Open Access to Scholarly Research : An Emerging Success Story in Emancipatory Communication
Open access is defined, and explored in the context of enclosure and emancipatory communication. One attempt at enclosure, in the form of heavy lobbying by very wealthy companies in the publishing industry against research funders' open access mandates, has been exposed. A PR message is traced from the recommendations of PR pitbull Eric Dezenhall to a failed anti-OA coalition attempt called PRISM to the White House. In spite of this intense lobbying, open access is succeeding. Resources are growing dramatically; the Directory of Open Access Journals, a list of fully open access, peer-reviewed journals, lists more than 2,800 journals, more than 10% of the world's peer-reviewed journals, and is adding titles at a rate of more than one per calendar day. There are more than 16 million items in open access archives, retrievable through portals such as Scientific Commons or OAIster. Despite heavy lobbying, the US Senate recently voted heavily in favor of language to change the National Institutes of Health Public Access policy from an ineffective request to a requirement. There are now 40 research funding agencies' open access mandates either in place or under discussion.
The Dramatic Growth of Open Access
Abstract The Open Access movement seeks to make scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles freely available to anyone, anywhere over the World Wide Web. There were some very significant developments in the area of Open Access in 2004, including statements by major fund donors in support of Open Access. There are now so many Open Access scholarly journal articles available, that using the resources and related tools is essential for libraries. Libraries can provide more and faster resources for users by supplementing paid resources with Open Access resources. Library resources, such as software that fixes links, commonly named resolvers, are beginning to incorporate Open Access materials and Web searches for Open Access materials. After exhausting traditional resources, interlibrary loan staff members are beginning to include Google searching in their workflow. This article will discuss what Open Access is, the dramatic growth of Open Access, major collections, resources and tools. The article will explore the implications, issues, and leadership opportunities for resource sharing specialists.
Effects of thyrotropin-releasing hormone and a thyrotropin releasing hormone analog on growth and selected plasma hormones in lambs.
An 8-wk growth trial was conducted to assess the effects of continuous infusion of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) and an active TRH analog less than Aad-His-Pro-NH2 (the less than Aad is L-pyro-alpha-aminoadipic acid) on growth trial performance, carcass composition and hormone profiles of growing lambs. Both drugs were infused at 600 micrograms X lamb -1 X d -1 with 16 lambs/treatment. Both TRH and less than Aad-His-Pro-NH2 decreased average daily gain (ADG; P less than .01) and increased feed conversion (FC; P less than .01) compared with saline infused controls. Average daily feed intake was not altered. Carcasses of lambs given TRH or less than Aad-His-Pro-NH2 contained fewer kilograms of moisture (P less than .05) and appeared to contain fewer kilograms of protein. Thyrotropin-releasing hormone and less than Aad-His-Pro-NH2 increased thyroid gland weights (P less than .05), but pituitary gland weights were not different. Plasma thyrotropin (TSH) concentrations were increased by both drugs compared with control lambs, peaking at 4 to 7 d after initiating infusion. However, by 14 d, TSH concentrations returned to control levels. Triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4) were elevated by both drugs over the entire 8-wk trial, with peak levels reached at 10 d and maintained for the duration of the study. Both TRH and less than Aad-His-Pro-NH2 increased prolactin over the entire period. Growth hormone levels were not altered by either drug. The effects of less than Aad-His-Pro-NH2 infusion on growth trial performance, carcass composition and hormone profiles of growing lambs were very similar to TRH. The negative effects of TRH and less than Aad-His-Pro-NH2 infusion on ADG, FC and carcass protein appear to be the result of elevated T3 and T4 levels.