Dee Ann Divis, House acts on research access, United Press International, August 4, 2004. Excerpt: "Anger over high prices and limits to research access by scientific journals has finally risen to the point a federal backlash is brewing. Congress is moving to force a shift to 'open access,' a form of free-to-consumer publishing, for scientific papers. The move angers commercial publishers, who see their livelihoods threatened and it scares scientific societies, who are afraid they will face losses or costs they cannot afford....[P]rices for journals have skyrocketed....High prices are closely linked to a lack of access to research results....'Taxpayers not only have to pay for the research, they have to pay to read it,' said Micah Swafford, spokesman for Congressman Ernest Istook Jr., R-Okla....[S]aid Swafford, "[The NIH OA plan] will become law."
Update. There is now a Slashdot discussion of this article. (Thanks to Carol Hutchins.)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 8/05/2004 07:52:00 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.
