Catherine D. DeAngelis and Robert A. Musacchio, Access to JAMA, JAMA: the Journal of the American Medical Association, 291, 370-371 (January 21, 2004). The editor-in chief of JAMA and her colleague state their views on what constitutes responsible medical publishing and the considerable time and effort required for cooperation with authors, peer review, and the production of a readable and useful journal for medical professionals and general readers. Further, they discuss production costs, especially in consideration of open access models such as PLoS, author charges, and foundation support, stating that it is unclear if such a model is viable, and from their point of view, not workable for their authors. Alternatively, JAMA proposes:
At least for the present, our plan for free access is as follows: (1) free online access for one major article published in the most recent issue; (2) by the end of February 2004, free online access for all major articles and editorials beginning 6 months after publication and up to 5 years after publication; (3) unlocked online articles (ie, PDF files) to facilitate readers' personal uses of articles including highlighting and annotating; (4) 25 free online accesses to each corresponding author's article for distribution to colleagues as soon as the article is published; and (5) free online access to countries in the developing world by our participation in the World Health Organization's HINARI (Health InterNetwork to Research Initiative) Project. We will continue to keep our subscription price as low as possible by offsetting cost with advertisements that follow our rules of professionalism.
The authors conclude that this policy will stay in place while other OA models are tested in the marketplace.
Posted by
Garrett at 2/06/2004 11:53:00 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.
