Challenges to be dealt with
- The need for researchers to maximise the dissemination and impact of their research;
- The need for readers to have access to the full corpus of relevant research literature;
- The possibility of creating a continuum of integrated scholarly information, from raw data to peer-reviewed publications;
- The development of open access models;
- The emerging technical standards to facilitate open archiving;
- The need for organisational structures to ensure access to digital archives;
- The complexities of intellectual property rights and copyright issues;
- Restrictive license conditions;
- The disproportionate levels of library budgets spent on journal subscriptions, particularly in the science, technical, and medical (STM) areas;
- The concentration of a significant part of scholarly output in the hands of a small but highly influential number of commercial publishers;
- A widespread reluctance to cancel print until electronic archiving arrangements are secure.