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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'>Dear Colleagues<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'>A blog post by the Australasian Open Access Strategy Group (AOASG) commenting on the removal of Bealls List. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><a href="https://aoasg.org.au/2017/03/27/not-the-beall-and-end-all/">https://aoasg.org.au/2017/03/27/not-the-beall-and-end-all/</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'>“<span style='color:#404040;background:white'>In the wake of the<span class=apple-converted-space> </span></span><a href="https://scholarlyoa.com/"><span style='color:#AAAAAA;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in;background:white;text-decoration:none'>Scholarly Open Access blog</span></a><span class=apple-converted-space><span style='color:#404040;background:white'> </span></span><span style='color:#404040;background:white'>shutting down (January 15, 2017), many commentators have focused on its author Jeffrey Beall and the now defunct blacklists he once maintained on ‘predatory’ publishers and journals, ‘misleading’ metrics and ‘hi-jacked’ journals. Adding to the mystery, Beall’s typically active<span class=apple-converted-space> </span></span><a href="https://twitter.com/jeffrey_beall?lang=en"><span style='color:#AAAAAA;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in;background:white;text-decoration:none'>Twitter account</span></a><span class=apple-converted-space><span style='color:#404040;background:white'> </span></span><span style='color:#404040;background:white'>was recently dormant for over two months, with until recently the<span class=apple-converted-space> </span></span><a href="http://www.nature.com/news/controversial-website-that-lists-predatory-publishers-shuts-down-1.21328"><span style='color:#AAAAAA;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in;background:white;text-decoration:none'>only public statement on the matter</span></a><span class=apple-converted-space><span style='color:#404040;background:white'> </span></span><span style='color:#404040;background:white'>being supplied by his employer, the University of Colorado. Beall<span class=apple-converted-space> </span></span><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/paging-dr-fraud-the-fake-publishers-that-are-ruining-science"><span style='color:#AAAAAA;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in;background:white;text-decoration:none'>now says</span></a><span class=apple-converted-space><span style='color:#404040;background:white'> </span></span><span style='color:#404040;background:white'>that “there was pressure from my university to stop”.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#404040;background:white'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#404040;background:white'>Regardless of whether you considered his work divisive, an essential service to the academic community, or somewhere in between, these opinions are beside the point. No single person or source is equipped to bear the responsibility of being the ultimate authority on what constitutes as a best (or poor) practice scholarly publishing outlet. And nor should we – as a community of academic researchers and support staff – be so willing to bestow such authority on individuals, lists, metrics or indexing databases alone. Outlets need to be assessed in the context of many measures of quality and<span class=apple-converted-space> </span></span><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><a href="http://oaspa.org/identifying-quality-in-scholarly-publishing-not-a-black-and-white-issue/"><span style='color:#AAAAAA;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in;background:white;text-decoration:none'>this will always require some level of additional work</span></a><span style='color:#404040;background:white'>.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#404040;background:white'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#404040;background:white'>Kind regards<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#404040;background:white'>Ina</span><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Ina Smith</span></b><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Planning Manager, Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)<br>DOAJ Ambassador, Southern Africa Region<br>LIASA Librarian of the Year 2016<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://orcid.org/"><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#338CAF;text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=16 height=16 id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.gif@01D2A6C7.36BE0050" alt="http://orcid.org/sites/default/files/images/orcid_16x16(1).gif"></span></a><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'> <a href="http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9710-3668">http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9710-3668 </a></span><u><span style='color:#0563C1'><o:p></o:p></span></u></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Switchboard: +27 12 349 6600 <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Tel: +27 12 349 6641 <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Fax: +27 (0) 86 576 9512<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Email: </span><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><a href="mailto:ina@assaf.org.za"><span style='mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>ina@assaf.org.za</span></a></span><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#1F497D'><img border=0 width=184 height=75 id="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image002.jpg@01D2A6C7.36BE0050" alt=assafemail></span><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>1st Floor Block A, The Woods, 41 De Havilland Crescent, Persequor Park <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Meiring Naudé Road, Lynnwood 0020, Pretoria, South Africa. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>PO Box 72135, Lynnwood Ridge 0040, Pretoria, South Africa. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>Website: </span><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif'><a href="http://www.assaf.org.za/"><span style='mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'>www.assaf.org.za</span></a></span><i><span lang=EN-ZA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Century Gothic",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZA'> 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