ASPB and Open Access Publishing

The Internet has revolutionized scholarly publishing, and ASPB—like many of its sibling publishers, large and small—is working hard to determine how best to embrace the benefits of Internet publishing while avoiding its pitfalls. We feel that ASPB’s unique position as publisher of two very highly regarded journals obliges the Society to innovate. But at the same time, we also have a responsibility to ensure that ASPB remains a vibrant organization long into the future. In light of these twin obligations, ASPB enthusiastically supports a revolutionary member-linked Open Access initiative in Plant Physiology but opposes federal efforts to pass laws that seek to impose a one-size-fits-all approach to Open Access publishing. We feel that such laws are unnecessary and unwarranted, and we are concerned that they might financially harm scholarly publishers (including ASPB), impeding their ability to innovate.

As a membership organization, it is also our responsibility to keep ASPB members and the plant biology community at large informed about our activities and our concerns regarding new publishing models. To that end, we have assembled at www.aspb.org/openaccess/initiative.cfm a list of links to editorials, newsletter articles, and letters that ASPB has either developed or, together with other scholarly publishers, signed on to. In addition, we have included links to two freely accessible articles on the promises and perils of Open Access publishing recently published by two prominent sibling societies: the American Society for Cell Biology and the American Society for Investigative Pathology.

We welcome your comments and questions, whether regarding Open Access in general, ASPB’s current Open Access initiatives, or its legislative stance. Please feel free to send any thoughts or feedback to the attention of Nancy Winchester, director of publications, at nancyw@aspb.org so that she may pass it along to us.

Richard Amasino, President
Michael Thomashow, Past President
Rob McClung, President-Elect
January 2007