Keynote Force2017, Berlin, Germany

1. Access to scholarly knowledge for common causes:
A Latin American context
Diego A. Gómez Hoyos
@diegogomezhoyos
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2. Latin America: GENERALITIES
from Mexico to Argentina

3. Latin America: DIFFERENCES
from Mexico to Argentina
Biodiverse
regions
diverse regions
in food
diverse regions in
language
ONE OF
THE
MOST

4. According to the analysis
We could find generalities or differences

5. GENERALITY
Problem of access to scholarly knowledge
from prestigious and well-funded universities
to provincial and poorly funded universities

6. GENERALITY
Problem of access to scholarly knowledge
“A memo from Harvard Library to the university's 2,100 teaching and
research staff called for action after warning it could no longer afford the
price hikes imposed by many large journal publishers”

7. GENERALITY
Problem of access to scholarly knowledge
$ 375,000
Budget
Databases Research Basic Science Faculty
$ 253,000

8. GENERALITY
From To

9. GENERALITY
“In terms of numbers of papers published, the five
major publishers in NMS (Natural and Medical
Science), accounted, in 1973, for little more than 20% of
all papers published. This share increased to 30% in 1996,
and to 50% in 2006, the level at which it remained
until 2013 when it increased again to 53%”
Larivière et al. 2015

10. ( )
Parenthesis
Natural and Medical Science
Including:
• Biology (Conservation biology)
• Earth sciences (Climate science)
Common Causes:
Some fields of knowledge or disciplines are (or should be) of global
interest, and these are necessary to ensure human well-being

11. According to the analysis
We could find generalities or differences

12. Differences
Keep up the Budget
.
.
.
Poorly-financed Universities
CHALLENGES
Solutions!!!
a) Request and share
b) Borrowed users and passwords
c) Popularized Tools (Sci-hub, RG,
Unpaywall, etc.)
Well-financed Universities

13. Well-financed Universities Poorly financed Universities
Differences
Keep up the budget
CHALLENGES
Explain Sharing is not a crime
Solutions!!!
a) Request and share
b) Borrowed users and passwords
c) Popularized Tools (Sci-hub, RG,
Unpaywall, etc.)
Keep up the Budget
.
.
.
Poorly-financed Universities
CHALLENGES
Solutions!!!
a) Request and share
b) Borrowed users and passwords
c) Popularized Tools (Sci-hub, RG,
Unpaywall, etc.)
Well-financed Universities

14. a) To request and share
Vulnerability to copyright law
SHARING IS NOT A CRIME

15. Well-financed Universities Poorly financed Universities
Differences
Keep up the budget
CHALLENGES
Short-term!
Solutions!!!
a) Request and share
b) Borrowed users and passwords
c) Popularized Tools (Sci-hub, RG,
Unpaywall, etc.)
Keep up the Budget
.
.
.
Poorly-financed Universities
CHALLENGES
Solutions!!!
a) Request and share
b) Borrowed users and passwords
c) Popularized Tools (Sci-hub, RG,
Unpaywall, etc.)
Well-financed Universities

16. Keep up the Budget
.
.
.
Poorly-financed Universities
CHALLENGES
Solutions!!!
a) Request and share
b) Borrowed users and passwords
c) Popularized Tools (Sci-hub, RG,
Unpaywall, etc.)
Well-financed Universities Poorly financed Universities
Differences

17. Differences
Well-financed Universities
Keep up the budget
Poorly financed Universities
CHALLENGES
Solutions!!!
a) Request and share
b) Borrowed users and passwords
c) Popularized Tools (Sci-hub, RG,
Unpaywall, etc.)
Keep up the Budget
.
.
.
Poorly-financed Universities
CHALLENGES
Solutions!!!
a) Request and share
b) Borrowed users and passwords
c) Popularized Tools (Sci-hub, RG,
Unpaywall, etc.)
Well-financed Universities

18. Keep up the Budget
.
.
.
Poorly-financed Universities
CHALLENGES
Solutions!!!
a) Request and share
b) Borrowed users and passwords
c) Popularized Tools (Sci-hub, RG,
Unpaywall, etc.)
Well-financed Universities
Differences

19. ( )
Common causes & Subscriptions
Common Causes:
Some fields of knowledge or disciplines are (or should be) of global
interest, and these are necessary to ensure human well-being
Keep up the budget
a) Request and share
b) Borrowed users and passwords
c) Popularized Tools (Sci-hub, RG,
Unpaywall, etc.)

