Binu V. John, Affordability of medical journal subscriptions in developing countries, The Lancet 363(9417), 1325-1326 (2004). (Access restricted to subscribers.) John's letter points out the disparities in journal subscription costs between the United States and, for example, his own India, where an "annual personal subscription to The Lancet could cost a physician in a developing country a month's income ($195)." However, he does not regard open access as a solution but rather sees a similar disparity:
It is unreasonable to expect scientists from resource-poor countries to pay $1500 towards article processing charges to publish in journals such as PLoS Biology. Such high fees will dissuade scientists from sending their articles to these journals or will make scientists reliant on pharmaceutical companies, even for research which they have otherwise done on their own limited budgets. Many journals do allow authors to apply for that amount to be waived, but scientists would hate having to beg for charity to get their work published.
Posted by
Garrett at 5/12/2004 10:43:00 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.
