Meeting to Promote Open Access Mandates

From: Sely Maria de Souza Costa <selmar_at_UNB.BR>
Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:04:56 -0200

Dear All,

Such a coincidence! Incredible... So much that I could use most of the
message sent, and just adpat the text of mine:

On Wednesday, October 17, the Rector of the University of Brasilia
(UnB), in Brazil, hosted the rectors of six major Brazilian
universities, as well as the chairman and a director of the Brazilian
Institute for Information on Science and Technology (Ibict).

The purpose of the meeting was to establish the foundations of a
Brazilian movement for Open Access to scientific and scholarly
publications: the Brazilian Open Access Task Force. Despite a number of
manifestos and declarations launched in the country in a variety of
occasions, few universities have actually implemented a vigorous open
access policy. That is why the Chancellor of UnB wanted to gather in
Brasilia the senior leadership of the Brazilian universities to launch
an initiative that provides a practical follow-up to manifestos and
declarations already signed by research institutions in the country.

The meeting resulted in the creation of the Brazilian Open Access Task
Force, whose goal will be to continue efforts by informing the
Brazilian university communities about the opportunities available to
researchers today for providing open access, as well as to establish,
in the universities and research institutions in Brazil, institutional
repositories, mandate policies and the OASIS.Br, a central service to
both repositories and e-journals published in the country.

The University of Brasilia, which is positioning itself as a pioneer,
and clearly much of this is now considered the way of the future for
scientific publication. The ambition is to spread this message across
Brazil.

Moreover, the ambition is also to spread the message to
Potuguese-speaking countries, through the initiatives of the ALemPLus
(Open Access in Portuguese Speaking Countries), a initiative launched
at the University of Minho, last year.

These are really great news, as we feel like working very close.

