For immediate release
October 21, 2010
For information, contact:
Jennifer McLennan
(202) 296-2296 ext 121
jennifer [at] arl [dot] org
OPEN ACCESS: ALL IN THE FAMILY
Scientists share their personal commitments and connections to Open Access
Washington, DC – In celebration of Open Access Week (October 18-24), SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) is showcasing the stories of two exceptional families who have embraced Open Access as a value and have advanced their own work – though not always without reservations. The personal stories of brothers Jonathan and Michael Eisen (both evolutionary biologists), along with Neil Buckholtz and his son, Josh (neuroscientists), grappling with the pros and cons of Open Access are now profiled on the SPARC Web site.
As a teenager, Josh Buckholtz asked his father, Neil, endless questions about science. Neil is a neuroscientist at the NIH National Institute on Aging and Chief of the Dementias of Aging Branch. Josh, 33, is completing his Ph.D in neuroscience at Vanderbilt University. Together they share a passion to unlock the mysteries of the brain, and are pioneers who advocate for Open Access in their area of research. Neil helped conceive the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), which has openly shared data -- making every single Alzheimer’s-related research finding public immediately online. Josh is a review editor at Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, an online open-access journal published by the Frontiers Research Foundation.
Science has always been an integral part of the lives of the Eisen brothers. Their parents and grandfather were all working scientists. As kids, Jonathan was fascinated with bugs and Michael was a math whiz who liked to program computers. Their career paths eventually converged, with both working as evolutionary biologists in California. Michael was the first of the pair of siblings to embrace Open Access, as the founder of the Public Library of Science (PLoS). He helped convince Jonathan, initially skeptical of open sharing of his scientific work, to join in his efforts to push for free access to research. Jonathan was on the first editorial board of PLoS Biology and has been an outspoken advocate of Open Access since 2003. Even their mother, Laura, now a professor who teaches chemistry and biochemistry at George Washington University, also promotes Open Access, rounding out the family affair.
“The compelling, personal stories of individual scientists who are pursuing Open Access to their works – and the works they need access to -- are powerful examples of why adoption of Open Access is growing,” says Heather Joseph, Executive Director of SPARC, which is the lead organizer of Open Access Week. “Scientists on the front lines of research are keenly aware of the limitations that access places on the ability of research to move forward. And, as Michael Eisen notes, it all starts with walking the walk; if you don’t choose an open-access option yourself, how can you convince your family it’s a good idea? How can you possibly convince anyone else to give it a try? For both the Eisen and the Buckholtz families, Open Access is a matter of values – and a moving family affair.”
The “Open Families” profiles are available on occasion of Open Access Week 2010 through the SPARC Web site at
http://www.arl.org/sparc/openaccess/openfamilies.
A global event now entering its fourth year, Open Access Week (October 18 to 24) is an opportunity for the academic and research community to learn about the potential benefits of Open Access (OA), to share ideas with colleagues, and to inspire wider participation in establishing Open Access as a new norm in scholarship and research. Research funding agencies, academic institutions, research organizations, non-profits, businesses, and others use as a valuable platform to launch expanded open-access publication funds, institution-wide open-access policies, and new reports on the societal and economic benefits of OA.
Find activities on your campus, at your institution, or in your region through the Web site at www.openaccessweek.org.
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SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), with SPARC Europe and SPARC Japan, is an international alliance of more than 800 academic and research libraries working to create a more open system of scholarly communication. SPARC's advocacy, educational and publisher partnership programs encourage expanded dissemination of research. SPARC is on the Web at
http://www.arl.org/sparc.
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Jennifer McLennan
Director of Programs & Operations
SPARC
jennifer_at_arl.org
(202) 296-2296 x121
Fax: (202) 872-0884
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jennifer-mclennan/6/828/9b5
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SPARC 2010 Digital Repositories Meeting
November 8 & 9 - Baltimore, MD
http://www.arl.org/sparc/media/09-0223.shtml
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Open Access Week 2010
October 18 - 24. Everywhere.
http://www.openaccessweek.org
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http://www.arl.org/sparc
Received on Fri Oct 22 2010 - 01:19:21 BST