HEADLINES from ANU VC Prof Brian Schmidt on open access and rankings when speaking at a forum yesterday "By default everything we should be doing is open" 1/n

"[Open] is standard operating procedure at ANU. I really believe science works much more efficiently when it is open. This is not a zero sum game. ... You have a limited amount of resources and if we don’t share we are literally slowing down the process" 2/n

"Are page charges affordable? No, that is how the system is broken. I have economic issues right now. Instead of saying ’don't do open access’ I say don’t publish in that journal. ... I have very strong view on this and sometimes you have to do what is right." 3/n

"I live with rankings everyday. Rankings are important and I hate them. They are important because they literally drive decisions, by students, and by governments ... Every time I do publish something out of a highly prestigious journal I go backwards" 4/n

"Universities are some of the longest living institutions of the world. I want the university to be the national university so I am taking a 50 year horizon and we are paying the short term price in the rankings because I think the rankings are foundationally flawed" 5/n

"I am betting they will have to fix [rankings] and I don’t want to have screwed up my university chasing what is quite frankly this little mirage, which is important, absolutely. But they are so distortionary. They are awful." 6/n

QUOTES come from 'Who owns your work'
at 5 mins, 20 mins and 23 mins into the session 7/7