20. Common causes & Subscriptions
Keep up the budget
c) Popularized Tools (Sci-hub, RG,
Unpaywall, etc.)
Dangerous dependence
Example 1: Wildlife conservation
My common cause

21. Common causes & Subscriptions
To keep budget
Common causes & Subscriptions
Himmelstein et al. 2017 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.3100v1

22. Common causes & Subscriptions
Example 2: Harlequin frogs
• One of the most endangered groups
of vertebrates in the world
• Biomedical potential

23. Common causes & Subscriptions
Example 2: Harlequin frogs
2014 – 2017
n = 58 papers importance conservation
26% 32% 41%
or Free

24. Common causes & Subscriptions
Example 2: Harlequin frogs
41%
29 %
8 %
33 %
12 %
17 %

25. Common causes & Subscriptions
open access should be the de facto selection for
common causes, such as wildlife conservation,
climate change, etc. Knowledge on these topics
should not have barriers that slow down important
actions such as conservation action in climate
change scenarios or the current sixth mass
extinction of plants and animals.
Knowledge should be open by default, at least for common causes

26. Actions
Generate strategies to strengthen the open
access system
What will we do?
Keep up the budget
Solutions!!!
a) Request and share
b) Borrowed users and
passwords
c) Popularized Tools (Sci-
hub, RG, Unpaywall,
etc.)
Generalities
Differences
?

27. Actions
Two successful and amazing strategies
What will we do?
:
:

28. Actions
What will we do?

29. Actions
What will we do?
“…Those who fund and promote regionally
coordinated networks for scientific electronic
publishing can help developing countries to
revitalize their local journals and enhance the
international representation of locally generated
knowledge.”
Alonso & Fernández-Juricic. 2002. Regional
network raises profile of local journals

30. Actions: Common causes
What will we do?
• For what is already published on paywall journals: self-
archiving
Harnad 2001, UNESCO 2017, Jamali 2017
• Urge researchers to publish on open
access journals
• Incentives: Poorly funded science in
Latin America as an opportunity

31. Conclusion
Any strategy should:
recognize that specific context need differents strategies to
strengthen the open research practices, and even more
important, europe-contextualized strategies cannot serve
as prescriptions from europe to other regions such as
Latin America.

32. Resources
Alonso, W. J., & Fernández-Juricic, E. 2002. Regional network raises profile of local
journals. Nature, 415(6871), 471-472.
Harnad, S. 2001. The self-archiving initiative. Nature, 410, 1024-1025
Larivière V., Haustein S., Mongeon P. 2015. The Oligopoly of Academic Publishers in the
Digital Era. PLoS ONE 10(6): e0127502. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127502
UNESCO. 2017. Global Open Access Portal: Overview of Open Access in Latin America and
the Caribbean. Disponible en: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-
information/portals-and-platforms/goap/access-by-region/latin-america-and-the-caribbean/
Consultado 28/08/2017
Universidad del Quindío. Informe presupuesto
http://www.uniquindio.edu.co/contable_financiera/documentos.php?id=1939
Jdvillalobos, Bailadores de cumbia, Collage by Diego A. Gomez-Hoyos, CC BY 3.0
Administración nacional de la seguridad social. Día del respeto a la diversidad cultural. Collage by
Diego A. Gomez-Hoyos, CC BY 3.0
http://www.harvard.edu/, Harvard Wreath Logo 1, CC BY-SA 4.0

33. Resources
art designer at PLoS, I converted a pdf into svg, Open Access PLoS, CC BY-SA 3.0
PLOS, PLOS logo 2012, CC BY-SA 3.0
Screenshot: Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
https://www.moore.org/article-detail?newsUrlName=public-library-of-science-to-launch-new-free-
access-biomedical-journals-with-$9-million-grant-from-the-gordon-and-betty-moore-foundation
reproduced for information only
Screenshot: Universidad del Quindío, https://www.uniquindio.edu.co/ Reproduced for information
only
Screeenshot: Torrentfreak, https://torrentfreak.com/elsevier-wants-15-million-piracy-damages-from-
sci-hub-and-libgen-170518/ Reproduced for information only
Screenshot: Nature, https://www.nature.com/news/publishers-threaten-to-remove-millions-of-
papers-from-researchgate-1.22793 Reproduced for information only
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