Date: Sat, 15 Feb 2003 00:16:51 +0000 (GMT)
From: Stevan Harnad <harnad@ecs.soton.ac.uk>
Subject: Anniversary of the BOAI, launch of the BOAI Forum (fwd)

Dear Supporters of the Budapest Open Access Initiative,

The BOAI http://www.soros.org/openaccess/
launched one year ago today, February 14, 2002. Since then we've
announced several new BOAI activities and funding programs. Today we're
launching the BOAI Forum, which will greatly facilitate our ability to
make future announcements and to collect the open-access wisdom of the
worldwide network of BOAI supporters.

Here are some details on the Forum as well as a summary of our first year's
activity.

(1) The BOAI Forum http://threader.ecs.soton.ac.uk/lists/boaiforum/

We're very pleased to announce the launch of this Forum. We'll use it
to spread BOAI news quickly and efficiently to those who most care to
hear about it. For example, we'll use it to announce new BOAI funding
programs and publications. We hope you'll use it to share news, details,
and tips about your own open-access projects. Over time this will allow
us to collect the hard-won experience of our subscribers in advancing
the cause of open-access research literature in all fields of science
and scholarship.

Subscriptions will be limited to those who sign the BOAI public
statement. We'll soon have an archive of past postings which will be
readable by non-subscribers.

To subscribe to the forum, simply fill in your email address on this
page, http://www.soros.org/openaccess/forum.shtml?f
If you want to unsubscribe later, just use the same form.

We expect this to be a low-traffic list, perhaps after an initial flurry
of contributions.

In the future we'll send BOAI announcements to the Forum subscribers,
not to the BOAI signatories. So to stay up to date with the initiative
you once supported with your signature, please subscribe to the Forum.

(2) How can you celebrate the birthday of the BOAI?

* Subscribe to the BOAI Forum. (Remember that it's not automatic.)
http://www.soros.org/openaccess/forum.shtml?f

* Spread the word about the BOAI. Ask your colleagues and institution
to sign.

* Talk to colleagues about the open-access projects, or impediments, in
your institution or discipline. Write about them. Applaud the progress,
identify the obstacles, answer the skeptics, and educate the next
generation of researchers.

* If you are participating in an open-access project, send the details
to the BOAI Forum. If you need advice, ask the knowledgeable subscribers
of the BOAI Forum.

* If you're not currently participating in an open-access project,
consider joining or starting one. Remember that the BOAI is not just a
public statement, now one year old. It's a continuing initiative trying
to enlist the assistance and participation of its signatories and trying
to recruit new signatories willing to help. Launch an open-access eprint
archive at your institution. Help launch an open-access journal or
convert a traditional journal. Archive your own papers, persuade your
colleagues to do the same, and persuade your institution to adopt a
policy to encourage it. If you're looking for other ideas, look at the
BOAI list of ways to advance the cause.
http://www.soros.org/openaccess/help.shtml

(3) Projects supported by the Open Society Institute's Open Access
Program in Year One

As you know, the Open Society Institute has allocated $3 million to
support specific BOAI-related projects. Here's a quick review of some
of the projects receiving funds in the first year of the initiative.

1. Development of open access business guides. The SPARC Consulting
Group has developed a Guide to Business Planning for Converting a
Subscription-based Journal to Open Access, and a Guide to Business
Planning for Launching a New Open Access Journal.
http://www.soros.org/openaccess/oajguides/index.shtml
For additional details, please see the recent press release:
http://www.arl.org/sparc/core/index.asp?page=f67

2. Directory of open access journals will be produced and maintained by
the Lund University Library.
http://www.lub.lu.se/lucep/activities/doaj/index.html
For additional details, please see today's press release:
http://www.doaj.org/documents/press-release_030214_en.html

3. Pilot project to support authors from the OSI region to publish
articles in open access journals. 40 open access journals are taking
part in the pilot support scheme. The program will be continued in 2003.
http://www.soros.org/openaccess/grants.shtml#journals

4. Pilot project to support BioMed Central (BMC) Institutional
Memberships, which will allow authors from institutions to publish
articles in BMC free of charge. Institutions within the OSI region can
apply to OSI for support. A total of 50 grants to institutions will
be made through this program. 12 institutions already received grants
in 2002.
http://www.soros.org/openaccess/grants.shtml#biomed

5. Workshop to discuss open access journals with learned society
publishers. OSI sponsored a workshop for the members of the UK-based
Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP)
in September 2002.
http://www.alpsp.org/s130902.htm

6. Conference of the Academies of Sciences to introduce the benefits of
open access publishing. The conference was held in Budapest from 16-18
January, 2003. 24 Academies from the former Soviet Union, Central and
Eastern Europe, and China participated.
http://www.soros.org/openaccess/meeting.shtml

7. Support speakers and selected participants to attend international
conferences to spread awareness of the benefits of open access. OSI has
supported the attendance of speakers at various international conferences
including: the 2nd Workshop on the Open Archives Initiative, held at
CERN (http://library.cern.ch/Announcement.htm); and the First Nordic
Conference on Scholarly Communications (http://www.lub.lu.se/ncsc2002/).

8. Development of the Academic Contributor Information System
(ACIS), which will create a relational dataset between authors and
their publications and institutions. This information will assist in
building awareness of the benefits of institutional repositories. OSI is
collaborating with the Palmer School of Library and Information Science
at Long Island University on this project.
http://acis.openlib.org/

9. Free Online Scholarship newsletter, written by Peter Suber, was
supported from October 2001-August 2002.
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/index.htm

10. User's manual for Eprints2, an Open Archives Initiative compliant
software, will be developed. The manual will assist in the development
of institutional repositories.
http://www.eprints.org/

    I hope to hear from you through the BOAI Forum.
    Best wishes,

    Peter Suber
    Moderator, BOAI Forum