EGU Blogs

Continuing the battle for open access that’s good for science, not publishers’ profits

Jon Tennant August 20, 2014 Publishing Comments Closed

Two developments since the last post regarding open access things for anyone interested!

First, is a little interview I had with the Open Access Button folk about er, open access: http://blog.openaccessbutton.org/2014/08/19/every-time-you-hit-a-paywall-thats-a-publisher-announcing-that-their-role-is-to-prohibit-the-progress-of-science-as-much-as-possible/

Second, is that our open letter to the AAAS has spawned a second one addressed to the Society for Neuroscience, led by Erin McKiernan: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TwsCrAvnpTx3ggF_QXD1i826ZbsOXNo4CNy2GKsHWWw/edit

It’s not too late to sign either (leave a comment on The Winnower for our original one), and we’ll be using these as the basis to address similar letters to other publishers regarding some of their more dodgy open access policies. Glad to see the community getting behind all this!

By Jon Tennant

Jon began university life as a geologist, followed by a treacherous leap into the life sciences. He spent several years at Imperial College London, investigating the extinction and biodiversity patterns of Mesozoic tetrapods – anything with four legs or flippers – to discover whether or not there is evidence for a ‘hidden’ mass extinction 145 million years ago. Alongside this, Jon researched the origins and evolution of ‘dwarf’ crocodiles called atoposaurids. Prior to this, there was a brief interlude were Jon was immersed in the world of science policy and communication, which greatly shaped his views on the broader role that science can play, and in particular, the current ‘open’ debate. Jon tragically passed away in 2020.