PRESIDENT'S LETTER

ASPB in an Open Access World

Mike Thomashow

In the first “letter” that I wrote upon becoming ASPB president, I closed by expressing the thought that Open Access (OA), the “free availability and unrestricted use” of published research, was among the most important issues on the horizon that the Society would have to address. As Don Ort wrote in an editorial upon becoming editor-in-chief of Plant Physiology, OA is “the preeminent force driving change in academic publishing.” I’d like to pick up on the issue of OA in my letter today.

I think that most members of our Society would agree that the scientific endeavor is best served by having the results of scientific research made available to as wide an audience as possible as rapidly as possible. Thus, from these “first principles,” one might conclude that OA would unquestionably be a good thing. However, as with many issues, there are considerations regarding the adoption of OA that complicate drawing a simple conclusion.

As we all know, ASPB serves the plant biology community in a variety of ways. At the core of our Society are the publication of our premier scientific journals, Plant Physiology and The Plant Cell, and the organization of the annual Plant Biology meeting. In addition, there are the activities of the ASPB committees that support and strengthen the plant biology community. There is, for instance, the Committee on Public Affairs, which provides a voice for the plant biology community in the halls of Congress and funding agencies and elsewhere where our interests as plant biologists are concerned. There are the Education Committee, which promotes education and outreach in plant biology, and the Minority Affairs Committee and the Women in Plant Biology Committee, which work to broaden the participation of individuals engaged in plant biology research and education. The Society also funds “good works” projects each year, the Education Foundation provides grants in support of public outreach efforts, and so on. Our Society does a lot for which we can be proud!

Fine, but what does this have to do with OA?

The simple answer: money.

Although much of what is accomplished by ASPB is a direct result of the volunteer efforts of our membership, there are also substantial financial costs, ranging from the editorial review and production expenses associated with publishing our scientific journals, to the operational expenses associated with conducting the work of our committees, to the awarding of travel grants that enable talented young scientists to present their research findings on an international stage at the annual Plant Biology meeting. At present, there are multiple revenue streams that enable ASPB to carry out these functions, such as publication page charges to authors, membership dues, and donations from individuals and companies. However, the largest single revenue stream for our Society is journal subscriptions, and of these, institutional subscriptions contribute the large majority of income. And herein lies a major challenge that OA presents to us, as well as similar scientific societies.

It is difficult to predict all of the outcomes that would occur if OA were to come into effect. However, one outcome that is all but certain is that institutional subscriptions would become a thing of the past (why would university libraries and other institutions pay for content that their patrons have free access to?), resulting in a dramatic loss of revenue. This, of course, could have an enormous impact on our Society. Indeed, unless the lost revenue were to be made up for in some other way, ASPB would not even be able to fully afford carrying out its two core functions of publishing our scientific journals and holding the annual Plant Biology conference. In short, the fundamental nature of ASPB would change, with much of what our Society does to serve and enrich the plant biology community brought to an end.

Certainly, OA is a complex issue. And it is one that is being given considerable thought in many circles. Due to space limitations, I cannot go through the history of the OA movement in this letter, but I can tell you that there are strong proponents for OA. For instance, Senators Cornyn and Lieberman recently introduced a bill (S. 2695) into the U.S. Senate, the “Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006,” which would make it law that federal agencies with an annual research budget of over $100 million “shall develop a Federal research public access policy that … [provides for]… free online public access to final peer-reviewed manuscripts or published versions as soon as practicable, but no later than 6 months after publication in peer-reviewed journals.” While it is difficult to predict how great an impact a six month window between publication and OA release would have on our institutional subscriptions, further shortening or removing the window would put in grave jeopardy ASPB’s life as we know it.

Given the overall situation with OA, it is prudent for our Society to seriously consider how we might accommodate an OA world, whether it be brought upon us through external mandate (e.g., federal legislation) or because the Society chose to adopt OA voluntarily, concluding that it is the right thing to do. Indeed, this is being done. Fact finding, creative thinking, and an OA experiment are now in progress. About a year ago, ASPB leadership initiated a strategic planning process that includes as a fundamental goal the identification of new potential revenue streams and the development of potential alternative business models that would be compatible with an OA world. Concurrently, as you know, Plant Physiology and The Plant Cell are experimenting with voluntary “author pays” OA. In addition, the editors-in-chief and members of the Publications Committee are discussing alternative OA models that could potentially satisfy the spirit of OA (freely available access to research results), but not require a dramatic change in ASPB’s current business model. In short, OA is being given serious time and thought at ASPB.

We are a strong and vibrant Society. As I have stated before, for more than three-quarters of a century, ASPB has had a role in helping the plant biology community fulfill its aspirations, and there is no reason to think that things will be any different in the future. At times, however, there are complex issues that we must confront. OA is one of them. There is no question that our Society has the creative capacity to successfully address this issue. As ideas and action plans are developed and the course of the OA movement becomes more clear, you will be kept informed through articles in this newsletter. Stay tuned!

Michael F. Thomashow
thomash6@msu.edu