CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
Biological Research with Open-Access Publications (OAP)
Part of the joint conference on
Text in Biology: Biological Research with Information Extraction
& Open-Access Publications (BRIE & OAP) 2001
A satellite event at the ISMB'01 conference
Copenhagen, Denmark
Tivoli Gardens
July 26, 2001
9 AM to 5 PM
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BACKGROUND
* Copyright on scientific communications (published articles and so
forth) belongs to publishing companies and not to authors, for most
publications. Scientists wishing to share relevant communications,
even their own in some cases, face legal challenges from publishers.
* Publishing companies charge expensive subscriptions to access
scientific communications. Scientists in developing countries and
poorly-endowed institutions, although intellectually on par with their
peers, are severely hindered by this.
* These two problems have prevented scientists from gaining any access,
even for simple searches, to the full text of these communications.
* Scientific communications are published in journals according to topic.
This has resulted in confusion as to the best place to publish,
retrieve or extract information (e.g., mathematical biology
communications could be published in either a mathematical journal or a
biological one).
* Communications are also published in journals differing by publisher.
This has caused the segregation of communications by the prestige of
the journal (e.g., how difficult it is to be published in the journal
and the composition of the readership). This has also allowed room for
personal politics in scientific communication.
* These two problems are compounded by the first two: with a limited
budget, to which journals should one subscribe? What we are left with
is an artificial selection, by publishers, of which communications are
best suited to a scientist's field of study.
* This may be the result of a competitive marketplace for readership, but
is there an alternative to profit-based publications? Should there be?
Can an alternative publication model be profitable for a publisher?
* Additionally, even with the advent of computers, databases, and the
World Wide Web, scientific communications are published as they were
100 years ago: as linear, printable text. And they are archived this
way. While this makes good reading, it is not the best format for
information retrieval or extraction.
* All of these problems restrict information retrieval, extraction, and
scientific inquiry. How do we resolve them? As the ultimate solution,
should future communications be published in an "open-access, global
knowledge-base"? Before or after information extraction techniques are
applied?
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AIMS
* We identify several obstacles to information retrieval and extraction:
copyright restrictions, costly subscriptions, artificial segregation of
communications, and archival of information in a manner not suited for
information retrieval and extraction. And we seek to discuss the
concept of "open-access publications" and if it is a viable solution to
these problems.
* OAP also serves as a "Birds of a Feather" (BoF) meeting for
Bioinformatics.org, an organization committed to freedom and openness
in the field of bioinformatics.
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SCOPE
* We are seeking several speakers who can address how the above problems
might be solved. Topics may include author-owned copyrights, free or
inexpensive subscriptions, uniform and multiple categories for
communications, and archival of information in a manner suited for
information retrieval and extraction, for example, knowledge bases.
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SUBMISSION
* Platform presentations only
* Submit abstracts by: June 15, 2001
* Decisions by: June 30, 2001
* Submissions to: brie-oap-01 at bioinformatics.org
* Acceptable formats: PDF, postscript, RTF, MS Word
* Length: one page maximum
* PLEASE: include name, contact details, affiliation
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WEBSITE
* http://bioinformatics.org/bof/brie-oap-01/
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