Summary
The immediate goal of the open access movement is to ensure that all interested readers have access to the 2.5 million scholarly papers published each year. Some have argued that until that point is reached, any speculation on future modes of scholarly communication is at best premature and at worst counter-productive. However, speculation has been an intrinsic element in human nature for millennia and this breakout session will look to sate our need to wonder about the future.
Topics to be discussed in the breakout session will include:
* New modes of peer review. Does open access allow for more innovative peer review processes? What is peer-review for - is it an intrinsic measure of quality or part of a journal's branding? Should peer review be pre- or post- 'publication'? In an electronic environment whose responsibility is peer-review?
* Currently quality metrics tend to look at the journal level - e.g., the impact factor. With new metrics being developed are we moving to the paper level? Is the concept of the journal as a brand obsolete in the online, open environment, or are meta-brands still required? If so, should we be looking to creating new brands (at the institutional level, subject-based branding – e.g. arXiv – etc.)?
* What are the transition mechanisms to bring these new modes about? Should we be directive or reactive, creating an open environment in which new models can evolve?
The terms of this breakout session will be limited only by the imaginations of the participants – who will be expected to come to the session with views that they are will to share with the group.
