Open Access in Latin America/Sely Costa


 * Please, tell us who you are and where you work at.
 * I am Sely Costa, an associate professor at the Universiy of Brasilia, in Brazil. I do both lecture and research at undergraduate and post-graduate levels.


 * When and why did your interest in Open Access begin?
 * It all began around 2003 and was mostly influentiated by my participation in international conferences, particularly in Elpub. However, since I read Harnard's article "Scholarly skywriting" by the end of the 90's, I think, it actually turned on the light!!


 * How would you describe your current role within the OA movement?
 * Well, I have retired from the university recently. Before that, I used to be a sort of OA evangelist in Brazil (paraphrasing Harnad), besides effectivelly doing at least five kinds of activities. The first one is concerned with leading all the actions at my university, namely the university repository, the university portal of scientific and scholarly journals, the unviersity learning objects repository and so forth. Secondly, I have also given a number os speeches in Brazilian events -such as scholarly conferences, annual meetings of the Brazilian Society for Science Advancement (SBPC)- as well as in Research Councils at Brazilian universities. Thirdly, I used to supervise Masters and Doctorate projects on the topic. Forthly, I used to do a special seminar on OA, designed to post-graduate students. Finally, I publishied some seminal journal articles on the topic in Brazilian scholalry journals. I also was the co-author of the Brazilian OA Declaration in 2005, as well as of the Congress Bill that is under analysis now. In both cases, my co-author was Helio Kuramoto. Despite retired, however, I keep participating in projects both in Brazil and Latin America, supervising post-grads, publishing and giving speeches as invited speaker in a number of national and foreign universities.


 * How do you define OA? (free of cost v. open licensed or both?
 * Free of cost and access barriers.


 * What route to OA do you prefer or support and why? (Gold road v. green road)
 * Well, that depends on. For a start, I believe that Green is easier than Gold (althoug not easy at all, bacause of people's unawareness, which requires a real battle to persuade them about the idea, policies, advantages etc etc etc). After people awareness of all the advantages, benefits and rewards, Gold is gold!!! That is, starting with green (while gold is not yet fully implemented) and moving into Gold. I have actually supported both in Brazil, since we have worked with both Repositories and Journals.


 * Are you involved in any specific OA project? If so, can you tell us some about it.
 * At the moment, I have joined a Latina American team that submitted a project that focuses on evaluators perception of OA in the region.


 * How do you see scholarly publishing in Brazil? What is the cycle and incentives? (if you know, please compare to the USA scenario)
 * Well, it is a bit poor, in the sense that Brazilian research dissemination does not achieve high impact. Scholarly publishing, just like scientific research, is mostly performed and supported by Brazilian universities, scientific societies and funding agencies, with very little support and investment from the private sector, if any! The cycle is something like: the researcher submits a project (either to his/her own university or a funding agency). If being awarded, the research is carried out and its results must be publish in a scientific/scholarly journal, besides having been presented in one or more event such as a congress, a conference,a seminar... There may be an important difference, if real, between Brazil and USA, which is concerned with where to publish your results on order to have your publication better assessed!


 * Why do you think open access policies have faced so many barriers in Brazil? (Here I refer to bills proposed and archived)
 * Well, fisrt of all, lack of knowledge about the movement amongst academics. Secondly, lack of commitment by Brazilian "knowers" of the subject, who have not really been fully engaged in actions neither have put pressure upon researchers, policy and decision makers within higher and further education institutions and government institutions. The bill has been retrieved and is now being analysed, if I am right.


 * What do you see in terms of institutional open access policies in Brazil? Are there institutional policies mandating OA in Brazil or in Brazilian institutions? (Here I refer to university or other policies, proposed and/or implemented)
 * Causes related to unawareness and a considerable lack of a clear idea about the topic, as mentioned before, has led to poor policies at universities and research institutions in Brazil, in terms of very few institutions with policies proposed and implemented. At the University of Brasilia, after more than a year being discussed, there is now an institution open access policy, but it does not yet covers every aspects of OA that are needed to be covered. There are other universities and research institutions such as Embrapa, which also have OA policies implemented. Again, at least university policies are very limitated.


