Dan Vergano, Upstart science journals take on the powerhouses, USA Today, November 19, 2003. On the PLoS Biology launch. Excerpt: "Science's Rocky-style publishing battle starts its second round Monday when a groundbreaking journal releases its latest [second] issue....The two sides are at odds over 'open access,' an idea that is gathering strength in the scientific publishing world. Most journal publishers retain copyrights to reports on scientific findings that appear in their pages, even when the research is publicly financed. Scientists cannot give away copies of their own research papers without violating publishers' ownership rights. And publishers charge fees that can run as high as $30 for individual papers, plus subscription prices that some scientists and librarians complain have spiraled grossly out of hand."
Posted by
Peter Suber at 11/20/2003 08:10:00 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.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
