, inwardly focusing on the performance of the...
, publishing
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
reform, copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
reform, open access journals, and open access mandate
Open access mandate
An Open Access Self Archiving Mandate is a policy—adopted by a research institution , a research funder or a government—that requires researchers to make their published, peer-reviewed journal and conference papers open access by depositing their final,...
s.
External Links
- American Scientist Open Access Forum Official Site