 * What is the role of Universities in OA in Brazil, and what should that role be in order to foster OA?
 * Seminal, fundamental, unique, though poor. The important issue is how to persuade university administrators and the faculty as a whole: a sensibilisation work that seems crucial to the success of the movement in Brazil. Decision makers from Funding agencies also need to be convinced. I used to adopt a model that defnies three major steps for the OA movement at universities, namely sensibilisation, real action and seduction :-). The first comprises a work of talking to each one everywhere. The second, really do things to happen. The third, showing authors statistics of their publications already archived.


 * What is the role of Libraries in OA in Brazil, and what should that role be in order to foster OA?
 * It really is the same of universities! University librarians perform the major role in this context. It is their duty to implement the three stages model! It is important to note that the assisted archiving (made vy a librarian) instead of the self archiving (made by the author) makes a huge difference, particularly in the initial work. The role is to sensitise, to do and to seduce!!! Oh, dear, it can really have a second meaning.... :-)


 * Who do you consider the main allies of OA in Brazil?
 * IBICT (through Kuramoto, mostly), UnB (through myself - sorry and Fernando Leite), a number of universities that attended IBICT's call and obtained computers and training to implement both repositories and e-journals. As a consequence they got involved in the movement, although not leading or getting any prominent role.


 * Who do you consider the main opponents of OA in Brazil?
 * Capes, with the role of its president and part of his staff, who believe that OA threats Capes journal portal ! Researchers who do not have any idea of what OA really means.


 * Do you know how much the government invests every year in public research? If so, what is the number you have?
 * Unfortunately, I have not sought for such figures for years! Need to talk with people, or access Capes and MCT (along with all its research institutions) sites to get the numbers.


 * What is the role of government agencies in Brazil and what should be their role in regard to fostering OA?
 * Their role, so far is shameful!! There are some initiatives in CNPq but they are not known because they have been very timid. I believe it is deliberate for faculties do not become aware of them. As for Capes, Finep and others, no role at all. Capes, however, has the policy of obliging every thesis and dissertation to be archived in an open access data base or in a university repository.  As I said in 2005, when giving a speech during the SBPC annual meeting, funding agencies has the most crucial role for OA philosophy, policy and actions to be accepted and spread in Brazil, because if they value it, authors will not only adopt byt even prefer it!


 * What are the main barriers to OA in Brazil?
 * I think I have already answer this. As the two major players considered, taking into account that universities and research institutions are the major arenas for this, the unawareness from faculties and researchers in general and lack of commitment from librarians university and research institutions.


 * Is there a supporting community for OA in Brazil?
 * There use to be. Kuramoto has been defenestrated from Ibict (he cannot take any official action) and I am now retired from UnB! At the moment, I would say that Kuramoto's blog is the most present palce to talk about the topic and he remains as the most active OA leader in Brazil. Bur there has not been actions in place!!!!


 * What were/are the main community driven activities or manifestos prol OA n Brazil?
 * Already answered. None, as far as I am concerned.


 * Is there technical structure supporting OA flourishing in Brazil? Is there attention to open standards and interoperability standards for a repository infrastructure?
 * Again, there is, but timid! The whole Brazilian academic community needs training, education, discussion on the topic!!!


 * Are publishers open to OA in Brazil?
 * Academic publishsers, yes, particularly at universities and research institutions such as Embrapa (there, Fernando Leite has done a very good job in the recent past). But mainly because persuaded and trained by good librarians and by Ibict, of course.


 * What is the role of institutions such as IBICT and SciELO in Brazil?
 * Answered!!! :-) Although not yet mentioned, Scielo, after some years of strugling attitudes, is now involved, but not like Ibict at all!!! Their work with the online library of journals is, evidently, a great initiative. It is important to remember, however, the Scielo has adopted OAI late, in my opinion.


 * Please, let me know if you suggest other folks I could also interview.
 * I believe that you know the Brazilian community well. No suggestions.