Michele Langlois et al, Restrictions impeding web-based courses: a survey of publisher's variation in authorising access to high quality on-line literature, BMC Medical Education 4,7 (2004). The authors report on the difficulty of securing access to scholarly articles for web-based instruction. Half of surveyed publishers charged additional costs for using electronic versions of articles in a course, even if the institution already maintained a subscription. More than half of the publishers would allow the institution "to reproduce exracts of published work at no fee." The article goes on further to discuss the increased use of the web for course materials. Finally, the authors conclude, "the permission request process has been expensive and has resulted in reduced access for students to the relevant literature. Variations in the responses from publishers suggest that for educational purposes common policies could be agreed and unnecessary restrictions removed in the future." (Source: BentleyBlog)
Posted by
Garrett at 4/12/2004 03:07:00 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.
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.
