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.