A platinum nugget.
Photo by Wikimedia Commons user Alchemist-hp and used according to the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
Recently I used the term “platinum open access” in an email I sent to several scholarly communication listserves.
I was immediately castigated by Stevan Harnad, one of today’s more bellicose open access advocates.
He blasted, “There is no “Platinum” Road to OA,” reflecting the now little-used “road” metaphor do describe the different types of scholarly open-access publishing.
To back up his claim, he threw in a link to an email he penned five years ago. The email simply stated that there is no such thing as platinum open access.
Platinum open access is a model of scholarly publishing that does not charge author fees. The costs associated with scholarly publication are covered by the benevolence of others, such as through volunteer work, donations, subsidies, grants, etc.
The term has been used for many years in numerous open-access publications, including books and blog entries, and on websites.
Platinum open-access is mentioned in Walt Crawford’s 2011 book Open Access: What You Need to Know Now. ¹
A selection from the book “Open Access: What You Need to Know Now” by Walt Crawford.
I think the distinction between gold (author-pays) and platinum open access is significant and the distinction between the two worth maintaining. I’ll continue to make that distinction by using the two terms.
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[1]. Crawford, Walt. (2011). Open Access: What You Need to Know Now. Chicago: American Library Association.
[...] a relayé la proposition d’une voie de platine (« platinum road »), déjà proposée par d’autres, qui se définit par une absence de paiement pour l’auteur comme pour le lecteur, charge [...]
Would you be kind enough to write a defination for platinum open access.
I believe that Stevan Harnad didn’t have in mind “gold” defining “golden road to OA”, but having in mind what golden road turns to be out, I like the term “platinum open access”. It is not misleading as “golden open access”, and it’s somehow returning the real meaning of “open access journals” separating it from commercial sphere.
The present “golden open access” should be named “in advance paid open access”.
Soumyadeep B: The platinum open access could have the same definition as golden one, excluding country/institution/author payment for a specific paper to be published.