HIFA ambassador Joey Lapena (right) has just presented HIFA's findings on Open Access: Perceptions and Misconceptions at the Asia-Pacific Association of Medical Editors conference, Xi'an City, China. His presentation is available here: [PPT] [PDF]
This is the culmination of a remarkable team effort, supported by Elsevier and The Lancet. The HIFA Steering Group would like to thank:
1. The members of the HIFA Access to Health Research working group for leading HIFA's work in this area and for planning the discussion: Jose (Joey) Florencio F. Lapena, Philippines; Joseph Ana, Nigeria, Najeeb Al-Shorbaji, Jordan; Virginia Barbour, Australia; Isabelle Wachsmuth, Switzerland; Ylann Schemm, Netherlands; Andy Nobes, Anne Powell, Catriona Grant, Chris Zielinski, John Eyers, Nilam McGrath, UK
2. HIFA Intern Catriona Grant and HIFA literature search expert John Eyers, who conducted a literature review and prepared a background paper for the discussion:
3. HFA members who contributed to the discussion: Joseph Ana, Nigeria; Kenneth L Chanda, Zambia; Charles Dhewa, Zimbabwe; John Eyers, UK; Katie Foxall, UK; Richard Heller, UK; Irina Ibraghimova, Croatia; Barbara Kirsop, UK; Christoph Klawe, Germany; Thomas Krichel, USA; Sam Lanfranco, Canada; José Florencio F. Lapeña, Philippines; Pedro Mendoza-Arana, Peru; Williams Nwagwu, Nigeria; Oluwaseun Obasola, Nigeria; Amelia Plant, Egypt/USA; Pamela Sieving, USA; Kay H. Smith, USA; Vasumathi Sriganesh, India
4. HIFA volunteer Sam Pakenham-Walsh, who compiled and edited the discussion to produce:
a. Full compilation: http://www.hifa.org/sites/default/files/publications_pdf/HIFA_Open_acces...
b. Long edit: http://www.hifa.org/sites/default/files/publications_pdf/HIFA_Open_Acces...
c. Short edit: available shortly
5. Joey Lapena, a Director of the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), Past President of the Asia Pacific Association of Medical Journal Editors (APAME) and Charter President of the Philippine Association of Medical Journal Editors (PAMJE)
Over five weeks, HIFA members debated the following questions:
1. What is open access? What is the difference between open access and free access? What are the different types of open access?
2. Open access journals have a less rigorous approach to quality control and peer review than subscription journals
3. Open access journals discriminate against authors who cannot afford article processing charges
4. Open access will not make any difference to health policy and practice.
