Open Access Publishing from the Legal Point of View. Why Freedom of Information Rules and Other Legal Principles Matter. Towards A New Fair Open Access Model.

  • Jiří Kolman Global Change Research Centre, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (CzechGlobe). Brno, the Czech Republic, kolman.j@czechglobe.cz, http://www.czechglobe.cz/en/contact-detail/?idk=224
  • Petr Kolman Masaryk University: Faculty of Law. Brno, the Czech Republic,
Keywords: open access publishing, academic knowledge, freedom of information, free access to information, public aid rules, competition law, open access journals

Abstract

This article focuses on aspects that, as far as we know, have never been discussed in previous debates dealing with open access. The EU and national competition legal rules ensuring fair competition are a rather neglected aspect of open access. Another crucial topic is the unfairness of the current publication system. Why should commercial publishers be paid by publicly supported research such as EU or national research programmes? In the article a new publication model is suggested. The proposed model is trying to keep high research standards, to be fair to researchers and the public and to take into account the actual costs of the new open access model.

Author Biography

Petr Kolman, Masaryk University: Faculty of Law. Brno, the Czech Republic,

Published
2013-10-29
Section
Debating Open Access (Comments, Non Peer-Reviewed)