OSTP’s Adopted Blinders
A fixation on paywalls blinds OSTP and the OA movement to real sources of inequity, and real challenges for science
Last week’s statement from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) was one of three main documents released, in addition to the actual policy guidance and an economic analysis shared with Congress to justify anticipated expenses. And while all this made some OA advocates dance with joy, they may not have realized they were dancing to the music coming from the Big Publishers’ tent — one sign among many that this is more of the same ideologically driven self-sabotage of science, society, and the scientific record we’ve been witnessing for the past two decades.
Language, citation practices, and disagreements among the three main documents all prove interesting.