There are two letters to the editor on open access in the November 6 issue of Nature. Both are accessible only to subscribers. (1) The first is from me, responding to John Ewing's letter in the October 9 issue. Ewing argued that open-access journals exclude poor authors who cannot afford to pay their processing fees. My letter answers this objection but was edited for length. I have a longer (and openly accessible) answer to this objection in SOAN for 11/2/03. (2) The second is from Martin Dufva, from the Technical University of Denmark, arguing that we might see illegal online swapping of copyrighted scientific articles in the future, just as we now see illegal online swapping of copyrighted music. "The open-access alternative is immune
to such copying activities because the articles are available free of charge."
Update (11/07). The link to my letter is now dead. Here's a new one that works (thanks to Jull Livingston).
Posted by
Peter Suber at 11/10/2003 11:29:00 AM.
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.
