David Litterick, MPs damn profits of scientific publishers, The Telegraph, July 20, 2004. Excerpt: "MPs have launched a stinging attack on the scientific publishing industry and called on the Government to press for change 'as a matter of urgency'....The committee called on publishers to keep profit margins 'at a reasonable and sustainable level'. Reed Elsevier, which has the largest market share in scientific publishing, has an operating margin of 34pc, the MPs noted. It also accused publishers of inflating the cost of peer review - the method by which research is validated by other scientists - 'to justify charging higher prices'....Vitek Tracz, chairman of BioMed Central, an open-access publisher, welcomed the report. He said: 'The report recommends that the UK research funding bodies mandate free access to all their findings. It is time for the publishing model to change.' "
Posted by
Peter Suber at 7/20/2004 09:49:00 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.