Kind regards,

Sely Costa

--
Sely M S Costa, PhD
Universidade de Bras�lia
Departamento de Ci�ncia da Informa��o/Department of Information Science
Campus Universit�rio Darcy Ribeiro
70910-900 Bras�lia, DF - Brasil
Tel.: +5561 33071205; 33072422; 33072410
Cel.: +5561 99717442
Fax : +5561 32738454; 33072842; 33673297
email: selmar_at_unb.br; profa.sely_at_gmail.com
Quoting Stevan Harnad <harnad_at_ECS.SOTON.AC.UK>:
>                        ** Cross-Posted **
> 
> I could not attend, the European Rectors' meeting on Open Access,
> but I did send a 23-minute PPT video, part of which, so I understand,
> was shown at the meeting.
> 
> The whole video is online. Please feel free to use it to promote Open
> Access Mandates and Metrics at your own institution. (The very brief
> intro is in French; the rest is in English.)
> 
>     http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/harnad/Temp/liege22.mov
> 
> On Sat, 20 Oct 2007, Stevan Harnad wrote:
> 
> >      Press Release from the university of Liege
> >      http://www.ulg.ac.be/relationsexterieures/RecteursOA/
> > 
> > (Thanks to Alma Swan for forwarding the Press Release from Rector
> > Bernard Rentier)
> > 
> > On Thursday, October 18, the Rector of the University of Liege
> > hosted the Rectors of the Universities of Trieste and Rome 2, Roma
> > 3, Polytechnic of Catalonia in Barcelona, Vicenza, Porto, from
> > Salford, Lancaster, Rotterdam (U. Erasmus), Turin, Antwerp, Ghent
> > and Southampton, as well as the chairmen or directors of the Paul
> > Ehrlich Institute, the Instituto Superiore di Sanita, Caspur
> > Consortium, the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and a representative
> > of the European Commission .
> > 
> > The purpose of the meeting was to establish the foundations of a
> > European movement for Open Access to scientific and scholarly
> > publications: EurOpenScholarship.
> > 
> > The Rector of U, Liege has been involved in the movement to free
> > research publications from the financial straitjacket imposed on
> > universities and research centers by the large publishers. Since
> > 1993, while the price index rose by about 30%, journal prices have
> > risen to more than 275%, making it impossible for a normally funded
> > institution to access all the literature essential for conducting
> > good research.
> > 
> > Despite the Berlin Declaration in 2003 and the European Petition of
> > 2007, few universities have actually implemented a vigorous open
> > access policy. That is why the Chancellor of U. Liege wanted to
> > gather in Liege the senior leadership of the European universities
> > that are the most advanced in this respect and to launch an
> > initiative that provides a practical follow-up to the declaration
> > already signed by so many research institutions.
> > 
> > The meeting resulted in the creation of the EurOpenScholarship whose
> > goal will be to continue efforts by informing the European
> > university communities about the opportunities available to
> > researchers today for providing open access,  as well as to
> > establish, in the universities and research centers in Europe, a
> > central institutional repository (in Liege, "DIGITHEQUE"), allowing
> > publications to be deposited and, wherever possible, made openly
> > accessible to all.
> > 
> > The University of Liege, which signed a massive OA petition in 2007
> > (the highest number of signatures from a single university) is
> > positioning itself as a pioneer and clearly much of this is now
> > considered the way of the future for scientific publication. The
> > ambition is to spread this message across Europe.
> > 
> > Ce jeudi 18 octobre, le Recteur recevait � l?ULg les recteurs des
> > universit�s de Trieste, de Rome 2, de Rome 3, Polytechnique de
> > Catalogne � Barcelone, de Trente, de Porto, de Salford, de
> > Lancaster, de Rotterdam (U. Erasmus), de Turin, d?Anvers, de Gand et
> > de Southampton, ainsi que les pr�sidents ou directeurs du Paul
> > Ehrlich Institut, de l?Instituto Superiore di Sanita, du Caspur
> > Consortium, du Rutherford Appleton Laboratory et une repr�sentante
> > de la Commission Europ�enne.
> > 
> > L?objectif de la rencontre �tait d?�tablir les bases d?un mouvement
> > europ�en en faveur de l?acc�s libre (Open Access) aux publications
> > scientifiques.
> > 
> > On conna�t l?implication de notre Recteur dans ce mouvement qui vise
> > � lib�rer la publication des travaux de recherche du carcan
> > financier impos� aux universit�s et centres de recherche par les
> > plus grandes maisons d?�dition. Depuis 1993, alors que l?indice des
> > prix a augment� de 30 % environ, les publications p�riodiques ont
> > grimp� � plus de 275 %, ce qui, dans une institution normalement
> > financ�e, rend impossible l?acc�s � l?ensemble de la litt�rature
> > indispensable � une bonne recherche.
> > 
> > Suite � la D�claration de Berlin de 2003 et � la P�tition europ�enne
> > de 2007, peu d?universit�s ont mis en application une politique
> > r�solue en mati�re d?acc�s libre. C?est pourquoi le Recteur a voulu
> > rassembler � Li�ge les autorit�s dirigeantes des universit�s
> > europ�ennes les plus avanc�es � cet �gard et lancer une initiative
> > qui assure un suivi � cette prise de position pourtant sign�e par de
> > tr�s nombreuses institutions de recherche.
> > 
> > Cette r�union a abouti � la cr�ation de l?EurOpenScholarship dont le
> > but sera de poursuivre l?action par l?information des possibilit�s
> > offertes aujourd?hui aux chercheurs et l?�tablissement, dans les
> > universit�s et centres de recherche europ�ens, d?un d�p�t
> > �lectronique institutionnel (� Li�ge, la � DIGITHEQUE �) permettant
> > l?archivage des publications, leur diss�mination et, chaque fois que
> > c?est possible, leur mise en acc�s libre � tous.
> > Notre institution, qui a sign� massivement la p�tition de 2007 (le
> > plus grand nombre de signatures pour une seule universit�) se
> > positionne ainsi clairement en pionnier de ce beaucoup consid�rent
> > aujourd?hui comme la voie du futur pour la publication scientifique.
> > Son ambition est de faire �cole � travers l?Europe.
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Received on Wed Oct 24 2007 - 20:25:38 BST