Today's issue of The Hindu ("India's National Newspaper") contains an editorial endorsing open access. Excerpt: "Open access publishing has been gathering momentum in recent years. Dr. [Harold] Varmus and like-minded scientists point out that much scientific research, especially basic research, is government funded. So the public ends up paying twice, first for the research and then for getting access to the results of the research. The costs of subscribing to several scientific journals are daunting enough for institutions in Western countries, not to mention those in India and other developing countries....Moreover, conventional journal publication is seen as benefiting publishers rather than the scientists or science. Journals do not pay scientists either for their papers or for reviewing the work of other researchers to judge whether it is suitable for publication (the all important 'peer review'). Scientists would like as many people as possible to read their work, a goal that is not served by high subscription fees and online access charges." (Thanks to Subbiah Arunachalam.)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 11/08/2003 08:41:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
