Dan Sabbagh, Reed Elsevier chief hits back in scientific publishing row, London Times, August 6, 2004. Excerpt: "Critics argue that the scientific community should abandon seeking publication in journals of the type that Reed owns in favour of the 'open-source' model, in which authors pay to have their research made public. 'After five years, the author-pays model has gained a 1 per cent market share,' Sir Crispin said as the Anglo-Dutch group reported interim results. 'Libraries do push back on costs, but we are securing a 96 per cent renewal rate, and that tells the real story.'...Last month, MPs on the Commons Science and Technology Committee called on the Government to create a free national archive of all scientific publications, and accused Reed of 'not being transparent' about its costs. At that time, Ian Gibson, MP, the committee’s chairman, went further and accused commercial publishers of 'ripping off the academic community'. According to the committee, the price of scientific publications has increased by 58 per cent since 1998. The report is now in the hands of the Government, which has to decide what measures to adopt. Executives at Reed are privately confident that any measures adopted will not have a major impact on business."
Posted by
Peter Suber at 8/06/2004 12:00:00 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.
