[LIS-Forum] Free Access to science Publications

[Mailing List Manager]

Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2004 10:04:12 +0530
From: Vyasamoorthy at icicikp.com


Following Editorial in The Hindu of 3/8/2004  supports our cause. (I =
think 'For' in the title is a typo; it should be 'free')
[Free?] FOR ACCESS TO SCIENCE PUBLICATIONS=20
IN JULY, THE movement for `open access' got an important boost when the =
Appropriations Committee of the United States' House of Representatives =
and the Science & Technology Committee of the United Kingdom's House of =
Commons recommended measures that would help make scientific journal =
publications available more freely online. Scientists are judged by =
their research output. Each year they publish more than a million papers =
in approximately 16,000 science, technology and medical journals put out =
by more than 2,000 publishers worldwide. Commercial publishers have a =
dominant presence, with Reed Elsevier having a 28 per cent market share. =
There has been a growing feeling that neither the public, which pays for =
much of the science that is published, nor the scientists, who receive =
no payment either for their papers or for carrying out the `peer review' =
that ensures that quality is maintained in journals, benefit by limiting =
access to the papers through journal subscriptions. Not only are =
journals expensive; there is mounting criticism that journal costs have =
been rising exorbitantly. The Commons' S&T Committee noted that =
commercial scientific journal publishers enjoyed "substantially higher" =
profit margins than the academic, educational and professional =
publishing sector as a whole. And this was happening at a time libraries =
were obliged to cut down on journal subscriptions in order to keep =
within budgets. The problem is particularly acute for scientific =
institutions in developing countries such as India. Another issue that =
has been raised is that the larger public has little access to the =
scientific research that their tax money makes possible.=20
The limitations of the `subscriber pays' system has led some to attempt =
an `author pays' model for scientific journals. BioMed Central, which =
was established in 2001, has now over 100 journals in biology and =
medicine. [Public Library of Science] PLoS Biology, launched in October =
2003, has the ambition of joining the front ranks of scientific =
journals; PLoS Medicine is to be launched soon. Prominent public and =
private research sponsors such as the Wellcome Trust in the U.K., the =
Max Planck Society in Germany, and the Centre National de la Recherche =
Scientifique (CNRS) in France, have announced their support for such a =
system of open access. But `author pays' publishing currently accounts =
for merely five per cent of the total journal market. The Commons' S & T =
Committee recommended that another alternative needs to be explored and =
supported - storing published work electronically in institutional =
archives. Just a month before the Committee published its report, =
Elsevier announced that scientists publishing in its journals would be =
allowed to post the final text of their articles on a personal or =
institutional website. Over 80 per cent of the journal publishers allow =
such archiving. The House Appropriations Committee suggested that copies =
of articles published from research supported by the National Institutes =
of Health be deposited within six months of publication in PubMed =
Central, a free digital archive of life science literature.=20
The Commons' Committee recommended that "all U.K. higher education =
institutions establish institutional repositories on which their =
published output can be stored and from which it can be read, free of =
charge, online"; and that "Research Councils and other Government =
funders mandate their funded researchers to deposit a copy of all of =
their articles in this way." It is an idea that India - where research =
is overwhelmingly supported by the Government - must adopt with =
conviction and enthusiasm. The software for such archiving is available =
free of cost and has been used to establish an e-print archive at the =
Indian Institute of Science. Not only must more such institutional =
repositories be established; scientists need to take the lead in =
ensuring that their papers are suitably archived.
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

Dr.P.Vyasamoorthy, Advisor, Virtual Information Centre,
ICICI Knowledge Park, Genome Valley, Turkapally, Shameerpet Mandal,=20
RR District, Hyderabad 500078 INDIA
Email: vyasamoorthy at icicikp.com
Phone - Office: +91(40)23480053 Fax: +91(40)23480007 Phone Residence: =
+91(40)27846631