Springer’s unexpected response to FRPAA
Springer proposes a policy that would require full-text open access immediately upon publication –provided that the policy makes clear that publishing in peer-reviewed journals is an inseparable part of research and therefore that the funds for doing so (article processing fees) will be available to researchers as a special overhead on their publicly-funded research grants.
I was hoping that someone else would pick up on this. It looks ok, except for the assumption that peer-review is a necessary part of research. I vaguely remember that there is a little doubt on this. Peer-reviewed publications are a required part of academic career-building. As long as that’s true they will be necessary. This is an area where I just don’t knoe enough to do the kind of in-depth analysis it deserves.